Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys
by lyokoMARVELanime
Summary: Spin-off/Sequel to Keyblades of Future Past. The legend you know returns, but this time it's not just Sora, Donald, and Goofy racing to save the worlds, but this time, they'll be working alongside the newest Keyblade Master and Sora's new teacher: Ventus. Experience the first KH adventure you know with a new twist as the forces of darkness face two keys in the battle for the worlds
1. Prologue

**_Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and all other forms of life and creature alike, welcome to another tale in a grand saga from the mind of lyokoMARVELanime! If you loved the non-stop, Keyblade swingin', world-saving action of Keyblades of Future Past, then you'll love this new story that continues on from where that left off! And now, here's your host, the man, the legend, the comeback kid, I'm talkin' about lyokoMARVELanime is in da house!_**

 ** _[audience applause mixed in with someone shouting "we love you lyokoMARVELanime!"]_**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you, thank you! Thank you all! You're awesome! No you rock! And yes, I am back after a two week stint of absence from all things fanfiction. I know, some of you regular followers were probably worried about me taking a hiatus from everything or something, but as you can clearly see, I am very much alive and well. See the thing there is I was actually on vacation down in the most magical place on Earth, (That's Walt Disney World for those of you who've been asleep or in a coma for the last, oh forever), and well, I just didn't want to spoil any of it by clashing my story ideas with the fun and excitement of all things Disney. Oh, and I left my computer at home too, so there was also that._**

 ** _[audience laughter]_**

 ** _Hahaha, yeah, well funny stuff aside, after spending a lot of time down in Disney World, which only continues to get more and more awesome every time I go by the way, it was only natural that my ideas start running back towards some of my more Disney-related story ideas, like the Kingdom Hearts ideas, and thus, my first move on here is to post this first chapter of my newest Kingdom Hearts story._**

 ** _Now just a little quick info, like Mister Announcer Guy just said, this story is a continuation of where my last Kingdom Hearts story, Keyblades of Future Past had left off, not in the new future where Sora and Kairi ended up, but rather where we last saw our boy Ven at, so think of this as the new continuity's version of the first Kingdom Hearts game. If you haven't read Keyblades of Future Past, I wouldn't worry about it too much. There shouldn't be too many things in here that will throw you off, but it would probably help if you go back and read through that one so that you're not completely lost on some things._**

 ** _Now, why are you all still reading this? Go on and get to the story already! Oh right. Disclaimer. Hehe. Run it!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Prologue**

The night can be both a beautiful time and a scary time as well. It is beautiful because of how silent it is save for the occasional cricket chirp or an owl's hoot, and it grants one the chance to see the many stars that light up the sky and act as the one true sign that there are other worlds out there aside from their own, reminding us that even if ours is just one tiny world, it is still a part of a much bigger one. However, it is also scary because it is also when the world is completely eclipsed in a brief darkness, and it is always within darkness that the most frightening of things will lurk, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting soul, be it in their strongest or weakest of moments. Though many prefer to lean towards the scarier aspects of the night, there are still just as many who can truly appreciate its beauty, because those are the people who know that even the darkest of places have a small light hidden away somewhere that can bring one a sense of peace.

Nobody knows such things better than a certain blonde, young man who was currently lying back on the rooftop of the castle he currently called home, relaxing with a bit of stargazing after he had completed a brief little workout with the mystical weapon known as the Keyblade, for like all those before him who had wielded this weapon, he knew full well that darkness and light go hand-in-hand with each other, but neither can ever become more dominant than the other. His name is Ventus, but his friends know him better as Ven, and he was once a pupil under the fallen Master Xehanort, and then the late Master Eraqus alongside his two closest of best friends, before he finally came to be a student to his current master after a long, hard journey that had cost him far too much. This journey led him, his friends, and his current master into very difficult trials, and very strange encounters, even for a Keyblade Wielder, and the only thing left to signify that any of it had ever happened were the star-shaped charms that Ven diligently carried with him. One of these charms was his of course, but two of them belonged to a pair of friends that Ven had made during the final stages of his journey; two friends that he had promised to return the charms to when they eventually met again.

That was about ten years ago now, and as he sat in his current location gazing up at the stars that were so similar yet so different from the ones he had known growing up on the world known as the Land of Departure, Ven could not help but find himself wondering if the day would ever come when he finally did meet those particular two friends again. Perhaps it was wrong of him to hope that it would happen, because if he did ever meet them, he knew it would likely mean that there was something threatening the worlds, but still, a chance to meet old friends was never something that Ven would ever find himself not wishing for. The chance for his wish to be granted finally came at last when a squeaky voice suddenly cut through the peaceful silence of the night and said, "I had a feeling I would find you up here."

"WHOA," Ven exclaimed as he jumped into an upright sitting position before turning to face the speaker, who turned out to be the king of the castle he currently called home, his current master, a very good friend, and most importantly of all, a very large, cartoon mouse. "You know Mickey, for a guy who's heart has about as much light as a Princess of Heart, you really know how to come out of nowhere like some kind of ninja," Ven joked.

"Ah, sorry about that Ven," Mickey chuckled, but a moment later, his tone grew much more serious as he added, "but there was something that I just had to talk to you about that couldn't wait a moment longer."

Ven knew that tone of voice all too well, seeing as it was one that Mickey Mouse rarely used outside of training, and it always meant that something very serious was going on. Of course, Ven had a pretty good idea what it was that Mickey wanted to talk to him about. "I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that a lot of stars have been going out all of sudden recently," Ven said.

"You'd guess right, pal," Mickey nodded, not surprised in the least that Ven already knew about such a thing. After all, stargazing was an old hobby of Ven's ever since his time in the Land of Departure. "Each time one of those stars had gone out, a world had disappeared, and some of the first worlds to do so were the homes of a Princess of Heart."

"Have you talked to Ansem the Wise about this," Ven asked, knowing that the mouse king had been talking with the ruler of Radiant Garden quite a bit in some of the recent years.

"Actually, it's been a long time since I heard anything from Ansem," Mickey admitted. "A few years to be honest and a short time before I lost touch with him, Radiant Garden's star had…well, I wouldn't say that it went out, exactly, but it's not exactly as bright as it once was either."

"Yeah, I noticed that myself, and every time I try to reach out towards that world with my senses, I feel overwhelmed with feelings of dread…numbing cold…and really any other sense you can gain from darkness, almost like the whole place had become consumed by it," Ven nodded as he looked towards the area he knew to be the star that was once Radiant Garden. "What do you think it means?"

"I really don't know for sure, but I do have a few theories, and I think you already know what some of them are," Mickey replied with a knowing look. When Ven nodded in reply, Mickey went on to say, "In that case, I'll spare us both the trouble of going into full detail and just cut to the chase. I intend to go my own way so that I can find a way to stop what's happening from another angle, and while I'm doing that, I'd like you to go to a world called Traverse Town."

"I don't think I've ever heard of that place before," Ven admitted.

"Well I can't say that I blame ya. It's a relatively new world that has formed from the remains of the worlds that have fallen into darkness, and its where a lot of the people from those worlds have ended up," Mickey explained before continuing with his instructions. "Anyway, once you get there, I want you to help keep the people who live there safe, at least until they can handle things on their own, because I have a feeling that a certain key you and I both know will be arriving there soon. Oh, and Ven, once you get there, don't use your Keyblade Glider to travel to any other worlds for a while."

"What? Why," Ven questioned. This was a very odd request because traveling by Keyblade Glider had always been one of the safest and fastest ways for a Keyblade Wielder to travel outside the use of powerful artifacts like the Star Shard that Mickey would sometimes use.

"Ven, there may be a chance that whoever is responsible can track where you go through your Keyblade so long as it is being used, and as such, they may see your use of the Keyblade Glider to travel between worlds as a moment when you're most vulnerable, at which point they will swarm over your location endlessly," Mickey explained.

Ven did not want to admit it, but he could see Mickey's point, so he reluctantly nodded in acceptance and said, "I understand Mickey."

Seeing his friend was a bit depressed and probably worried about how he would get around without his most trusted method of transportation, Mickey immediately added, "Ah, don't worry pal. I'll be sending Donald and Goofy along after ya in a Gummi Ship, and besides, you should still be able to use the Keyblade Glider to move around while you're on a world without any problem."

While hearing that he would be sending him some extra help and a ship to get to other worlds did ease Ven's worries a little, hearing about who Mickey would be sending did raise some flags of concern for him. "You're not going to have Goofy pilot the thing are you? Those Gummi Ships make me a bit nervous enough as is, but when he's flying them…"

Neither master nor student could stop the small shivers that went up their spines at the memory of the last time Mickey's captain of the guard had attempted to fly a Gummi Ship, and Mickey quickly reassured his friend, "Don't worry, I'm sure that Donald will know full well to not let Goofy man the flight controls, so you just worry about finding that future apprentice of yours."

At hearing what followed the reassurance, Ven found himself gaining a new set of worries, because he knew exactly what Mickey meant by this. "I know I've passed the exam and all a short while back, but do you really think I'm ready to take a student now?"

"Ven, I can only think of one person who could serve as a better teacher for this future Keyblade Wielder than you, and well…you know what happened to her," Mickey hesitantly reminded the blonde, knowing full well that this particular subject was not something one should bring up to Ventus unless they wanted him in a sour mood for a while. Still, that did not mean he did not press on in making his point. "Even so, you are definitely ready for this responsibility, so I know you can do it."

Ven did indeed gain an aura of depression at the near mentioning of his lost friend, but when he heard how confident Mickey seemed to be in his abilities, he immediately gave a strong nod in reply to this as he smiled and said, "Okay then, I guess I'd better be off so that I can be there when my future apprentice arrives."

"When you arrive at Traverse Town, find a man named Leon. He can tell you the full story on the situation there and about where your abilities would best help," Mickey advised as Ven moved to the edge of the roof.

"Leon; got it," Ven repeated in confirmation before he slapped the center of the armor piece on his left shoulder, instantly summoning a full suit of armor onto his being. He then spared one last look to Mickey and nodded as he said, "Good luck Master Mickey."

"And to you as well…Master Ventus," Mickey replied, and he then watched as his former student-turned fellow master leapt into the air as his Keyblade transformed into winged waveboard and then rocketed away into the starry sky, flying off for the destination that the cartoon mouse had given him. After staring at the point in the sky that Ven had vanished into, Mickey finally let out a small sigh and turned to head back into his castle as he said, "After ten years it's finally starting to happen. Here's hoping I can keep my promise to those two…Well, only time will tell the answer to that. Right now, I've got a letter to finish. I just hope Donald doesn't accidentally do something that leads Minnie to find out about why I'm leaving. She'll be really worried if she does."

Not long after Ven's departure, far away on a distant, tiny world, three friends were about to prepare for their chance to live out a dream that they had shared for just as many years, and one of them was about to have a dream that would change all of their lives forever.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well it may be a little short, but hey its a start. So yeah, as you've all probably figured out from this, Ven's off to Traverse Town, and I think we all know who he's going to end up meeting there aside from who Mickey mentioned. And yeah, he's a full-fledged Keyblade Master now; like I was really gonna have him just go through ten years of training and not let him get anything out of it. In all honesty I really just threw this chapter in so that I could make it clear that this was following up from where we had last seen Ven at the end of Keyblades of Future Past, but don't worry, we'll be seeing a bit more fun in the next chapter._**

 ** _And for those of you who are probably upset by the fact that I'm not updating or finishing any of my other stories before starting on this one, well let me just say that the Gundam SEED Prime: Chaos Hunters is at the point where it is almost complete, and when it comes to everything else...well, I believe a certain snow queen said, or should I say sang it best._**

 ** _Elsa:_ Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymore~. Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door~! I don't care what they're going to say~! Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway~.**

 ** _AN: Yes, ahem. Thank you for that Elsa._**

 ** _Elsa: It was my pleasure lyokoMARVELanime. Though I must ask, when is my first scene in this story?_**

 ** _AN: Ooooh. [looks sheepish] Yeah, about that...you're actually not in this story._**

 ** _Elsa: I...I'm not?_**

 ** _AN: No, see...uh, come here a minute. [waves Elsa over so she can see a booklet he had on his desk] You see like right here in the outline?_**

 ** _Elsa: Oh. I see. Well that's completely understandable._**

 ** _AN: Well it's nothing personal, because I honestly would've liked to have included you in this._**

 ** _Elsa: Well thank you. You're too kind sir._**

 ** _AN: Ehehehehehe. Ahem, anyways, sorry for you Frozen fans who were hoping to see anything like that in this story, but I promise, Elsa will be playing a part in the series that I've begun to unleash here on ol' fanfiction dot net later on, and we'll definitely be seeing some new faces this time around that weren't a part of the original adventure in the first Kingdom Hearts game. If you want a hint, let's just say that one of them's a real marvel while the other is from an entire galaxy of adventure and excitement! Yeah, I know that'll probably make it pretty obvious, but it's not like I'm coming right out and saying anybody's names or anything. Any other questions you may have on this story right now, you can send via PM or in your review, or just wait a little while to see if I answer them in upcoming chapters._**

 ** _Well I think that covers everything I wanted to say here. Oh, I almost forgot. For those of you who have read Keyblades of Future Past, you all remember the Yen Sid Reports I sometimes did at the end of a chapter in that story? Well expect something similar to that to be featured here as well, and it's not going to be the Ansem Reports. You'll find out what I mean later on when we get to the first chapter to feature the thing. For now though, you lot just get a move on. Onto the Preview that is!..._**

 ** _The story's true beginning is unveiled as we travel from Disney Castle to the world of Destiny Islands, where our hero is found…taking a nap. Yeah, I know what it looks like, but we all know what's really going on during his brief moment of peaceful rest, and what will follow afterwards with his two best friends. Find out if anything changes or if everything stays the same, next time._**

 ** _What? It's not like I could really say much here for the moment. Gotta do the more relaxed and peaceful stuff before we can get into the really good and adventurous stuff that makes up a Kingdom Hearts story. Anyways..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and in the words of Mickey Mouse, see ya real soon!_**


	2. Dive to the Heart and Day on the Islands

**_AN: Hey guys! Who's ready for some more Kingdom Hearts action in my latest story?_**

 ** _[audience applause and cheers]_**

 ** _I thought so. So hey, not gonna lie, I wasn't really expecting much in the way of reviews, follows, or favorites after posting the first chapter of this story, I mean it was kinda short..._**

 ** _Sora:_ Kinda _short?_**

 ** _AN: Okay fine, it was the shortest chapter I have written for any story, period, but still, with all the reviews I had gotten in Keyblades of Future Past that were asking me either if I was going to do a story like this or just asking me to do a sequel to it period, I kinda figured there would be a few more follows or favorites. Oh well, it's not like it was gonna kill anyone one way or the other. Hades, how many times do I have to say not literally?_**

 ** _Hades: ARE YOU FOR REAL?! Barely two chapters in and we're already doing this again?!_**

 ** _AN: [Hits control, leading Hades to get to catapulted into a massive pile of dirty laundry belonging to the most disgusting people known to man] Does that answer your question?_**

 ** _Hades: [mutters something that is completely inaudible]_**

 ** _AN: Good, now let's get on with the story, we've got some stuff that might be a little more familiar to everyone this time around with a twist or two, and some new stuff as well. Exciting huh?...Well, go on then. [makes shooing motion with both hands]_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter I**

There are many times when our dreams can be quite confusing to us, even to the point where we are even questioning whether or not it is a dream at all. Oftentimes when this happens, we think that it is actually real life due to how much like our day-to-day lives are in comparison to the dream, but there are a few times when some would say that such dreams are some strange type of vision of something that is yet to happen or that we need to understand for one reason or another. At the moment though, a certain spiky haired boy in a red jumpsuit, a black hoodie with white sleeves, large yellow and black shoes, white gloves with blue, black, and yellow straps, and a crown necklace around his neck would probably tell you that the dream he seemed to be having was most likely not like either of the previously mentioned cases, because as far as his dreams go, he never once remembered having a dream where he was standing upon a strange, large pillar that was topped by what appeared to be a stain glass image of a woman in a blue and yellow dress with black hair and fair skin, holding an apple, and surrounded by smaller images of seven men and a few different animals.

This boy, named Sora, honestly did not know what to think of this very odd dream, aside from the fact that something about it and this place felt rather strange even for any kind of dream he had ever had before, and the fact he suddenly started to hear an odd voice speaking to him from some unseen location did not help make it any less so. _"So much to do, so little time…Take your time. Don't be afraid,"_ the voice advised.

"What? Who are you? And what're you talking about," Sora called out, hoping that he would get some sort of answer.

Sadly, those hopes were not answered, at least not in the way Sora had been hoping. _"The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?"_

"Take a step forward? Sure, not a problem," Sora shrugged in reply, knowing that the voice was asking if he was brave enough to step up and accept whatever challenge he was likely going to be presented with in a moment despite his rather childishly naïve response. Admittedly, he was a little nervous for some reason about what was going on, but Sora quickly swallowed such feelings away and walked towards the center of the floor.

The moment that Sora had reached the middle of the floor, the ground began to shake, and three different points around him suddenly started to glow as three pillars rose up from beneath the ground. When the pillars reached their full height, which was not really very high at all, much to Sora's relief, three, strangely shaped swords suddenly appeared above the pillars in a flash of light, and despite the various different designs of each sword, if you were to ask Sora, he would tell you that each one of these odd blades looked an awful lot like keys; very strangely shaped keys, but still keys nonetheless. The sword that was directly in front of Sora was dull gold and dark grey in color, possessed a curved shaft, and a set of teeth that held a wing-like shape, while the handle and guard were both a bit offset from blade. The sword that was to Sora's left had a shaft that was textured, dark brown with brass edges, while the teeth held two pick-like points with a pair of hammer-like protrusions on the opposite side, and the guard was an off-blue color and took the shape of two Omega symbols. Finally, the sword on Sora's right had thin blade that was predominantly dull, metallic blue with a teardrop shaped gap in the base and near the tip of the blade's shaft. The head of the last blade was a rough diamond shape from what Sora could tell, despite the fact that one corner of the diamond was missing, with a small, white diamond on the inner edge of the right corner, while the teeth were formed by four blue spikes lining the outer edge of the blade's head, and the handle was smooth and black with an angular guard that did not fully connect to the blade. Truly these were some of the strangest swords that Sora had ever seen even without the fact that they were supposed to look like some type of keys, and even without the voice's next words, it was clear that they were part of the next step in the strange test he was being given.

 _"Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well,"_ the voice decreed.

"No idea what that means, but I'm guessing that I've basically gotta choose one of these weird looking swords for something, right," Sora guessed aloud. When he received only silence in reply, he just shrugged and said, "Alright then."

After looking between the three weird swords for a minute, Sora finally approached the sword that had appeared directly in front of him and picked it up so that he could observe it more closely, only paying just enough attention to the voice as it explained some details of the sword to know what it was saying. _"The Wayward Wind. A blade that requires great swiftness in action and often acts to defend the wielder's friends without a second thought or care for their well-being. The path this blade leads you down is never truly known, but promises that you shall always have the courage to follow your heart when regarding those you value most. Is this the path you seek?"_

Sora thought the voice's words over for a minute, and though he really wanted to say yes, he knew that he should really think carefully before making a final decision, so he placed the sword back and then moved to approach the second sword, the one that had initially appeared on his left, and examined it while the voice gave another description. _"The Earthshaker. Power and strength that constantly grows to exceed that of others awaits those who wield this blade, but be forewarned, such a thing does not come without cost. The path to finding greater strength alone, even for the most pure of reasons, can often lead one to face great hardships and trials that may ultimately lead one to lose all those precious to them."_

Sora definitely did not like the sound of that. Yes, he wanted to be strong so that he could keep the things that mattered most safe, like his family and friends, but he did not want to gain any kind of strength if it meant he would lose those things in the process. Shaking his head to free his mind of the rather worrying and frightening thoughts that had seeped inside because of what he just heard, Sora quickly placed the second blade back on its pedestal and moved to the third and final sword, not feeling any surprise at all when the voice spoke again as he picked up and examined the thin, metallic blue sword. _"The Rainfell. The promise of a path that is of equal inner and outer strength. The power of a mystic mixed with that of a noble knight, the path this blade promises that one shall always seek out what is true, just, and right. Though sometimes, a fight for the greater good can often be with difficult hardships that can lead one to question their place among those they care for and where it is leading them all, and often requires great sacrifice even at their own expense."_

While this one did sound rather appealing to Sora at first, the last half of that seemed a little worrying. Yes, he understood the basic idea of placing the needs of the many ahead of one's personal needs or those of a select few, but somehow he just did not feel like he could make a decision like that if push really came to shove. It just sounded a little too much like he would have to sacrifice the things and people he cared for most in order to achieve a goal, and that did not sit right with him, and at that moment, Sora found that he had made his decision. After placing the third sword back on its pedestal, he returned to the first one, which the voice had called Wayward Wind, and when it asked again if this was his chosen path, he immediately replied with a somewhat confident yes. A second later, the dark grey and dull gold sword vanished in a flash of light, and the voice then said, _"Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?"_

"I have to give up one of the other two now? Hmm…" Sora murmured to himself, since he was now very confident that he would not get any direct answers from the voice at this point. Looking between the remaining two swords and thinking back on what the voice said Sora found that this decision was a bit more difficult. Both promised a great deal with a small risk of very harsh side-effects, but that only made it that much more difficult to decide which of the two he should sacrifice. In the end though, Sora ultimately found himself moving towards the one called Earthshaker as he declared, "I'll give up this one here. The one called Earthshaker."

 _"You have chosen the power of Wayward Wind, the power of a steadfast and loyal warrior. You've given up the power of Earthshaker, the power of a mighty guardian. Is this the form you choose,"_ the voice questioned after Earthshaker had vanished as well, immediately telling Sora that it was double-checking just to be sure.

Sora simply nodded in response, and after thinking there might be a chance that the person this voice belonged to could not see him, he vocalized his response and half-shouted, "Yes."

A minute after Sora had given his response, the platforms sank back into the ground from which they had arisen from, making Sora run for the center of the floor again, but it ended up doing him very little good, as the floor suddenly started to shatter apart until if broke completely, sending him flying down to whatever lay beneath it. Oddly enough, Sora found that his descent was not at an increasingly speeding rate, like one would expect if they were to fall from a high place, but instead was rather slow and steady, like he were simply floating down through the water of a lake or something. After falling like this for a few more seconds or so, Sora found himself descending to another stain-glass floor that depicted a blonde haired woman in a sparkling white ball gown who appeared to be wearing glass slippers, and just a minute after his feet had touched the floor, the Wayward Wind appeared in his hand like magic, much to his surprise.

 _"You've gained the power to fight,"_ the voice declared, prompting Sora to fall into a long-practiced battle stance after giving the strange sword a few practice swings, which consisted of him bending down slightly while the tip of the blade pointed away from him, towards his right side. _"Use this power to protect yourself and others."_

"I wouldn't exactly use that kind of power very seriously for anything else," Sora remarked with a shrug. Sure he would like to have a few play fights with his friends, but those were never very serious fights or anything like that. Any further remarks he had on the matter were quickly silenced when he noticed some odd shadows forming on the ground around him, which was rather strange since as far as Sora could tell, the only light source around him was from the floor beneath him, and even if that were not the case, he should have been the only one around. A minute later, he was jumping back in shock as the shadows suddenly rose up from the ground and formed into strange, little pitch-black creatures with three claws on each hand, glowing yellow eyes, and two long, twisted antennae on their heads.

 _"There will be times when you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong,"_ the voice then warned, a little too late in Sora's opinion as the weird monsters suddenly started to move towards him, clearly intent on attacking him.

"No kidding," Sora dryly replied before he began swinging his current weapon at the offending creatures. Despite not having any real formal training in sword fighting, Sora was no slouch in the area, as some of his friends would easily tell you if you were to ask them, so a few quick swings of Wayward Wind were all it really took for Sora to deal some decisive and finishing blows to the monsters that were attacking him. At least, that was what it seemed like at first, but Sora did not notice that in his hasty attack, one of the creatures had actually retreated into the floor after barely managing to avoid a swing of Sora's blade, and was now sneaking around to Sora's blind spot.

The creature likely would have managed to deliver a damaging blow to Sora from behind, had the voice from before not intervened when it did. _"Behind you!"_

Hearing the voice's cry of warning, Sora immediately turned to face the direction the mystery person had indicated, and when he saw the creature attempting to jump him, he spun around and thrust the strange sword forward, stabbing right through the creature while it was in mid-jump, causing to vanish in a burst of smoke the minute that the sword had gone through it. The defeat of the sneaky monster prompted the arrival of a few more, similar creatures, but Sora was quick to defeat them as well, until the ones that remained sank into the ground again and created a large, dark hole that quickly began to envelope the entire floor. Sora was worried of course, but after looking every which way he could, he found no way to get clear before the entire floor was enveloped, and as a result, he found himself sinking into the ground as well, all the while struggling to make sure that he was not pulled in.

It turned out that his struggles were not all that necessary, as he soon found himself waking up on another platform with a design that seemed rather…well, girly in his opinion, given how there was an abundance of pink and hearts on it, completely safe. The design of the floor was not what really mattered to Sora, as he quickly found just the very thing he had been hoping for since this whole thing started. "Finally a way out," Sora exclaimed in relief. He was not really all that concerned by the fact that there was just a door standing in the middle of an empty platform, as he just chalked that up to dream-logic, but when he went to open it, his hand just went right through it. "You've gotta be kidding me," Sora lightly groaned as he attempted to grasp the door's handle again and again, only to be met with the same results each time. "Okay mysterious talking voice that enjoys being really cryptic for some weird reason, now what?"

There was no response from the voice, but instead, a light suddenly seemed to shine down from out of nowhere until a small chest appeared out of nowhere behind Sora. Thinking that it was worth a look, Sora simply shrugged and walked over to the chest to open it up, only to find that it was locked. "Well that's just great," Sora grumbled. "Where's a key when you need one? It's not like I can just say 'open sesame' or tap it open with…" Sora stopped in his mutterings as he looked at Wayward Wind, which he was surprised to find was still in his hands for a minute. "It couldn't be that simple, could it," Sora questioned. After thinking it over for a minute, he just shrugged and said, "Well, only one way to find out."

With that said, Sora tapped the key-shaped sword on the chest, and the small box easily popped open without any problem at all, producing what Sora could only assume was the key to the door that he had just been trying to get through. Slightly amazed at the fact that had actually worked, Sora eventually just shrugged in acceptance of this and hurried back to the door, which he was happy to discover, had turned solid at some point while he was trying to open the chest. "Here's hoping that nothing on the other side of this thing will try and kill me," Sora muttered to himself as he stepped through the door, covering his eyes a little due to the bright light that was shinning from the other side.

As he stepped further and further into the door, the light that was glowing from the other side continued to get brighter and brighter, until finally, Sora had to close his eyes completely until the light finally started to fade. When the immensely bright light finally did fade enough for Sora to open his eyes again, he was relieved to see that he was standing on the Play Island that was just a short distance off the shore from the island he lived on, with three of his friends standing around him a short ways above the ground, and he was beginning to think that things would be a bit more normal from here, at least as far as things go in dreams, until he heard the mystery voice calling out to him once again. _"Hold on. The door won't open just yet."_

"What're you talking about? The door just did open up and it…somehow led me here," Sora protested as waved at the area around him. Before he went any further in his argument though, Sora thought of something that he probably should have realized a little sooner. "You are talking about the door I just went through, right?"

 _"First, tell me more about yourself,"_ the voice replied.

Sora just shrugged in response to this, knowing that he was not likely to get any straight answers from this mysterious voice, but before he could really say anything, one of the three friends that were currently around him suddenly asked, "Hey Sora, are you talking to someone?"

Sora looked to the person in question and saw that it was the lone girl of the three around him, that he knew as the energetic Selphie. Sora honestly thought that it was a little odd that this particular girl was in this weird dream, since most of his dreams that included girls involved another girl entirely, but he quickly shook it off when he realized where this line of thought was leading him while his face turned a bit scarlet and said, "Uh…just talking to myself."

Selphie just nodded in response to this like it was an everyday occurrence and then asked, "What's most important to you?"

That earned the girl a confused look from Sora, along with the response, "Okay…random topic, but I guess I don't mind telling you. I think the most important thing to me would be my friends, family, and everyone else important in my life."

"Is friendship really such a big deal," Selphie asked.

"Are you really asking me that question right now, Selphie," Sora questioned in disbelief. "I mean, you're not exactly one to talk about whether or not friendship is important with how you're so eager to make friends with everyone and their grandma most of the time." Before Sora could go any further in his answer, the girl suddenly disappeared right before his eyes, almost as if she had never been there. "Selphie? What just…where'd you go?"

"Uh Sora? Who're you talking to," the shorter of the two boys, who was named Tidus, suddenly asked, drawing Sora's attention over to him.

"I was talking to Selphie. She was just here a second ago. Didn't you see," Sora questioned.

"No," Tidus shrugged in response, confusing Sora even more than he already was. That confusion only grew when Tidus suddenly asked, "What're you afraid of?"

Sora did not know why two of his friends were suddenly asking him such random thing, but he figured he might as well answer and get it over with anyway, because whatever was going on was really starting to reach his limits on weirdness. "Well, if there's one thing that I'm really afraid of, it's losing everything and everyone that's really important to me."

"Losing everything and everyone important to you? Is that really so scary," Tidus questioned.

"Please tell me you're joking? You don't think that's scary at all," Sora asked in surprise, only to find that Tidus had also vanished. "And you're gone too. Can this dream get any weirder?" Sora was not really expecting an answer to that question, but he knew he would end up getting it one way or the other eventually, so he just shook his head and walked over to the tallest of the three that had appeared around him, who was also one of the tallest out of all of his friends as well. "Hey Wakka, did you see what just happened over there," Sora called out as he reached the friend in question.

Wakka looked around the area that Sora was indicating, along with the general vicinity to see if there was some other direction that Sora was referring to before he finally replied, "See what, man?"

"How Selphie and Tidus just disappeared," Sora clarified.

"Uh no," Wakka shrugged in reply. Before Sora could add anything else to what he had been saying before, Wakka suddenly asked, "What do you want outta life?"

It was at this point that Sora had become completely certain that this was how the voice was getting to know more about him, or at least, that's what it was starting to look like to him, so instead of getting weirded out by the random topic, Sora just replied, "What I want…is to be able to travel to other worlds and see what's out there, and meet other people from those worlds as well, along with anything else that can only be seen on those worlds."

"See other worlds, huh," Wakka asked, and he then made a show of spinning his blitzball on his finger before he too disappeared like the other two.

 _"You care most about your friends, family, and all those important to you. You're afraid of losing those that are most important to you. You want to travel to other worlds,"_ the mysterious voice repeated in a summarized version of what Sora had just said.

"Oh hey, you're back," Sora called out, jokingly, since he knew that he should not likely expect a real answer from whoever this person speaking to him from nowhere and everywhere was.

 _"Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine,"_ the voice continued like it had not been interrupted. _"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near."_

"Is that supposed to make sense to me, or anyone really," Sora questioned. The only answer he was received was a near blinding light that forced him to shut his eyes again, and when he opened his eyes once more, he found himself standing upon another pillar with a stain glass floor, this time depicting a woman with long blonde hair in a blue dress with a rose held in her hands. "Oh no, not here again," Sora moaned in annoyance, only to groan when he saw that the same creatures from before were suddenly appearing around him once again. "And you guys are back too. Why am I not surprised?"

Sora did waste any more time with words after that point, and quickly went to work cutting down the newest swarm of monsters that were now around him, and after a few quick swings of Wayward Wind, he was once again alone on the pillar with nothing but the strange sword and the mysterious voice to keep him company. After standing in place for a minute though, a strange beam of light shone down from above him, and moved towards the edge of the pillar, were a flight of stairs suddenly began to materialize and then spiral upwards to the top of another pillar that Sora had not noticed before. Thinking that it was probably better to go the only direction he could go in than stay where he currently was, Sora immediately made his way up the new stairs that had just appeared out of thin air like magic, until he was finally on the next pillar, at which point he saw that this one's stain glass floor depicted the image of a woman in a yellow ball gown that left her shoulders bare.

 _"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."_

"Yeah, I already know that. That's something that anyone could tell…you," Sora started to tell the voice, until he noticed that something really big seemed to be forming behind him, much like the monsters he had been fighting just a second ago. Upon turning around to fully face the thing in question, Sora ended up stepping back in fright at the sight of his own shadow suddenly coming up from the ground and then begin to grow bigger and bigger, long past the point where it was bigger than him.

 _"But don't be afraid. And don't forget…"_

Whether something was blocking out what the voice was saying or the voice had said it so softly that it could not be heard at the moment, Sora really did not care, because right now, all he knew was that a massive, shadowy monster was looming over him and he had to get away, so he immediately turned and started to run. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that there was nowhere to run to, as the stairs he had just climbed had now disappeared back to wherever they had come from, and he was now alone on this strange pillar with the massive, strange, shadow monster that had been his shadow just a few seconds ago. Seeing that he now had no other choice, Sora immediately spun his borrowed weapon in his hand before dropping into a battle stance, hoping that he could somehow manage to fight this thing.

Just seconds after seeing Sora assume his battle stance, the monster slammed a massive fist down on the ground, but it was not near where Sora was standing, much to his slight confusion. That puzzle was quickly solved when a pool of shadows suddenly opened up beneath where the fist had struck, and more of the monsters from earlier started to come out of it, instantly telling Sora that this creature was not really going for an attack, but instead, was mainly going for reinforcements. Those reinforcements did not last for very long, as Sora quickly and easily dispensed of them with a few swings of the strange sword he was currently wielding before jumping up onto the massive beast's arm so that he could make a run for its head. Once he had reached the monster's head, he immediately started striking at said area with everything he had, until finally, he felt his footing starting to come loose as the monster began to rise up again and then jumped off.

For a moment, it looked like the beast was going to do something else as it moved back a few paces, but after a second or two, it suddenly seemed to kneel down a bit, making Sora think that it was not really as tough as it looked. That was until the monster suddenly waved its hand and opened another pit of darkness beneath Sora's feet. He tried to use Wayward Wind to help pull him out, but the mysterious blade vanished before he could attempt to securely stab it into the ground around the pit, and thus Sora was left to struggle as the strange, black, shadowy pit continued to swallow him up. Before he finally lost all manner of sight, he heard the strange voice say one last thing.

 _"But don't be afraid. You hold the mightiest weapon of all. So don't forget: you are the one who will open the door."_

* * *

When Sora opened his eyes again, he found himself staring up at a clear blue sky with a shinning sun with the faint sounds of seagulls from somewhere around him. Upon sitting up, Sora glanced around to see that he was right back to the beach on the Play Island where he had initially laid down for a nap, much to his relief, and after letting out a deep yawn, he lay down once more in the hopes of a much more peaceful nap. At least that was what he would have tried to do, had his vision not suddenly found itself being filled with the face of a beautiful young girl with dark red hair and violet-blue eyes smiling down at him.

"Whoa," Sora exclaimed as he bolted upright once more, and he then turned to see the redhead girl in question still standing over him with her hands on her knees, lightly laughing at his startled response to her presence. Upon properly facing the girl in question, one could see that she was dressed in a sleeveless white top, with a black one underneath, a purple skirt over purple bike shorts with a blue belt, and white shoes with purple caps. On her left arm were a yellow wristband and a purple armband, while a pair of bracelets occupied her other wrist, and a black choker and necklace with a silver bead completed her ensemble. This was the girl that Sora knew as one of his best friends, the girl that he somewhat-secretly liked as more than a friend, and one of the few people who could actually get him up from one of his marathon naps. "Gimme a break, Kairi."

"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here," Kairi instantly replied in a teasing tone with a smile that easily matched her smile as she stood up straight with her hands moving to be folded behind her back.

"No! This huge, black THIING swallowed me up," Sora immediately objected. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-Ow!"

"Are you still dreaming," Kairi questioned as she bent down again to give him a scrutinizing look while Sora lightly rubbed his head where she had previously hit him just a moment ago to stop his wild protest.

"It wasn't a dream," Sora instantly denied, but his confidence in that quickly faded away as he started to wonder about that. "Or was it? I don't know…What was that place? So bizarre…"

"Yeah, sure," Kairi just shrugged in humoring acceptance, having long since gotten used to some of the weird things that Sora's mind would conjure up when he was sleeping in any way, shape, or form.

Hoping to change the subject, Sora quickly looked back to his friend and crush and asked, "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."

"I've told you before, I don't remember," Kairi replied with a small giggle at Sora's apparent forgetfulness of the fact.

"Nothing at all," Sora pressed.

"Nothing," Kairi repeated quietly, surprising Sora once more at the fact that the girl seemed to be able to take the fact she could not remember anything about where she was originally from in stride so well. He was sure that he would never have been able to do something like that.

"You ever want to go back?"

That question made Kairi pause and think for a moment, until she finally hummed, "Well, I'm happy here."

"Really…" Sora asked, not quite fully believing that. He was not questioning the fact that Kairi really was happy here on Destiny Islands, she really was being honest about that, but he could not honestly believe that she would not want to go back at all.

Sora's suspicions were proven true when Kairi added, "But you know…I wouldn't mind going to see it."

"I'd like to see it to, along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all," Sora excitedly declared.

"So what're we waiting for," Kairi questioned in equal excitement. You see, the two friends had shared a dream of traveling to other worlds for nearly as long as they had known each other, and every time they talked about doing so, they always got really excited at the very idea of living said dream, and today, they were another step closer to doing so. Of course, that did not mean that they were the only ones who were planning on living the dream.

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me," a new, more mature voice interrupted, drawing the two to turn their attention to the speaker. The person in question was a boy with silver hair and aquamarine eyes who looked to be about a year older than the other two. His outfit consisted of a yellow and black tank top with black straps crisscrossing his chest and upper back, dark blue pants that were connected to brighter blue, baggy pants by white studded suspenders, white and blue shoes, and a pair of black gloves with matching wrist bands. To everyone on Destiny Islands, this boy was both the heartthrob of nearly every girl on the Islands, and the third member of their little trio of best friends, Riku, and like his two best friends, he also shared the dream of seeing other worlds.

"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft," Riku smirked in good humor at the two before tossing the small log he was carrying to Sora. As Sora flailed about to catch said log before it either landed in the water or crushed him, much to both Riku and Kairi's light amusement, the older boy leveled a small, playfully angry look at the girl of their trio as he added, "And you're just as lazy as he is!"

"Hehe, so you noticed," Kairi grinned with very little shame on the matter. The three had in fact come to the island that day so that they could continue their preparations for their journey to visit other worlds, which they had been making for a few days now, and unfortunately for poor Riku, his two best friends had disappeared on him after Sora had gone off somewhere for a quick nap, with Kairi following behind him shortly after to wake up the, as she called him, lazy bum, though Riku knew that it was just an excuse to spend a bit more time with Sora. Since she did not want her friend to feel bad about their leaving him on his own and wanted to finish what they had set out to do that day, Kairi immediately declared, "Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you!"

"Huh," Sora questioned as Riku just sat down in the sand next to him, wondering where that had come from.

"What, are you kidding," Riku asked, showing that he was really tired from what he had already done in the twos absence and wanted to take a page out of Sora's book.

Kairi just giggled at the two, knowing that they would be up and running the minute she gave a signal to start, and she immediately cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Ready…GO!"

In an instant, the two boys were both on their feet again and racing away towards the place where they had been working on the small, wooden raft that would serve as their vessel for traveling to other worlds, with the lone girl of their trio right behind them laughing the whole way. They could not really blame her for that, both because she knew how to really get them going so well, and because they were just as excited for the journey they were preparing to head out on as she was.

* * *

After getting together a list of who would do what to help with putting the finishing touches on the raft, the three friends split up to gather up what they were assigned to get. Of course, Riku did not really need to get all that much, since he had spent the most time working on the raft out of the three, so Sora and Kairi busied themselves with gathering what was left to finish putting the raft together. They did not really need all that much at this point, as evidenced by how close to completion their little raft was, so no one really complained that much when Sora stopped for a moment to have a friendly sparring match with some of the other kids that were on the Play Island that day. Of course, none of them used any real weapons or anything, the closest any of them came to having a real weapon would probably be Sora's wooden toy sword or Tidus' staff, but one would be easily surprised with how easily some of the kids could make do with what they had, especially with the way that Selphie would swing around that jump rope of hers like it was a set of nunchucks. Despite whatever skill each of the kids had though, none of them were ever really able to beat Sora when he got going, except for one person.

"Hey Sora, if you're done warming up with these other guys and getting everything you need for the raft, how about a quick round," Riku called out in a challenge to his best friend from where he was sitting on the crooked palm tree that was settled nicely on the small island that was connected to the rest of the Play Island by a wooden bridge.

Sora just smirked in reply and replied, "Okay, you're on Riku!"

"Alright then, this one decides the champion," Riku declared as he dropped down onto the sand of the smaller island from his perch. Sora nodded in agreement to this and immediately assumed his battle stance once he was on the smaller island with Riku, knowing full well that if either one of them knocked the other off the smaller island, they would be out of bounds and automatically lose.

The other kids just ooed and awed at the sight of the two best friends and occasional rivals going at it once more, because everyone knew full well that when it came to these playful sparring matches, or even serious fighting, the only person who could confidently say that he was better than Sora was Riku, partially because Riku helped teach Sora a lot of what he knew about sword fighting. An instant later, the sounds of wood clashing against wood filled the air, as the two boys' toy swords collided with each other while they tried to strike a blow against the other. While Sora's fighting style was not really as well-honed or practiced as a typical swordsman, Riku's skills were clearly a bit more like that of someone who actually knew how to wield an actual sword, and it was still pretty obvious that Riku was holding back a lot more than Sora was for reasons beyond the facts that they were best friends and that this was not a serious fight. Still, Sora was able to hold his own for a while, until he ended up exposing an opening in his guard that Riku easily took advantage of to go in for the win, leading the spiky haired boy to drop his head a little in light disappointment.

"Good effort, but I'm still the number one fighter on the islands, Sora," Riku boasted proudly, much to Sora's light irritation. Riku may have been his best friend, but that did not mean that the guy did not still get on his nerves sometimes with how large his ego often seemed to be.

"Okay boys, if you're done playing, we've still got a raft to finish, and it looks like the sun's going to start to going down soon," Kairi called out, drawing the two out of their moment of being friendly rivals, and drawing them back into being best friends so that they could finish working on their raft.

* * *

It took a while for the three to finish, but after a lot of hard work and cooperation that could only come from a trio of closely-knit best friends, the raft that they were planning to use to travel to other worlds was finished and ready to sail. All that was left to do was make sure that they had all the necessary supplies for their journey, but it had grown to be rather late, so the three decided to leave that sort of thing for the next day, just as Kairi had said they would have to when they had all met up for their little project that morning. Since all of the other kids had gone home for the day a few hours ago or so, the three had the island to themselves, so they were able to gather together on the crooked tree to watch the sunset in peace.

As he watched the setting sun seem to disappear into the wide ocean beneath, Sora looked to his friends and said, "So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?"

"Could be," Riku shrugged in reply. "We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far could a raft take us," Sora inquired further, knowing that this was probably a very important question that the three really should have thought of before now.

Riku had to admit that Sora had a bit of a point in that question, but he was not willing to let the other two know about that, so he simply shrugged once more and waved it off as he replied, "Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

It was not really an answer that Sora was looking for, but before he could press Riku any further, Kairi cut in with a question of her own. "So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?"

Both boys had to bow their heads in thought for a minute, but eventually Sora just shrugged in response while Riku said, "Well I…I haven't really thought about it. It's just…I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds…Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater, so we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know," Sora answered with shrug as he lay back on the crooked tree like he was about to take another nap.

"Exactly," Riku nodded like Sora had perfectly hit the nail on the head of his point. "That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff, so let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you," Kairi noted with a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Thanks to you," Riku admitted, drawing Sora's full attention to his best friend in an instant. Sora knew that Riku would sometimes act like his feelings for Kairi were a bit stronger than he let on, but the older boy would always reassure Sora later on that he was not being serious about such things in some way. Thankfully, this turned out to not be one of those times when it was necessary as Riku went on to say, "If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks."

"You're welcome," Kairi smiled in response. The young girl then pushed herself down from where she was sitting on the tree and dusted her shorts free of sand as she said, "We'd probably better get on home now before anyone starts to think we suddenly decided to camp out here for the night at the last minute or something."

The two boys both nodded in agreement and were soon falling into step behind their friend, but they both paused in their departure when Riku suddenly picked one of the star-shaped fruit that grew on the crooked tree and called out to Sora. The minute that Sora had turned around, Riku tossed the fruit over to his friend, which Sora effortlessly caught, and asked, "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A paopu fruit," Sora questioned as he looked down at the star-shaped fruit in confusion.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what," Riku stated in a recitation of the legend that surrounded the fruit that was currently in Sora's hands with a teasing smile. "C'mon, I know you want to try it."

"What're you talking…," Sora started to ask, only to realize what Riku was implying a second later and start blushing up a storm while his friend just laughed at his expense. This was the reason why Sora's crush on Kairi was not really too big of a secret, because even if Riku was not Sora's best friend, just about everyone on Destiny Islands knew about the boy's feelings for Kairi except the girl herself. Of course, since he had been Sora's best friend for nearly all of his life, Riku was the first person who ever found out about this fact, and he had not failed to give Sora a little teasing on the matter ever since.

After letting his friend get the remainder of his laugh in, Sora finally tossed the fruit aside and started to chase after Riku in the hopes he could do something to get the taller and older boy back before they rowed back to the main island and returned to their homes for the day, never suspecting for a minute just what could be going on outside their tiny world.

* * *

While night was falling over the peaceful world of Destiny Islands, morning had just risen for the world of Disney Town and the people who lived within the extravagant halls of Disney Castle. As such, Royal Magician Donald Duck was making his way to the audience chamber to give a morning's greeting to his long-time best friend and the world's king, and Donald was sure said king would be in the company of his other friend that had recently become the newest Keyblade Master not too long ago. Upon reaching the very massive doors that led into the audience chamber, Donald cleared his throat with a small cough, and then knocked before opening the actual, normal sized door that one would have missed had they not lived in this castle for so long or known about its design and layout and walking in.

"Good morning, Your Majesty, and to you as well, Master Ventus," Donald bowed in greeting as he walked further into the large room, drawing closer and closer to proper viewing range of the king's throne as he did. "It's nice to see you both this morn…What?!"

The reason why Donald had squawked in surprise in the way that he did was because when he finally did reach the king's throne, he found neither the king nor the aforementioned master waiting for him. In point of fact, the only one that seemed to be in the room at all was Donald himself, at least until he saw the king's dog, Pluto step out from behind the throne with a note in his mouth that had the king's seal on it. After retrieving said letter from the loyal friend and quickly reading through it, Donald was instantly dashing out quacking in panic, and he did not stop until he was out in the courtyard and standing before the sleeping form of his other best friend and the captain of the royal knights. "Wake up, Goofy, wake up! This is serious," Donald ordered his sleeping friend. When Goofy just continued sleeping, Donald's infamous short temper reeled its face and caused the magician to summon a thunder spell down on his friend to shock him awake with a start.

Once Goofy had shaken the jolts of the duck's spell out of his system and rubbed any remaining sleep out of his eyes, he looked over to his friend and greeted, "Hey there, Donald. G'morning."

"We've got a problem, Goofy," Donald interrupted before Goofy could say anymore than that. He then paused to glance around the area before whispering, "But don't tell anyone…"

"Queen Minnie," Goofy asked.

"Not even the queen," Donald stated with a shake of his head and his beak pointed up high while he crossed his arms.

"Daisy," Goofy then asked.

"No, it's top secret," Donald immediately quacked insistently.

That was when Goofy dropped a bit of a surprise on Donald. "Uh…G'morning, ladies."

This comment immediately caused Donald to pause and then slowly turn around to see the previously mentioned ladies were standing right behind, and while Daisy was throwing him a warning look that just dared him to try and deny he was planning to hide something from them, Queen Minnie Mouse was throwing him one of those too-sweet smiles that clearly communicated the same message, instantly telling the now very sheepish duck that he had no choice but tell them everything about what he just learned in the king's letter.

* * *

At the same time, over on the world of Traverse Town, Ven was currently holding his usual battle stance in preparation for any sudden attacks, until he finally confirmed that no one was going to be coming out to attack him at the moment, at least in this area, allowing him to dismiss his trusted Keyblade and release a sigh of relief. "Looks like I can finally catch a bit of a break in this district," Ven mused to himself as he turned to go back to the apartment building that his newest friends had set up as their own place and field base in the fight against the creatures known as the Heartless.

As he made his way over, he allowed himself a moment to think over what he had learned since arriving in Traverse Town. It was clear that the Heartless were able to track someone based on the strength of the light within their heart, or if they possessed a Keyblade like he did, but they seemed rather content with leaving this world alone for the most part, at least if one were to judge on how many of the more weaker varieties there were here. In addition, ever since he made it clear that he was not to be messed with or taken lightly, the Heartless had ceased coming after him as much as they would anyone else in his position, so it was also clear just how much like a basic animal the Heartless were without someone to direct them. Of course he knew what that would likely mean for the person he knew would eventually arrive here on this world, and he could only hope that said person would be able to hold his own until they met, or until one of his newest friends found him.

Ven was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he finally walked into his room of the apartment that said friends were currently staying at, as the most excitable of those friends suddenly popped out of nowhere like the ninja she proudly proclaimed to be and said, "Hail the conquering Keyblade Master's triumphant return! And just seconds behind the Great Ninja Master Yuffie. Not bad, Vennie-Boy."

"Said the girl who can just appear and disappear anywhere with some crazy smoke bomb," Ven chuckled in response to the master ninja. "So what're you doing here this time, Yuffie? Looking for a report on how my patrol went, or are you just hiding from someone you recently pulled a prank on?"

"Come on, Ven. I don't always hide here when I pull a prank on someone," Yuffie protested in defense.

"Well I should hope not. I've only been here for a couple of days," Ven reminded her. The two remained silent for a minute until the Keyblade Master of the two finally asked, "Which of them was it this time? Cid or Leon?"

"…Cid," Yuffie finally admitted in defeat. "In my defense, those bottles of paint were just asking to be dumped on him. _Asking_ to be dumped on him I tell you."

"What bottles of…" Ven started to ask, but he was soon interrupted by someone banging on the door, which was soon followed by the angry shouting of the previously mentioned Gummi Block expert and store owner, leading Yuffie to let out a small squeak as she instantly ducked into a hiding place before Ven could see where she was going.

"Please don't tell him I'm here," Yuffie frantically whispered from wherever she was hiding.

Ven just shrugged in response, knowing that Yuffie had probably seen him do so, and then opened the door, but when he did, it took every ounce of restraint he had not to burst out laughing uncontrollably. There, standing in his doorway, was a very angry Cid, who was nearly covered from head to toe in the brightest shades of pink, purple, and every other girly color one could imagine that Ven had ever seen. "Alright Blondie, where is she," Cid demanded.

"Uh…who," Ven somehow managed to choke out in his attempt to keep himself from laughing.

"That little pest who calls herself a ninja," Cid snarled.

At this point, Ven finally managed to school his features, only to turn his gaze down to Cid's feet a minute later as he found himself unable to look Cid in the face without nearly bursting out laughing, and after regaining his composure once again, he finally said, "I'm sorry, Cid, but I haven't seen Yuffie since our little group meeting earlier today. Maybe you should ask Leon."

"Look me in the eye and say that," Cid ordered.

"I can't do that," Ven said. "I'm doing my best to not laugh at your current appearance right now, and every time I try to look at your face, it only gets harder to do so."

Cid would have given a snarling retort in response to that, but he knew that Ven was likely telling the truth, as even Aerith had been unable to do any better than Ven currently was when he talked to her a second ago, so he just huffed and then stomped away, grumbling under his breath about prank-pulling ninja brats until he was out of sight. After closing the door again, Ven turned around to see Yuffie had come out of hiding again and was now smiling widely at him, and after staring at each other for a minute, they both found that they could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing at what they had seen just now.

"Haha, oh the look on his face," Ven exclaimed through his laughter.

"If you think that was funny, you should've seen the look he had when he was first hit! Priceless," Yuffie proudly declared between her own chuckles. When the two finally settled down, the young woman added, "Wait till you hear about what I did to Leon earlier."

"Just tell me you didn't hide his Gunblade again, because you know what happened the last time you did that," Ven reminded the ninja.

Yuffie's face instantly paled a little at this reminder before she stuttered, "Uh…I'll be right back. I've gotta go do something really important that may or may not keep everyone in Traverse Town from ending up dead. See ya later!"

An instant later, Yuffie was gone again, drawing an amused chuckle from Ventus before he declared, "Well, despite all things considered, things are definitely never boring around here. We can definitely thank Yuffie a lot for that." His mood then became serious once again as he turned his gaze out the window and said, "Still…I can't help but hope that you'll get here soon."

He knew that a lot of the people who lived here in Traverse Town were not from this world, but from worlds that had fallen into darkness, and even with the vast amount of space that it possessed, there was quickly becoming a very small amount of area left for folks to live in. Ven knew full well that if things kept up like this, such matters would be the least of their worries, but that did not keep such concerns from rising to his mind all the same. When a small yawn escape from him, Ven realized that it was probably time for him to call it a night and he quickly made his way over to his bed with one final statement to the stars above the world as he drifted off to sleep. "Sora…if you can hear me, please gain the power you were destined to possess soon. We need you."

* * *

 ** _AN: Well that was fun. We got to see the big three of the KH series, a change up to Sora's Dive to the Heart, Donald getting himself into trouble because of his big mouth and lack of attention to his surroundings, and we got to see Ven once again as he helped to lighten things up a little with some help with our favorite ninja from the Final Fantasy series._**

 ** _Before you guys ask, yes, those three swords that Sora saw in his Dive to the Heart were in fact the original Keyblades of Terra, Aqua, and Ven, as if I didn't make it obvious enough when I announced the names. I know that some people don't really change that up very often and just stick with the old sword, wand, and shield thing, but I wanted to do something a little different this time around, and I felt that having those three Keyblades symbolize the different paths Sora could take was a bit more suiting to the storyline that this story falls into. Also, yeah, I highlighted some things that happened on Destiny Islands._**

 ** _And yeah, I know the whole thing with Yuffie pranking either Cid or Leon has been done a few times before, but it's always pretty funny to hear about such things so I couldn't resist. Shame I couldn't get this story's version of the Yen Sid Reports in this time, but don't worry, like I said before, we'll be seeing that soon enough. Just give it a little bit of time. Now, next chapter will have a few more fun and exciting things happening, and may end up being pretty long, considering what I want to throw in there, but for a better idea, why don't you all just move along and get Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The three friends continue their preparations for their voyage, while the situation on the other worlds continues to unfold, until finally, the destiny that awaits Sora finally finds him. Just what will Sora discover with the acquisition of this new power, and how quickly can Ven meet up with either him, Donald and Goofy, or even both before trouble befalls any of them? Find out the answers to these questions and more, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	3. Mysteries and the Encounters

**_AN: Hey everyone! I'm back for another one, and there's a lot going on in the story this time around. In fact, there's so much going on in this chapter, that I almost came close to splitting it into two chapters! Yeah, that much is going on this time. Who's excited?!_**

 ** _Riku: I know I am, and not just because I have a bigger role in this story than I did in your last Kingdom Hearts story._**

 ** _AN: You do remember what that bigger role has you doing in this story, right?_**

 ** _Riku: Doesn't matter. Point is that I'm in this thing a lot more this time around._**

 ** _Sora: Still not as much as me~!_**

 ** _Kairi: Um, Sora, you kinda have to have a big role, since your the main character of the story, which takes place during the very first Kingdom Hearts game._**

 ** _Ventus: Just let him have this, Kairi. You of all people should know how those two are._**

 ** _AN: Alright, enough waiting around, let's get on with the action!...I said, let's get on with the action!...Um, let's make some magic!...[stage whispers] Why is the control for starting the story not starting the story, or making the disclaimer go?_**

 ** _Riku: Oh yeah...uh, I guess I forgot to tell you that there was a little accident while we were shooting the stunts this time around, and the tech guys said that you would have to use the manual controls this time._**

 ** _AN: Oh, okay, it's no problem. We can deal with that. To the manual controls!_**

 ** _[everyone rushes over to a pair of levers which Riku ends up standing next to]_**

 ** _AN: Pull the lever, Riku._**

 ** _Riku: [Pulls the lever and causes a trap door to open under AN's feet]_**

 ** _AN: WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!_**

 ** _Riku: Uh, whoops. My bad._**

 ** _AN: [Walks in soaking wet with a Neoshadow Heartless holding onto him] Okay, why do we even_ have _that lever? [kicks the Neoshadow off him and walks back over to the controls] Get out of my way! [Pushes Riku aside and pulls the other lever] Enjoy everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter II**

When morning came to Destiny Islands the next day, the sun was shining brightly as always, and the trio of best friends was quick to get back out to the Play Island so that they could continue making preparations for their voyage. With the raft itself fully completed, all the three needed to do now was gather all the food and supplies that they would need to survive out at sea on the trip, and while Kairi wanted to start gathering up said supplies right away, the two boys thought that there was something else that they had to do before they could truly say that the raft was finished. "Hey, Sora," Riku called out once they had entered the cove at the back of the island, causing Sora to stop for a minute while Kairi continued on ahead, not entirely aware that the two were not following her at that point. "Our raft still needs a name you know."

"Oh yeah, you're right," Sora nodded in agreement. It may have seemed silly to name a small raft that three kids had put together in just a few days, but everyone on Destiny Islands always had a tendency to name any seafaring vessel of any type before they set sail no matter what it was. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Let's see…" Riku thought for a minute before a name finally came to him. "How about Highwind?"

"I don't know. That's kinda strange," Sora said.

"Well, what would you call it," Riku challenged.

"Me? Well…um," Sora hummed in response, having not really thought of anything himself. After thinking it over for a minute, Sora finally thought of something that he heard in the strange dream he had the previous day, and thinking that it was a better idea than what Riku came up with, immediately declared, "Guardian!"

"C'mon Sora. I thought even you were smarter than that," Riku scoffed. "I mean that's so generic."

"Hey, it's better than 'Highwind'," Sora retorted. The two were soon holding a small glare with each other for a few minutes, knowing that they would never be able to decide like this, until Sora finally asked the all important question. "The usual?"

"Let's do it," Riku smirked in reply. For these two, the usual meant that they would settle the argument with a race around the obstacle course in the cove, at least when they were actually in the cove, and unlike with their sparring matches, when it came to racing, the two were very evenly matched, having raced against each other practically since they were old enough to walk. In fact, the two had so many races up until now, that some people would occasionally say that it seemed like they had been racing even when they were only able to crawl.

"You guys at it again," Kairi suddenly called out, letting the two know that she had now realized that they had stopped following her to the raft and turned back to rejoin them. Before either of the two could say anything in their defense, Kairi sighed in tired acceptance of the two's constant need to outdo each other somehow and said, "All right, I'll be the judge."

"Great. That means there'll be little chance of Riku trying to cheat," Sora playfully remarked.

"You wish that I did that. It'd give you a good excuse for the times when you've actually lost," Riku quipped as he gave Sora a light shove. The silver haired boy then looked over to Kairi and said, "It'll just be a quick race around the obstacle course to decide who can name the raft, Kairi. After that, we'll finish getting ready to set sail."

"Fine, I'll hold you to that, Riku," Kairi accepted with a playful warning as she moved to stand at the entrance of the cove where they would start the race from. "The usual rules apply. Take any route you want, and first one to tag the tree with the large star at the top and make it back here wins."

"Got it," both boys nodded, and they then moved into a starting position. Before they began though, Riku gained a small smirk and whispered to Sora, "Hey, Sora, care to up the stakes a little?"

Sora was a bit puzzled by this sudden suggestion, but he figured there would be no harm in it, so he just shrugged and said, "Sure. If I win, I'm captain! And if you win…"

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi," Riku interrupted.

"Huh," Sora exclaimed in shock.

Riku only smirked, knowing that he had Sora hooked from the moment that he had agreed to add some additional stakes, and then said, "Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."

"Wha…wait a minute," Sora feebly tried to protest. It was one thing to tease a guy about sharing a paopu fruit with the girl they had feelings for, but in Sora's opinion, this was basically saying that they were going to make Kairi into some kind of trophy, something that he was definitely not okay with.

The poor boy was instantly brought back to the matter at hand, when Kairi called out, "Okay, on my count: 3…2…1…GO!"

The minute Kairi shouted that, the two boys were off like lightning, with Riku taking an early lead due to Sora still being a bit caught off guard by the older boy's surprise stakes. That did not last long, as Sora was easily able to catch up and then pass Riku before they were even halfway over the old dock. As they reached the end of the dock where a lookout tower had been built, Sora easily jumped from the dock and onto the ladder so that he could climb up to the tower's zip line, forcing Riku to take the long way around. Upon reaching the top of the tower and riding down the zip line, Sora was able to clear the entirety of the cove's beach, placing well ahead of Riku, and giving him ample time to run up the hill and jump over to the tree with the large star placed at the top. After he had tagged the star, Sora dropped down from the ledge it sat on and began his run back to the starting point, passing the raft as he went. Now, he could have just jumped across the tops of the palm trees after tagging the star, like Riku was doing to try and catch up, but Sora was not going to try something like that when he knew that it would have been faster to jump up the way that Riku had gone down after reaching the lookout tower, and that was exactly what he did, so by the time Riku had made it back, Sora had already crossed the finish line in victory.

Sora had to smile even more at his victory when he heard Kairi cheering in excitement for him as she shouted out that he was the winner, but that smile faded a little when Riku finally caught up, apparently feeling a bit sore about coming in second this time, and said, "Man, lighten up. It's just a name."

"I can't believe you guys were even racing to decide that at all, to be honest," Kairi then stated with a sigh. "Boys. How about we gather the last of our supplies and make a final decision on the name afterwards?"

"…Fine," the two conceded, and they immediately turned to head down to the raft and dole out who would be responsible for gathering what.

Once Kairi was out of earshot again though, Sora looked to Riku and harshly whispered, "You know full well it was not just about a name."

Riku smirked a bit in response, knowing full well what Sora was talking about, but still played off by saying, "Oh, you mean that whole thing about sharing a paopu with Kairi? I was just kidding about that."

"Yeah, sure," Sora snorted in disbelief.

"What're you complaining about? You do know that if it was serious, you have no choice but to share one with her now, right," Riku pointed out. The result was instantaneous, as Sora's face turned bright red, and he immediately quickened his pace while muttering to Riku to hurry up, making Riku laugh a little under his breath at his friend's shyness and embarrassment.

* * *

In the end, Sora and Riku were the ones who ended up gathering their supplies while Kairi made sure everything on the raft was still in perfect shape for their trip, and after a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, it was decided that Riku would take care of getting the fish, coconuts, and seagull eggs, while Sora got the mushrooms and drinking water. Both boys had to cringe a little in mild disgust at the fact that Kairi actually wanted them to bring mushrooms along as part of their food supply, but neither of them had the heart or the courage to say no to her when she gave them her look that said that they should do it if they knew what was good for them. Kairi may not be the strongest person among their group when it came to fighting, but it was definitely not a great idea to get on her bad side. Riku and Sora had learned that the hard way a long time ago.

Finding some drinking water that did not come from the ocean was a piece of cake for Sora, and after a while, he had found all but one of the mushrooms that they would need for their trip. The problem was he had looked just about everywhere on the island for that one last mushroom without any success at finding it, and he was about to just give up, go back, and say that he could not find any more than what he currently had until he overheard Wakka talking to Selphie nearby. "Me and Tidus, we are gonna do a little explorin' today. You know, to the secret place at the base of that tree. There's gotta be something there, ya?"

"I don't know, Wakka. It's awfully dark in there, and I'm pretty sure I heard some really weird noises coming from inside a few times," Selphie nervously cautioned.

"Aw come on, Selphie. Sora, Riku, and Kairi go there just about all the time. That must mean whatever is in there must be worth seein' right?"

"That's all the more reason why it's probably better to just leave it alone. Kairi told me that the three of them have something in there that they consider to be really important to them, so maybe we should just leave it alone."

Sora had stopped listening to the two at that point and just started walking over to the previously mentioned secret place, which was really just a hidden cave hidden behind the island's waterfall and that he and his friends had affectionately called the Secret Place since they found out what was back there when he and Riku were still just kids. He did figure he could find at least one mushroom inside the cave of course, but his reasons for going in there right now went a little beyond that. Upon entering the cave, Sora looked around and started running his hands along the walls as he looked over the various chalk drawings that he and his two best friends had made in there ever since they found out what was really in here, not really paying much mind to the weird door that had been inside for as long as he could remember, until he came upon one pair of drawings in particular.

The two drawings in question were self portraits that he and Kairi had made of each other when they were little kids. He still remembered that day like it had just been yesterday; he had brought Kairi in the Secret Place a few days after meeting her to show off all the drawings that he and Riku had already made, and upon seeing a blank space near the weird door, Kairi instantly insisted that they try to draw each other. Sora had tried to refuse, saying that he was not really that great and believing that he would not be able to do a very good job at drawing her, but even back then, Kairi had been very persistent, and so the boy ended up agreeing. Even now, after all these years, he still thought that the drawing that Kairi made of him as a child was much better than the one he made of her, but Kairi would always say that he did a good job. Looking at the drawings now though, something inside of Sora made him feel like there was something missing.

He was not sure how long he sat there thinking this, but it must have been long enough to make him feel like it could not be left alone for very long, because a minute later, he had grabbed a nearby rock and started adding on to the drawing. Once he was finished, Sora sat back and smiled a little, revealing that he had drawn himself giving a paopu fruit to Kairi. He had in fact long since admitted to himself that Kairi was the prettiest girl he had ever met and that he wanted to share a paopu fruit with her, but that did not mean he was ready to admit such a thing out loud for the whole world to know, let alone to the girl herself; he was just too shy to do so. Still, the boy could not help but dream that he would be able to work up the courage to do so one day, like he was doing right now as he looked over his handiwork, until he realized that he was not alone.

"Wh-Who's there," Sora called out, thinking that Wakka and Tidus had come in here after all and seen what he had just done. What he was not expecting, was to hear a much deeper and older sounding voice answer him in the strangest of ways.

"I've come to see the door to this world," a stranger in a long brown cloak replied as he slowly stepped out of the shadows.

"Huh," Sora asked with his head titled a little in confusion.

"This world has been connected," the stranger explained.

"Wh-what're you talking about," Sora asked, not understanding what the man meant, but it did not seem like his question even registered with the stranger, as he just continued on with what he was saying.

"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."

"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this," Sora warned in an attempt to sound brave and tough. That was when he realized something that he had not thought about before. "Wh-where did you come from?"

The reason for Sora's question went beyond the fact that he had not even heard the stranger enter the cave, because he had not ever seen anyone dressed like him anywhere on the islands, or even heard anyone with a voice like his before in his life. Like Riku had said just last night, Destiny Islands was a small world, and just about everyone knew each other no matter where they lived in reference to another person, so the fact that Sora did not recognize this person was more than enough reason for him to ask such a question. The stranger did not grant Sora a proper answer though, but instead said, "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

"So, you're from another world," Sora guessed in slight surprise.

The stranger did not give any direct confirmation to this, but Sora could have sworn that he saw the man's hood move just enough to indicate that he was nodding. "There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."

That made Sora bristle a little, and he immediately retorted, "Oh, yeah? Well, you'll see; I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!"

"A meaningless effort," the stranger rebuked. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

When he saw the cloaked stranger seem to turn towards the mysterious door, Sora found his gaze moving in the same direction as well. At that point, something about what the stranger had said started bringing some old questions back up to the front of Sora's mind, and they all were in regard to this door. Just why was it here in this old cave? What did it lead to? And why did it not seem to have any kind of lock or handle? These were all things that Sora and his friends had wondered ever since the first time they had seen it, and part of Sora was tempted to ask if this strange person might know the answer. Of course, another part of him made Sora really nervous and wary of this strange person, but in the end, his curiosity won out and led the boy to turn and face the mystery man once again. When he did though, Sora's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the man had vanished without any indication of ever being there.

Sora shook it off and just returned to what he had been doing before, and after finding the last mushroom that Kairi said they would need, he quickly crawled back out of the cave and made his way back over to where his friends were waiting for him.

* * *

When Sora finally got back to the cove, he found Kairi sitting in the sand next to the raft, fiddling with something in her hands that was clearly very important if the fact a lot of her focus seemed to be on it was any indication. Her attention was quickly diverted over to him though when she sensed his presence, and she instantly thanked him for all of his hard work as they set about storing everything that Sora had gathered together with the rest of the supplies that Riku had already brought back. Once they were finished, Riku told them that he had to get home early and bade them goodbye with the promise of seeing them first thing tomorrow morning so that they could set sail as soon as possible, and the two were soon left on their own to enjoy watching the sunset from the dock, at Kairi's insistence.

Sora was honestly happy to enjoy a bit of time alone with Kairi, but at this moment, in a setting that would be considered quite romantic by a great many of people, he was drawing a blank on what to say until he remembered what he had seen Kairi doing earlier. "Say, Kairi, what was that you were working on when I came back with my share of the supplies," Sora asked.

"Oh, I was making a little charm out of thalassa shells," Kairi explained. "In the old days, sailors would always wear thalassa shells because they were supposed to ensure a safe voyage, so I started making a charm of my own to make sure that we would have something that would help us find each other if we ever got separated. I want to make sure that the three of us will always be together."

"That's pretty cool," Sora nodded, honestly impressed and a bit touched that Kairi would be so willing to do something like that.

"Thanks," Kairi nodded. The two fell quiet again as they watched the sunset, until Kairi spoke up again and said, "You know, Riku has changed."

"What do you mean," Sora asked, having not expected that statement at all.

"Well…" Kairi started to say, but in all honesty, she could not find the words to really describe what she was thinking in regards to her statement. There was just something about their friend lately that made her nervous for some reason.

"You okay," Sora asked in concern. He had honestly been enjoying this little moment that they were sharing and did not want it to be hurt by any ill feelings that Kairi may or may not have had at the time.

Sensing her friend's concern for her, Kairi quickly attempted to change the subject. "Sora, let's take the raft and go. Just the two of us!"

"Huh," Sora gasped in surprise while hoping the blush that was forming on his face at the thought was hidden well enough by the sunset.

A minute later, Kairi giggled a bit and said, "Just kidding."

"What's gotten into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi," Sora chuckled in good humor, though he was a little disappointed to hear that her declaration had been a little joke.

"Maybe," Kairi mused quietly. Honestly, some small part of her did want to go out on the raft with only Sora, but she was not sure if she was ready to admit that to him just yet. She was just glad that he did not seem to notice anything that said otherwise, including the slight tinge of pink that had reached her cheeks when she realized what she said. "You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready," Kairi then admitted in regards to their upcoming adventure. "No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?"

"Yeah, of course," Sora immediately nodded in confirmation, completely sure that such a thing was indeed true as well.

"That's good," Kairi nodded with a small sigh of relief. After another second, she then added, "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh," Sora asked in surprise.

"I just can't wait," Kairi then said, acting like she had not said anything a minute ago. "Once we set sail, it'll be great."

"Yeah," Sora nodded in agreement.

After a minute or so, Kairi thought of something else that she had been meaning to tell her friends, and she figured that now was as good of a time as any, so she looked over to Sora and asked, "Hey, Sora, you know how you said that you had a really weird dream yesterday during your little nap?"

"Yeah," Sora replied.

"Well, I think I had a pretty weird one too just last night," Kairi continued.

"What about?"

"I'm not really sure. I remember seeing a lot of people with weird swords, and they were all fighting against these monsters that were destroying everything around them. I didn't recognize most of the people fighting the monsters, but I could've sworn that I had seen at least one or two of them somewhere before, and three of them looked a lot like you, me, and Riku, only older, stronger, and with a kind of determination and courage in their eyes that I had never seen in any of us before," Kairi explained. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, maybe it's just a really weird dream you had after reading a really good book one too many times," Sora shrugged in a light joke, drawing a laugh from Kairi in response. He then became serious again and said, "Or it could be something from your past that you can't remember, at least in regards to the ones who felt familiar to you."

"Maybe, but I'm not really sure," Kairi disputed.

"Well, did you get a good look at them," Sora asked.

"Not really, at least not beyond what I already told you," Kairi admitted. After thinking for a minute though, she then added, "Although, there is one other thing I do remember about one of the other people aside from the ones who looked like us."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I'm pretty sure that one of them was a woman…and that she had blue hair…I think," Kairi mused aloud. After a minute or so she just laughed it off and said, "But you're probably right. It was probably just a dream."

"Maybe," Sora agreed with a small smile. After that point, the two just continued to watch the sunset until they finally stood up and started their trip back home for the night, both excited for when they would finally set sail the next day.

* * *

That night, Sora found himself more restless than he had ever been in his entire life. Part of it was due to the excitement that he and his two best friends would be setting sail to pursue their dream of traveling to other worlds when the next day finally came, but a greater part of him had actually been thinking about a number of different things: Kairi's words to him on the dock, the things that the strange man in the cloak had said, and the dream that Kairi told him that she had. While the first two were certainly something that concerned him a bit, that last one was the one thing that had him doing the most thinking, because there was something about what Kairi had told him she had seen in that dream that just seemed to cause something inside of him to stir for some reason that he could not begin to understand. He may have acted like it was probably not something to be concerned about, but part of him could not help but think about what Kairi had told him about seeing a woman with blue hair in her dream. He did not know why, but that description sounded familiar to him for some reason, and the fact that she said she had dreamed about older versions of him, herself, and Riku fighting monsters also seemed to make him pause for a reason that he was not quite sure he really understood. It all felt like he was trying to see the picture that a puzzle made while a majority of the pieces were missing.

Sora was finally stirred from his thoughts when he heard a loud boom coming from outside along with a sudden flash of light, leading him to turn his gaze to his window and look outside. "A storm," Sora gasped in surprise, knowing full well that it was not supposed to so much as rain for a few weeks according to the news. When he saw another flash of lightning near the Play Island though, all thoughts about inaccuracies in a weather report left his mind and became replaced by something that he considered to be of much greater concern. "Oh no! The raft!"

In an instant, Sora had sprung off his bed and out the window in a mad rush to get to the island, which only continued after he had climbed into his boat and rowed to the Play Island. Sora was well aware of the fact that it was dangerous to be out on the water in a storm, but right now, he was more concerned with making sure that all the hard work he and his friends had put into their raft did not go to waste because of an odd, freak storm, and that determination was what allowed him to reach the Play Island in no time at all. Once he had reached the dock on said island and managed to tie his boat to said dock as quickly as possible, Sora jumped out of his boat and onto the dock so he could run over to the cove, only to stop and look up when another thunder bolt boomed overhead. When he did though, he found himself pausing in shock at what he saw.

"What's that," Sora gasped, for there in the sky was not a storm cloud, but what looked to be a massive orb of swirling, dark energies, which was slowly growing in size with each thunder clap and streak of lightning that erupted from it. Sora did not need to be a genius to know that whatever that was, it was probably responsible for what was going on and he probably did not want to be near it, so he decided to quickly check on the raft and then row back to the main island as fast as possible. At least, that was his plan until something else in the water next to the dock caught his eyes. "Riku's boat. And Kairi's!"

The minute he noted the presence of the previously mentioned boats, Sora knew that his friends were definitely somewhere on the island right now, and he could not just leave them behind with something like this going on. He was about to take off running to look for his two friends when he ended up taking a step back in fright at what he saw blocking his path forward. There on the shore before him, was a slowly growing horde of the same, black creatures he had fought in the weird dream he had just the other day, and it did not take any of them long to start heading straight towards him. Sora's first instinct upon seeing them coming towards him was to whip out his wooden sword and take a hard swing at the closest one of them, but to his surprise, the toy just passed right through the monster like it was made of nothing but air. Sora made another attempt at attacking the strange creatures but his attempt only yielded the exact same results, along with each of the attempts that had followed after.

"What's going on here? I was able to get rid of these things easily in that dream I had the other day," Sora muttered to himself before he started running towards the seaside shack, hoping he could hide from them inside. When started getting close, he noticed someone standing up on the small island with the paopu fruit tree, and upon closer inspection, he could clearly see that the person in question was Riku.

Seeing one of his friends at last in this very bizarre chaos gave Sora all the more reason to start running harder, especially since there was a chance that Kairi was there with Riku since the older boy would not have left her to fend for herself in something like whatever this was if he could help it, and in no time at all, Sora was able to breathe a little easier as he started making his way across the wooden bridge from the shack to the smaller island. His relief quickly vanished though when he saw that Riku was just standing there all by himself, apparently gazing up at the sky for reasons beyond Sora, so the minute that the spiky haired boy had reached his older friend, he immediately called out, "Riku where's Kairi?! I thought she was with you!"

Riku did not say anything for a minute, but when he did speak, he said something that Sora was not expecting to hear at all. "The door has opened…"

"What," Sora asked.

"The door has opened, Sora," Riku repeated as he turned to face his friend. "Now we can go to the outside world!"

"What're you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi," Sora protested, while some small part of him started thinking that his friend had gone crazy.

"Kairi's coming with us," Riku immediately reassured him, making Sora freeze in surprise. The silver haired boy then looked up to the dark orb in the sky, and revealed, "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back, but this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

At this point, that small part of Sora that was thinking Riku had gone crazy instantly became much bigger and much more pronounced, and that only grew when Riku extended a hand to him, beckoning him to come with him even as a pit of darkness suddenly sprang up beneath his feet and began to engulf him from the ground up. Before Sora could react to this sudden surprise, another pit had opened up beneath his feet and started dragging him in as well, and he instantly reached out towards Riku, hoping that holding on to him might guarantee that they would not get separated by whatever this was, but the pull was just too strong and Riku soon vanished completely from sight while Sora's vision was quickly clouded by the shadows pulling him in, and he began to feel as though he were suffocating. Just when it seemed like the shadows would end up taking him, a small light suddenly flashed before his eyes and then began to glow brighter and brighter until the darkness around Sora disappeared completely.

After taking a minute to catch his breath, Sora looked around for Riku, only to find that his friend had indeed vanished, much to his dismay, but then, he noticed that there was something in his hand that had not been there before, drawing his attention to the object in question. When he laid eyes on said object, Sora's eyes widen in awe, for there in his hands, was a large, key-shaped sword, much like the ones he had seen in his dream, only this one's design made it much more obvious that it was meant to look like a key, because it held an appearance that easily matched that of a skeleton key, with a bright gold guard, and a silver blade and teeth, the latter of which were shaped much like the crown pendant on his necklace. As he looked over this surprising sight, one word came to his mind that he eventually found himself repeating aloud just for the sake of hearing the word. "Keyblade…"

Before he could ponder how he knew what this strange blade was called, Sora found himself surrounded by the strange, shadow-like creatures once again, only this time, they seemed to be swarming towards him in even greater droves than before. When a small number suddenly jumped out at him, Sora just reacted on instinct and swung the Keyblade at them, despite knowing that it would likely do as much good as his toy sword had. When the blade struck the monsters though, Sora was pleasantly surprised to see that it not only connected to the creatures, but also destroyed them in an instant, while strange, glowing, heart-shaped orbs were released into the air afterwards before vanishing as well. The creatures seemed to hold off on trying to approach Sora for a moment after that, and that gave Sora all the more time to smirk a little and then charge through them, Keyblade swinging.

While this new weapon did destroy the monsters in Sora's path, it was quickly clear that it made little difference in their attempts to attack him for whatever reason, because it was not long after he started running back down the dock that the monsters started swarming him once again. This did not concern Sora though, since the only thing on his mind right at that moment was finding Kairi, and knowing his friend, Sora could only think of one place that Kairi would go to hide in the event of a storm, or whatever this thing that was happening to his home really was: the Secret Place. Thinking that it would take too long for him to get there if he just went back the way he had come, Sora immediately jumped down onto the beach below him and made a beeline for the cave behind the waterfall, slashing through the dark monsters as he went. When he reached the cave entrance, he was surprised to find a large door barring the way.

"That wasn't there before," Sora thought aloud, but when he turned to see the monsters coming towards him at a rather fast pace, he decided to put it aside for later and immediately started trying to open the door. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pushed and pulled, the door would not budge, and just when he was about to give up, he glanced down at the strange weapon that had suddenly appeared in his hand and thought of something. It seemed a little crazy, but it was better than any other idea he currently had, and he did not have time to think of anything else. "It's worth a shot at least," Sora finally shrugged, and after slashing away a few monsters that had gotten too close for comfort, he stepped back and aimed the tip of his blade at the door. A minute later, a small orb of light started glowing around the tip of the blade, until a beam suddenly shot out and struck the center of the door. After another second, the sound of lock being undone could be heard, and the door slowly opened. "Wow. Okay, so this thing is shaped like a key for a reason beyond looking weird," Sora mused to himself, noting to think on it more at a later time as he quickly started crawling inside.

Once he was through the entrance to the cave, Sora quickly sprinted further in, until he had finally reached the innermost point of the cave where all the drawings he and his had made were, and there, standing just in front of the strange door, was the very person he had been looking for. "Kairi," Sora called out.

Shockingly, Kairi did not react in the way he had expected. He had honestly thought she would have spun around and run over to him in relief that one of her friends had found her and was alright, but instead, she just slowly turned around and faced him with a look that one normally saw a person who was not entirely awake. "Sora," Kairi softly called out in a drowsy sort of voice while slowly raising a hand towards him, confusing him even more.

There was not much more time to be confused though, because an instant later, the door behind Kairi burst open, releasing a powerful gust of wind that pushed the girl directly towards Sora. There was no need for him to even think, as Sora just spread his arms wide, fully intending to catch her before she fell flat on her face. Just when Kairi finally reached him and before he could so much as brush his arms against her, Sora was shocked to see her pass right through him like a ghost and then disappear before he was suddenly blown right back out of the cave and onto the beach again. After propping himself up on his hands and knees, Sora found any strength he had to stand had left him at the sight that ended up greeting his vision.

Instead of the small island he and his friends had almost always visited to play on and the vast ocean around it, he was shocked to discover that both had been replaced with a much more horrifying sight. The ocean waters had disappeared completely and been replaced by a swirling cloud of dark purple mist, and the only piece of land that was left of either the island he had just been on or any island at all was the small, piece of land that he was currently standing on. To make matters worse, the black orb in the sky had gotten much bigger since he had last seen it, and not just because a lot of rocks and pieces of the world were getting sucked into it, but also because the small piece of land he was standing on was getting closer to it. Sora could only stare in horror at what had happened to his home in the brief time that he had been in the cave, until the sound of something really big reached his ears from behind him. Turning to face the source of the sound, Sora was instantly able to get on his feet again, because he found himself faced with the sight of the very same giant monster that he had fought against at the end of his dream the other day in all of its dark, massive glory. Seeing this thing now only caused Sora's eyes to narrow, because instead of being afraid of it like one would have expected him to, the boy just raised the Keyblade for battle and prepared to charge it out of an intention to take his anger and despair over what had happened on this massive beast.

* * *

"Ven! VEN! Come on you hopeless sleepyhead, wake up," a female voice cried out through the haze of Ven's tired sleep.

The blonde master just moaned a little in response before rolling over in his bed and saying, "Five more minutes, Aqua."

"Aqua? Who's that? You know what, never mind! You can tell me later, we've got a huge problem! A star's going out," the woman rapidly revealed.

That got Ventus to wake up, and the instant he did, he sprang from his bed and over to the window, which he immediately threw open so he could look up and see the starry sky above Traverse Town. A few minutes later, the person who had been trying to wake him, which turned out to be Yuffie, was right next to him and pointing out a specific point in the night sky to him, helping to shorten his search of the sky for the star she had mentioned, and allowing him to spot the fading star just a few seconds before it blinked out of existence. The thing that scared him most was that he knew exactly which world that star was. Turning to face the ninja, Ven immediately shifted into his more serious, master mode and said, "Find Cid and Aerith, and tell them to start looking around for anyone who appears lost and confused. There's a good chance that they're from the world of that star that just went out. Once you've done that, meet up with Leon and start patrolling the districts for any sudden new waves of Heartless. From what you guys told me, they seem to come in much stronger waves after a star goes out, so we have to make sure the streets are clear. Start over in Third District while I work my way around from here."

"Roger that," Yuffie mock saluted, and she was off in an instant to do as Ven asked.

As soon as Yuffie had disappeared, Ven looked up to the sky again in thought and commented, "There's no mistaking it. That star was Destiny Islands; I'm sure of it, but does that mean what I think it does?" Silence was the only answer that Ven received, not that he was really expecting one at all, so he just turned to face the streets below him as raised his arm up and stated, "Whatever the case, right now, I've got a job to do. If he is here though, then I'll find out for sure soon enough one way or the other."

An instant later, Ven's trusted Keyblade appeared in his hand, and Ven took a moment to look it over before leaping into action. In the ten years that had passed since the journey he had shared with his friends, Ven's Keyblade had finally reached its final evolution like the Keyblades of his two lost friends. The blade itself was now noticeably longer in length, and the guard was now a bit more rounded than it once was. In addition to this, the teeth of the Keyblade were now a bit more pointed than they once were and slightly longer as well, giving it more of an edge, and a narrow green gem was now embedded at the base of the shaft just before the guard and extended a quarter of the way up the shaft. It was still clearly meant for someone who fought using a reverse grip like Ven normally did, but now it seemed as though it had been remade so that the wielder could switch between the two styles at a moment's notice if necessary. If he had to really describe this new form of his old Keyblade in just a few words, Ven would honestly have to say that this was really a more refined version of Wayward Wind.

The sound of someone screaming instantly brought Ven out of his moment of pause, and after swinging himself over the window's ledge and onto the street below he instantly set to work destroying the Heartless that had begun to swarm the streets once again. The minute his feet hit the ground and he started charging, the Heartless immediately turned their attention onto him, just like he knew they would. You see, whenever something like this happened, the plan that Yuffie and the others had was to take the fight directly to the streets so that they could attract the Heartless to them, due to the fact that they each had strong hearts, and that plan was even more sound with Ven's help, since they were especially attracted to his heart due to his ability to wield a Keyblade. It may have been hard work for Ven, and if it were ten years ago, he probably would have complained a little, but he was now a Keyblade Master, so he could handle it.

Things were going as expected, and Ven was sure that he had attracted a great deal of the Heartless to him, but there was something about this that did not feel right. During his time training under Mickey, Ven had learned how to better sense the presence of beings with great darkness or light within them, something that he knew most Keyblade Masters could do, and as such, he was able to tell that not all of the Heartless were focusing on him. At the same time though, he also sensed that not all of them were swarming on Leon, Yuffie, or any of his other new friends either, but on a completely different person, and whoever this person was, it was clear that they had a very strong light within them that could only belong to someone who wielded a Keyblade. When he finally found a moment to catch his breath and focus a little more, Ven was soon able to discover that it was indeed someone who possessed a Keyblade, and not only that, but it was someone who's light felt very familiar.

"This light…could it be…" Ven asked. He had already had his suspicions that the person he thought this was could be here, but now that he was sensing something that would be considered as actual proof, he had to stop and wonder for a moment if it was really him.

He was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he heard a very familiar voice from a nearby alleyway say, "Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky."

"Aw, phooey. I'm not scared," another equally familiar voice declared in response, and as a result, Ven was not at all surprised when he heard said voice suddenly let out a quack of fear not a second later, but that did not mean he did not rush over to try and help.

When he reached the alleyway, it was just in time to see a woman dressed in a pink dress with a red ribbon in her brown hair asking someone he could not see right away, "Excuse me, did the king send you?"

Upon reaching the group in question, and seeing that the people the woman was addressing were Donald and Goofy, the former of which was holding onto the back of the latter after no doubt having jumped up on there after he had been startled, Ven immediately smirked and then replied for the two as he dismissed his Keyblade, saying, "I'd be a little worried if they weren't the ones that he sent, Aerith, because then someone would have some explaining to do."

Hearing his voice caused the three to immediately turn to face him, and while Aerith just smiled at the blonde, the two cartoon animals instantly began sporting wide grins and rushed over to tackle him in a group hug as they happily cried out, "VEN!"

Ven just laughed along with the two as he somehow managed to stay on his feet under their combined weight, but he was still relieved when they got off of him before he fell over, at which point Goofy said, "Glad to see you're okay, Ven. We were so worried when we found out you were gone."

"Yeah, why'd you leave like that," Donald asked.

"It's a long story, but what I can tell you right now is that part it is for the same reason that Mickey left," Ven revealed. "Didn't he mention that in his note?"

The two had the decency to look sheepish at this, since they did indeed remember that the king had mentioned such a thing in the note he left them along with the instructions on what he needed them to do. "So uh, do ya know where the king is right now," Goofy asked, hoping to pull the conversation away from their moment of forgetfulness.

Ven shook his head in response. "No, we didn't leave together, and he just told me that he was going to be taking a different path to solve the current crisis."

"What do ya mean," Donald asked.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we should get off the streets," Ven told the two, and he then looked over to the other person in the alley with them. "Aerith, let's get back to the hotel and give these guys the full story there. It should be clear for the moment."

"Okay," Aerith nodded in response, and the four were quickly off to the location that Ven had just specified.

* * *

When they got back to the hotel, Ven had fully intended on giving his two friends the whole story right away, but that was before he suddenly sensed the presence of a very powerful light coming from the room that was right next to his own. After stopping to get a better feel for this particular light, Ven was now more sure than ever that it was the light of another Keyblade Wielder's heart, one that felt far too familiar to him to be anyone other than the person he suspected it to be. Deciding that he just had to know for sure, he looked over to the others and said, "You guys go on ahead. Aerith, can you start without me? There's something that I've gotta check out real quick."

"Okay Ven," Aerith nodded, and she then waved Donald and Goofy into the room that Ven had been staying in.

Once the three had disappeared from his sight, Ven approached the door to the room he had sensed the Keyblade Wielder inside of and immediately knocked. When no one answered right away, Ven immediately called out to one of the other people he knew to be in the room as well. "Leon, open up! It's me," Ven called.

After a few seconds, the door did eventually open, allowing Ven to be greeted with the sight of a taller man with brown hair and a scar running across his face, dressed in a white shirt, black gloves, pants, and boots, and a short-sleeved black jacket. The man in question also wore three brown belts on his left forearm, while another two belts of the same color were worn loosely around his hips along with three black ones, and a final black belt around waist. "I had a feeling you'd show up here eventually," Leon commented in an even tone as he let the Keyblade Master enter the room.

"Do you mean at this hotel, or just anywhere that the newest Keyblade Wielder was," Ven joked in response, knowing full well what Leon meant. A minute later, his eyes found the familiar shape of the Kingdom Key Keyblade resting against the wall, making him pause in shock for a minute. "Is that…" Ven softly asked, letting the question trail off before he could finish it.

"Yep. That's the new wielder's Keyblade," the ever chipper voice of Yuffie confirmed, alerting Ven to her presence in the room, thinking that Ven was asking if that was the new wielder's Keyblade. "Turns out you were right about the Heartless being able to track a Keyblade Wielder through their Keyblade, so we had to get it away from him so they couldn't follow us here."

"It won't work forever though," Ven pointed out, earning nods of acknowledgement from the other two while he turned his attention to the wielder in question. When his eyes found the person in question, it took a great deal of restraint for him not to show any sign of shock or surprise at the sight of said person, because while he may have been a bit younger than he was when he last saw him, there was no mistaking that particular spiky brown hair and the crown necklace around the kid's neck. "So we finally meet again, old friend," Ven muttered quietly as he approached Sora. He then faced the other two and said, "I'll be right next door with Aerith and the two that the king sent to help me and this kid in our mission if you guys need anything, but I want you guys to try and ease him into it all first. Let me know when you've done so, and I'll take it from there, okay?"

"Alright. If that's what you think is the best option," Leon nodded, and he then allowed Ven to move over to the next room via the door that connected the two rooms.

"Sorry about that," Ven apologized as he came in.

"Don't worry, you haven't missed much. I had just finished explaining to them about the Heartless, and was about to tell them about Ansem," Aerith reassured him.

"Who is Ansem," Goofy asked.

"He's a friend of the king's who had been studying the Heartless," Ven explained. "I remember Mickey telling me a bit about what he discovered, at least as far as Mickey knew anyway, but the main purpose of his study was to find a way into the Realm of Darkness so that we could bring back…certain people that had been lost there. I was told he eventually stopped his research though when it became clear that it was too dangerous to continue, for the sake of his people and the people of all the worlds, but I never knew that he was doing research on the creatures who lived in that realm."

No one had missed the moment when Ven had paused in what he was saying when he mentioned "people who were lost in the Realm of Darkness", and Donald and Goofy both knew full well what the reason was, but no one called him on it out of respect to him. Thinking that Ven needed a moment to recompose himself, Aerith took over the conversation and revealed, "Ansem recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report, but its pages are scattered everywhere."

"Scattered," Donald squawked in disbelief.

"Yes, to many worlds," Aerith nodded.

"Oh, then maybe the king went to find them," Goofy exclaimed.

"There is a chance that's what he's doing, but I get the feeling that there was more to what Mickey was doing than that," Ven nodded.

"Well we've still gotta find him, and quick," Goofy protested.

"Wait, first we need that 'key'," Donald reminded Goofy.

"'Key'? What're you talking about," Ven asked, taking a turn at being the one who was confused.

"The king said in his note that there was a certain 'key' we would need to find in order to ensure our survival, and he wanted us to find the person who had the 'key' and stick with him," Donald explained.

Goofy then hummed in thought for a minute and asked, "Ya know, I think maybe he was talking about you, Ven. After all, you do have a Keyblade, and you're a Keyblade Master."

Now Ven understood what they meant, and simply smiled before shaking his head in response. "I appreciate the thought, Goofy, but I'm not the one he was talking about. Yes, I'm going to be joining you guys on this little adventure, per Mickey's orders that I'm sure he mentioned in his note, but I'm not the person with the 'key' you're supposed to find."

"Then do you know who it is," Donald asked.

"Yeah, and Goofy was actually half right, because the key you're looking for is a Keyblade, and the person wielding this particular Keyblade is actually right next door," Ven confirmed.

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go meet him," Donald exclaimed excitedly.

"Hold on a minute, Donald," Ven cautioned the sorcerer duck. "The poor guy's resting right now, and if I'm right, he just lost his home to the darkness. We need to give him a little time to rest up properly and then get a brief explanation from Leon about the situation. After that, then you can meet him."

"We can't wait! We need to find the king right away," Donald argued impatiently, and he immediately started heading towards the door.

Ven was about to tell Donald not to go in again, the door to the other room burst open, slamming him into the wall, and admitting another person into the room. "Yuffie, what happened," Aerith gasped in shock while Goofy moved to check on his friend who was currently flat against the wall like a pancake.

"The Heartless found us," Yuffie shouted as she whipped out her shuriken for action just as one of the aforementioned monsters appeared behind her. Ven managed to react a bit faster than the ninja did, and instantly destroyed the recently arrived creature of darkness with his Keyblade, leaving Yuffie to explain the rest of the situation. "Leon told me to get over here to you guys while he and Sora tried to lead them away!"

Not minute after Yuffie had finished her explanation, the sound of glass breaking reached everyone's ears, and Ven immediately knew that the two she had mentioned had just gone out the window in their escape. "Oh that's just great," Ven muttered under his breath, but he managed to shake his irritation off and get his mind back into the game as he told the others, "Yuffie, you get Aerith, Donald, and Goofy out of here! I'm going after Leon and Sora!"

"Ven, wait," Aerith shouted, but Ven did not pay her any heed as he quickly ran into the room Yuffie just came out of and jumped through the already smashed window.

Ven knew that Leon was likely thinking that the Heartless would only back off if Sora defeated the leader of the swarm, and was now attempting to lead the new Keyblade Wielder in the direction of said leader, so he reached out with his senses to find the very same Heartless as well while he fought off the small fry that were currently around him. It did not take him very long to determine that the Heartless that he wanted to find was currently in the Third District, and the minute he had found it, he instantly transformed his Keyblade into his Keyblade Glider, and flew over to the area as fast as he could. He was extremely thankful that Mickey said he could still use the Keyblade Glider to get around on a world, because there was no way he would have gotten to the Third District as quickly as he did if he had to go there on foot, and from the looks of things, it seemed that he had managed to get there ahead of everyone else.

That belief was quickly dashed when he heard the sounds of someone fighting nearby, and he immediately turned to see that Sora was already there fighting a few Heartless that Ven quickly identified as the Soldier Heartless. That was when the blonde noticed that the wielder of the Kingdom Key had missed a couple of Heartless that were about to get the drop on him, and immediately charged in to take action, as he shouted, "WATCH OUT!"

Sora barely had time to glimpse Ven before the blonde dismissed the Keyblade Glider in favor of his Keyblade, and he quickly ducked down when he saw Ven suddenly toss said Keyblade towards him, sending the blade spinning through the air like a boomerang so that it would strike both the Heartless that were trying to get the drop on Sora before returning to its wielder's hand just as he landed on the ground. Ven then slashed through the remaining Heartless with a speed and skill that only a master could possess, until finally, the area was clear for the moment, allowing him to turn towards an awestruck Sora. "You okay," Ven asked.

"Uh…yeah," Sora nodded, still a bit awed at what he just saw, until he finally got a good look at the weapon that Ven was using. "Hey, that looks a lot like one of the Keyblades I saw in my dream from the other day. How do you have it?"

Ven quirked in eyebrow in confusion at first, but he quickly waved it off with a smile and replied, "Well it would be a little weird if I didn't have my own Keyblade, wouldn't it?"

"So then…you can use a Keyblade like me," Sora asked.

"Close, except for one not-so-small difference: while you've just become a Keyblade Wielder, _I'm_ actually a Keyblade _Master_ ," Ven replied with an easy-going smile. He almost laughed at the way that Sora's expression seemed to vary between one of offense and greater amazement, but that soon turned to concern when he heard an explosion nearby that was followed by the sound of two familiar cries of fright and said, "Uh, I think we should probably move out of the way."

"Of what," Sora asked as he turned to see whatever Ven had spotted. When he did, it was a little too late for him to properly move aside like Ven already had, and Sora ended up at the bottom of a dog-pile beneath Donald and Goofy. All three had to groan in agony for a minute, but they were able to shake it off soon enough, Donald and Goofy much more quickly than Sora since they were used to dealing with such injuries just about every other day of the week, and the two cartoon characters' eyes instantly lit up when they had found the Keyblade that had managed to stay within Sora's grasp as they exclaimed, "The key!"

"I'd ask what happened to you two, but somehow I get the feeling that I don't want to know," Ven told the two recent arrivals.

Before anymore exclamations or jokes could be exchanged, the ground around them suddenly began to shake, until a number of pillars suddenly shot up and blocked all the ways in and out of the district, leaving the four trapped with a massive Heartless that seemed to be comprised of various pieces that were not entirely connected to one another. The torso of the monster had an hourglass shape to it that was mostly violet with a diamond pattern around its waist and a heart-shaped emblem on the center, while its head was a small sphere with silver spikes and a faceplate that was similar to that of a knight's helmet. The large arms of the beast were both violet in color as well, with wide wrists and three segmented claws, and to finish things off, the monster's violet legs, while short, ended in a pair of large, hammer-like feet.

"So, this is the Guard Armor," Ven commented to himself as he dropped into a battle stance in front of the other three, having recognized it from the description that Leon and the others had given him once. "Okay, you guys, if we want to get through this, we're going to have to take this thing down and to do that we'll need to work together. You with me?"

"Yeah," the other three nodded in reply as they readied their respective weapons.

"Okay. Donald and Goofy, you guys hit its legs to try and throw it off balance. Sora, go for the arms while helping me hit it in the center," Ven ordered, and the only thing that was exchanged between the group after that were a series of affirmative nods as they charged forward into battle.

The battle that followed was probably one of the shortest and easiest battles that Ven had fought in a long time, but that was something he attributed to the fact that he was not fighting alone this time, something that he was quite thankful for. It also helped quite a bit that he did not have to worry too much about destroying any of the other pieces of the Guard Armor, since the others were able to help with taking care of that, but they still had to keep a few steps ahead of the beast to avoid its attacks. This was most evident by the fact that Donald was nearly trampled under the Guard Armor's massive feet several times in just a few minutes, but the duck was able to pay the Heartless back for these assaults with some well-placed magic, and whenever he was not able to completely avoid the monster trying to crush him beneath its heels, Goofy was always quick to jump in with his shield in order to keep the duck safe long enough for him to get clear.

Of course, Goofy's quick need to defend others also extended to Ven and Sora, since he was always right there to stand in the way of any attacks that were directed at his friends at any time, but that did not mean that he spent the entire time on defense. Every time he gained an opening, Goofy would always use the edge of his shield to slash at the large Heartless, or even toss the shield at the monster like a Frisbee. Sometimes, Goofy would even rapidly spin around with his arms extended like a top, but this did usually leave him quite dizzy afterwards, so he tended to avoid doing that unless someone was around to make sure he would not end up getting hurt by the monster.

In all honesty though, it was Ven and Sora who ended up doing the most damage to the Guard Armor out of everyone in the group of four, no doubt because the Keyblades were such effective weapons against the Heartless, and from what Ven saw, despite being an amateur when it came to wielding a Keyblade, Sora was able to hold his own quite well. The boy was ducking away from and effectively guarding against any attacks that came at him, striking back when he had decent openings, and would sometimes even strike while in midair when he had to jump in order to avoid an attack. He never used any magic, but Ven just chalked that up to the fact that he probably had never learned any up until now, a fact that he knew he was going to have to address soon enough, but that did not cause his smile to fade in the least, because he knew that he had finally found his first student as a Keyblade Master.

Through the four's combined assault, the Guard Armor was quickly defeated, disappearing in a plume of smoke once it had released the heart within, and once the walls that had blocked the entrances and exits of the district had disappeared as well, they all breathed a sigh of relief while dismissing their weapons. "Well, I guess it doesn't need to be said that this kid's the guy you two were sent here to find, does it," Ven joked to his two cartoon friends once they had all caught their breath.

"Wait a minute," Sora interjected. "So, you guys were all looking for me?"

"Uh-huh," Donald and Goofy both nodded while Ven just smiled in confirmation.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon revealed as he and Yuffie came over to the group.

"Uh, ahem. I think you mean the _newest_ wielder of the Keyblade," Ven corrected before turning back to Sora. "More to the point, how would you like to learn how to really use your Keyblade?"

"What do you mean," Sora asked.

"I mean that I can teach you how to become a true Keyblade Master like me, if you want me to that is," Ven explained. "More to the point, I can even do it while we travel with these two."

"Yeah, we can go to other worlds on our vessel, so why don't ya come with us," Goofy nodded in encouragement.

"I don't know," Sora muttered, hesitantly. Yes, it was a tempting offer, but there was still something that he had to do first. Thinking of that very thing made Sora consider something about going with those three that he had not already thought of. "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi…"

"Of course," Donald instantly replied, causing Sora to perk up a bit eagerly and Ven to raise a suspicious eyebrow.

"Are ya sure," Goofy quietly asked his friend.

"Who knows," Donald admitted just as quietly. "But we need him and Ven to both come with us to help us find the king. OUCH!"

That exclamation of pain was due to the fact that Ventus had overheard what Donald said and promptly slapped the cartoon duck upside the head for it. "Donald, you should know better than to do something dishonest like that," Ven scolded the duck as though he were a child. Then he looked back at Sora and said, "What my rather rude and often insensitive friend meant is that if you want to find your friends, we'd more than happy to help. It's just that we've got some friends of our own to find, and in addition to that, there's something very dangerous and dark threatening all of the worlds and the best chances of stopping it may very well be you and I, because of the fact that we are both Keyblade Wielders. So what do you say? You think you can handle fighting alongside us while training to become a Keyblade Master, trying to save the worlds, and searching for our missing friends?"

Sora looked down in thought for a minute, not entirely sure what he should say to that and seeing his uncertainty, Leon thought he should add his own two cents. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," the man simply stated.

"Yeah…I guess," Sora finally conceded after a minute.

"But you can't come with along looking like that. Understand," Donald suddenly stated, drawing a couple of looks from Goofy and Ven until he finished what he was saying. "No frowning, no sad face. Okay?"

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us," Goofy chuckled.

"Right, because this boat runs on happy faces," Ven finished.

"Happy," Sora mused to himself before falling quiet and drawing everyone's full attention onto him to see what he would do next. After another minute of silence, Sora finally looked up at the three with the most ridiculous grin on his face, and when they saw that face, the three could only stare in surprise for a minute before they all burst out laughing at the sight of him.

"That's one funny face," Goofy said between his chuckles.

Seeing that he had managed to meet the duck's requirements and gotten his unexpected new friends to laugh as a result, Sora felt his confidence rising again, and thus he was able to finally make a decision on what he should do now. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys, and if you can really teach me how to be a Keyblade Wielder, then I'll gladly be your student."

"Alright, that's what I was hoping you would say," Ven smiled gladly. "Now all that's left to do is have a few introductions. I'm Master Ventus, but call me Ven."

"Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora," the Destiny Islander finished as the four all put their hands atop one another's to seal the deal.

"All for one, one for all," Goofy declared proudly, and with that, a new team was formed. As the four looked between themselves, they could each tell that they would be in for quite the interesting adventure, but despite what challenges they were about to face, they were confident that they would be able to handle them so long as they stuck together.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, I for one am quite impressed with what I managed to pull off here. Got the last peaceful day on Destiny Islands in, the moment said world fell into darkness, added a few changes to some of the things that happened in there, and then switched over to Ven's point of view for most of what happened in Traverse Town, and threw in the battle against the Guard Armor._**

 ** _I'll admit, the battle against the Guard Armor there at the end was a bit half-baked, but that was mostly because it was Round 1 against that particular enemy, and it was not supposed to be very impressive. Also, just to be clear, yeah, that was the original version of the Guard Armor they fought against, but the next time they face it, it will have changed into the Final Mix version, so just a small heads up on that. I'll go into more detail on that later._**

 ** _Sora: Hey, how come we didn't see me fight the Darkside Heartless this time around?_**

 ** _AN: Dude, do you really think anyone wants to see what had happened after that point? I'm gonna be totally honest here and admit that I did originally try to work that fight in, but the more I wrote of it, the more it seemed like I was just rewriting a battle that we've all seen like a million times before already, so I figured why do that when we can just jump over to something a little more original._**

 ** _Ven: Original? You basically did another version of the first time Sora met Yuffie when we switched to my point of view._**

 ** _AN: Well I thought it was a pretty good idea, and this way, we got to hear a little more about the heroes of Birth By Sleep, and if you'll notice, got a small mention earlier on in the chapter as well. Yeah, I threw in that bit about Kairi having a weird dream as a way of showing that the story of Keyblades of Future Past has some influences on what happens in this story beyond just the fact that Ven is still around and is now going to be Sora's Keyblade Master. You could say that in some small way, a certain encounter that Kairi had in that story, may or may not actually be helping to jog her memory about past events that she had forgotten. Who's to say for sure? I'm not saying what that encounter was because I don't want to give away spoilers for those of you who haven't read Keyblades of Future Past already, in case you decide to go back and read it later._**

 ** _Riku: What I want to know is why you didn't add in the meeting of the Villains Council at the end there. I mean, that seems pretty important._**

 ** _AN: You say that like I had decided to take it out completely, which I'm not doing. I just figured that after all the bad stuff that had already happened in this chapter, I should try to end it on a high note. Plus, looking back, I can't help but feel like I tend to end a lot of chapters in a way that gives off an ominous sense of foreboding that would leave some people feeling rather nervous. Don't worry, we'll be seeing the big bad villains next chapter, and you'll all soon see just what has changed there as well when we do. And I just did the whole ominous thing anyway by saying that, didn't I?_**

 ** _Ven: Eh, a little bit, yeah._**

 ** _AN: Great. Well, I guess I can only do what I can to end on a high note from here and just let you all move along and Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Dark forces gather as our heroes prepare to set out for their next destination, and Ventus takes the time to teach Sora a few things about some of the more recent history of the Keyblade Wielders, at least regarding the history that he played a part in. Just what could these gathered villains be plotting? What will the reaction be when those who recognize him see that Ventus is among the heroes' number? Can the four survive the journey to the next world? And just what challenges will Sora find on this strange new world and with the first stages of his training? Find out the answers next time, when we take a dive down the rabbit hole and into madness._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	4. Down the Rabbit Hole

**_Roxas: [Looking through a large booklet labled "lyokoMARVELanime's Story Ideas and Other Similar Stuff"] Wow, the stuff this guy comes up with even when he's in the middle of either finishing a long-running work or starting a new one like this. I mean, three different Spider-Man crossover story ideas? Seriously, that is kinda impressive._**

 ** _AN: [walks into the room and pauses when he sees Roxas looking through the booklet] Uh, Roxas? What're you doing here?_**

 ** _Roxas: Oh, hey lyokoMARVELanime. Sorry I'm late, but I just heard about your new Kingdom Hearts story the other day and came as quick as I could. I'm surprised I didn't hear about this sooner. So, when's my first big scene, and how do I get introduced? Same way as before, or maybe an epic battle sequence?_**

 ** _AN: Um, Roxas, you're not in this story._**

 ** _Roxas:...what?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, dude, this story takes place during Kingdom Hearts I, and you didn't technically show up in the series until Kingdom Hearts II. So...you're not in this story._**

 ** _Roxas: But I was around during and a little bit before what happened in Chain of Memories, so wouldn't that._**

 ** _AN: Again, this is only taking place during the first game. Not any of the others. You're gonna show up in this series, but it won't be until this story's sequel._**

 ** _Roxas: Aw, come on, man! Please? Help a brother out! People love me!_**

 ** _AN: Yeah...I'm gonna act like you are not whining like a little baby and just get ready to...Oh crap, the readers are already here. Uh, hey guys! Round of applause for our very unexpected guest, the Key of Destiny himself, Roxas!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Roxas: Thank you, thank you! Now back to my appearance in this story._**

 ** _AN: The answer's still no. Just wait until the sequel for this thing at most so you can really shine._**

 ** _Roxas: Ha! Shine. I see what you did there._**

 ** _AN: What?...Oh, yeah, I just realized that actually. No light-related pun intended. Oh, and I suppose this also answers the question of reviewer "Jibanyan with Komasan" about whether or not there will be a_ _Kingdom Hearts II_ _adaption for this series, and yes, Ventus and Roxas will meet in that story, which will be the direct sequel to this story. Now, let's get you all rolling to the story. [looks over to Roxas to see that he's still holding the booklet] And you, gimme that! Seriously, I keep this under lock and key for a reason, man._**

 ** _Roxas: Sorry, I just got really curious about what keeps you from updating some stories for a while. Your mind is_ way _too active when it comes to thinking of new ideas for these stories._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, tell me about it. It's a blessing and a curse._**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter III**

While things were all going well with the heroes in Traverse Town, especially in regards to the new team of four, a much more dark and sinister meeting was taking place amongst some of the worst, most dangerous beings in all the worlds. They had all gathered together for the promise of receiving a power that would allow them to not only defeat their greatest oppositions and gain power over their own worlds, but to gain control of all the worlds, and for a time it had seemed as though they would go unopposed in this regard. That is not to say that they were fools that believed that there was not any chance of someone interfering at all, but any chances of there actually being anything that could prove to be a true, potential threat to them had not once come about, until now.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it," a large man with grey skin and blue flames for hair growled in disbelief while glaring at the image of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ven that was being projected on the table the group had gathered around.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own," scoffed a very regal sounding man dressed in an equally royal looking outfit while carrying a snake-head staff. "And don't forget, the brat had help from a Keyblade Master, though this master is clearly very young and just coming into his title."

"Why don't we turn them both into Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough," suggested a large woman who appeared to be half octopus given how she had tentacles instead of legs.

"And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys," a hook handed man in a pirate outfit snarled, his face scowling as he looked on at the blonde Keyblade Master of the group. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them, but that blonde lad is trouble. I know from personal experience."

"I'm surprised you even know that word at all, and besides, you're no prize yourself," laughed a creature that looked like a living sack.

"Shut up," the pirate snapped as he raised his hook towards the living sack in a threatening manner.

"You know, I've actually gotta go with the captain on this one," nodded the man with blue fire for hair. "I remember when I dealt with both him and his pals, Chickenheart and the little bluebird years ago, and let me tell ya, even for one such as myself, they were a pain dealing with. Seriously, don't get me started on how infuriating it was dealing with them. I mean…"

"Enough," ordered the woman who had assembled these villains together in a voice that seemed to echo even without the aid of the impressively large room. Stepping forward into a better light, everyone could clearly see the horned headdress and black robes with a dark purple trim inside she wore, along with her pale green skin, evil yellow eyes, red lipstick, and the staff she carried that had a glowing green orb at the tip, all of which identified her as one of the most powerful beings of darkness in all the worlds: Maleficent. "The Keyblade has chosen the boy and little Ventus has now grown up and returned at last, now as a master of the Keyblade, but no matter. He cannot begin to fathom the power he will be facing this time, even with the boy's help. So, will it be they who conquer the darkness, or will the darkness swallow them both? Either way, they could prove quite useful."

* * *

After gathering together with the rest of his new friends in Traverse Town, Ven took a moment to bid each of them goodbye after explaining the situation to them on why he had to go, and while none of them wanted to see their friend leave, they all understood the reasons for his departure from this strange world. That did not stop Yuffie from giving him one of the tightest bear hugs he ever received in his life while playfully crying about how she was going to miss her favorite pranking partner, and when Cid and Leon both shot him small questioning looks at said remark, he could only smile as innocently as possible while whispering to the ninja something about a promise to not tell the two. Afterwards, Ven let the group speak with Sora for a little bit, smirking a little when he heard Yuffie mention something about how Sora had managed to defeat Leon in a fight earlier as he did, and as he was waiting, he could have sworn that he felt a small glimmer of a familiar and powerful light at the edge of his senses. He would have just shrugged it off as his imagination had he not picked up on it again a few seconds later, and despite knowing that it should not have been possible, he knew that somehow, this familiar light he was sensing was somehow coming from Sora.

The question of how such a light was coming from the new Keyblade Wielder was one that Ven ultimately had to put aside for the moment, as Donald and Goofy had finally stepped back into the conversation to say that they were all ready to return to the Gummi Ship and head out for the next world, so with one last goodbye to their friends, the two quickly joined both the sorcerer and the knight and headed for the ship that was resting in a dock just outside the main gate of Traverse Town. Looking over the ship from the outside, you would be hard pressed to believe that it really was a ship for traveling to other worlds, because it honestly looked like it was built using giant building blocks, a glass dome, and a pair of rocket engines, but Ven and Sora both knew better than to judge a book by its cover, and quickly boarded the vessel so that they could get a real look at the ship.

"Welcome aboard the Gummi Ship _Kingdom_ ," Donald announced dramatically once they had reached the bridge.

Ven could not help but smile a little at the way Sora was looking around the place like he was in the middle of the most amazing thing to ever exist, but he was able to keep himself from outright laughing at the kid since this was most likely the first time he had seen something like this outside of a movie or comic book and simply looked to Donald and asked, "So I take it everything's working alright for the moment?"

"Aside from the unexpected way we had launched out of the castle, yeah. Everything's been a-okay, Ven, and Donald's been doing a great job flying the ship too," Goofy reported.

Ven gave a mental sigh of relief when he heard Goofy say that Donald was the one manning the flight controls of the ship, and quickly nodded in response to what Goofy said before anyone could figure out that he had done so. Before anyone could say anything else, a new, small voice suddenly said, "Well, I can see real big adventures coming our way already. Looks like it's up to me to make sure I keep good track of it all in my journal."

"Who said that," Sora asked, voicing the very same question that Ven had just been thinking, as both of them started looking around for the person that just spoke.

"Hey! Over here," the voice called out again, and Sora and Ven were both quick to redirect their gazes to the middle of the ship's control board just in time to see a rather well-dressed cricket jumping up and down while waving his arms to get their attention. When he saw the two looking at him, the little guy immediately tipped his hat to the two and announced, "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service."

"Oh, hey Jiminy. I wasn't expecting to see you coming along with us," Ven waved with a smile.

"Well, when Queen Minnie asked me to come along to chronicle your journey, I just couldn't say no," Jiminy shrugged in response.

"Uh…who…" Sora stuttered, not entirely sure what to think of the newly introduced individual.

"Oh, right," Ven remembered before turning to face him. "Jiminy, this is Sora, the newest wielder of the Keyblade, and my apprentice. Sora, Jiminy is the royal chronicler of Disney Castle for King Mickey."

"Nice to meet you, Sora," Jiminy nodded.

"Yeah, you too," Sora smiled in reply.

"Well, now that we've got that settled, how about you and I go claim our rooms on the ship before I take you on a small tour of the ship. We can start your first lesson after that if you'd like," Ven offered.

"Okay, sure," Sora immediately nodded in excitement.

Just before the two raced out of the room, with Jiminy jumping up onto Sora's shoulder so he could come with them, Ven looked back to the other two and said, "Set course for the closest world you guys can find. We'll start our searches there, and please try not to crash into anything or fly us into trouble."

"We'll do our best, Ven," Donald and Goofy saluted.

While that was not entirely reassuring for Ven, given what he knew about the two, it was good enough for the moment, and he immediately turned to lead Sora to both the ship's living quarters and on the tour he had promised his apprentice, all the while still wondering about the powerful light he had sensed within Sora that did not seem to be his own.

* * *

The tour of the ship ended up serving an additional purpose aside from allowing Sora to become familiarized with the Gummi Ship's layout, because it also allowed Ventus to finally determine once and for all what the strange light he had been sensing from Sora was. While they were in the engine room, Ven hung back a little bit to allow Chip and Dale to explain some of the more technical aspects of the ship that he would need to know if he ever needed to patch a hull breach or anything like that and focused his senses on Sora's heart, searching for the light that lay within it. He was already well aware of the fact that Sora's heart already carried an additional, powerful light aside from his own, but what Ven did not expect to find, was that there was yet another light within Sora's heart, one that could only belong to one type of person: a Princess of Heart. This discovery was truly surprising to Ven, not only because Sora seemed to be carrying the heart of one of the only beings in all the worlds to possess no trace of darkness within their hearts, but because he also recognized the light of this particular Princess of Heart as that of one he had met many years ago during the final days of his journey with his best friends and the king. How that person's heart had ended up inside of Sora, Ven could only begin to guess, but it did not matter what the explanation was, because this discovery made it all the more imperative that Ven begin Sora's training as quickly as possible while making sure that Sora did not come to any harm.

Of course, that did also raise the question as to whether or not Ven should mention his discovery to Sora. On the one hand, Sora should probably know about what he currently held inside of him, especially given that said heart belonged to one of his friends, but Ven could not help but think that if Sora was aware of this, he would end up becoming far too cautious than was necessary at the moment, to the point where he would even hesitate to enter a battle out of fear for that heart's safety. Then again, not telling Sora could backfire as well, because if he was not careful at all, it could spell just as much trouble for all the worlds if not more. Truly this was a puzzle that Ven was having a difficult time solving, and he found himself wishing that one particular friend of his was there with him at the moment, because she always seemed to know what to do in these situations.

"Stop it, Ventus," the blonde quietly snapped at himself as he made his way to Sora's room on the ship when said thought had entered his head. "You can't go thinking like that and start waiting for someone else to tell you want to do, or start making decisions based on what others would do in this situation. The best thing you can do right now is what you think is best. Mickey already taught you that lesson a long time ago."

After calming his nerves down a bit, Ven decided that it would probably be better for him to keep quiet about this information for now, thinking that it would be better to tell Sora at a time when he was a bit stronger and more skilled with the Keyblade, and with his decision made, the Keyblade Master entered his apprentice's quarters in full confidence, save for the fact that he was still a bit nervous about his first day as a real teacher for someone in this regard. Upon entering the room though, Ven quickly saw that Sora had quite the apprehensive look on his face, and he had a good guess as to what he was thinking right now.

"What's the matter, Sora? I thought you understood that this boat runs on happy faces," Ven joked as he came to stand before his pupil.

"I know that. I guess I'm just nervous about what you're going to teach me," Sora admitted. "They didn't exactly teach this kind of thing back at my school."

"Hey don't sweat it too much. I'm actually just as nervous as you are," Ven admitted.

"Huh? How come?"

"This is the first time I've ever been a teacher, and I'm really a lot more used to being the student, so I'm really hoping I at least do a decent job," Ven chuckled. This answer had left Sora stunned, but after a minute, he was laughing a little right along with Ventus. "Anyway, don't worry too much. There's not really much room on the ship for me to teach you anything too big at the moment, so for now, we're just going to start off small with some basic things and a bit of history behind the Keyblade. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that works for me," Sora agreed.

"Okay then," Ven nodded before he took a seat across from Sora, while the apprentice of the two sat on his bed. "So why don't you start by telling me what you already know about the Keyblade."

"Well I know that it's able to destroy the Heartless, it can open any lock, it chooses its master, and apparently, it's appearance is different for every wielder," Sora recited.

"How'd you come to that last conclusion," Ven asked.

"Well, I just figured that was the case since your Keyblade looks different than mine," Sora shrugged.

Ven had no problem with letting a very impressed look cross his face as he said, "That's actually not a bad guess. You're right in saying that the Keyblade is different for every person, be it the basic level one that a wielder starts out with when they first awaken the Keyblade, or the evolved form it may or may not take on later when its wielder reaches a certain level in their skill, and that's because it's reflective of the nature of people's hearts. No two Keyblades are truly alike, just as no two hearts are the same." He then paused for a minute to let that sit before adding, "Aside from that, it sounds like you've got a pretty good understanding of the basics in what the Keyblade is capable of, except for one thing. With the Keyblade, you also have the ability to use magic."

"Magic," Sora gasped, clearly getting a bit more excited by the minute.

"That's right, but I doubt that what I mean is what you're thinking of. The magic one can use as a Keyblade Wielder is not like sawing somebody in half or any other thing that you've probably seen magicians do, but it is incredibly powerful. Most of the magic we can wield is used for various scenarios in battle, and it is often very easy to use. The simplest way to put it is to say that when we use magic, it usually requires us to want something. Take the three simplest spells that all wielders start out with for example: Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. The names pretty much speak for themselves as to what element they are, but more importantly, when you cast Blizzard, you must want to cause your opponent to freeze. Understand?"

"I think so," Sora slowly nodded. "To use Blizzard, I have to want something to freeze, so if I want to use the fire spell, do I have to want something to burn?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's about right," Ven confirmed. "Keep in mind though, there are a large variety of spells out there with their own abilities, such as healing or freezing time around an opponent, and some spells are simply just more powerful versions of the basic spells that you start out with."

"So why not teach me some of the more powerful spells, or at least teaching me how to heal in case any of us are hurt," Sora asked.

"Hold on there, Sora. You can't just go and try using any spell you want, especially since you're just starting out as a Keyblade Wielder. The Keyblade may grant you the ability to use magic, but the spells still require a great deal of magical energy that you draw from inside yourself, and before you can use any of the more advanced spells, you need to build up that energy by using the magic you can already do," Ven cautioned. "Think of it like how you exercise to build up your muscles. If you can't lift something really heavy, then you shouldn't strain yourself trying to since you might tire yourself out or get hurt doing so."

"So the more I use the spells I can already do, the stronger my ability to use magic will become, and that will let me cast more powerful spells," Sora asked to make sure he understood right.

"Exactly, but don't try to get too far ahead of yourself. You still need to actually cast a spell before anything else, and considering the kind of damage that even the basic level spells can cause to the ship, I'd wait until we reach our next destination before making your first attempt if I were you," Ven suggested. When Sora nodded to show he understood, Ven then moved on to the next part of his lesson. "Now then, it's time I give you a brief history lesson on the Keyblade itself, such as its origins and how it came to be."

"Okay, but how would this help me become a Keyblade Master," Sora asked.

"Knowing the history of the Keyblade can prove to be just as important as knowing how to fight with it and more importantly, history has always been one of the greatest teachers in all the worlds," Ven replied. After those words had left his lips, Ven's face instantly grew far more serious, and this action immediately gained him Sora's undivided attention as he told the spiky-haired boy the tale that had been unfolding for years and years. "When the Keyblades were first created, it was not for the same noble purpose we use them for today; they had been created as weapons for the most devastating war in all the worlds. Since the beginning of time, legends have spoken of a powerful light unlike any other, and after a time, many began to seek this light out for themselves. In order to do this, they forged powerful weapons in the image of the blade that acted as the counterpart and the protector of this great light, and thus, the very first Keyblade War raged until it had all but destroyed the worlds as we once knew them, and the blade that acted as that great light's defender was splintered into seven fragments of light and thirteen shards of darkness. Eventually, the lights of the new generation found a way to restore life to the lost world, leading to the rise of the worlds that we know today, but sadly, darkness will always exist so long as there is a single light to cast shadows. Knowing this, the surviving Keyblade Masters took up their blades once again so that they could act as defenders of the light, and teach the new generations of Keyblade Wielders that would follow them how to do the same, so that the balance between light and darkness would never again fall into as great a threat as the Keyblade War."

"So does that mean that there are other masters out there besides you and your master, Ven," Sora asked.

"No," Ven replied. "Sadly, the number of Keyblade Masters has faded over the years since that time, and now, only three masters remain, including me. Well, I suppose that you could also count the king's teacher, but he retired from the life of a Keyblade Master some time ago."

"So who're the other two masters," Sora inquired.

Ven fell silent at this question, but he managed to keep himself together and answered, "The others are King Mickey of Disney Castle, who is also the same king that Donald and Goofy are searching for and my final master before achieving the title as well, and…a very dear friend of mine who disappeared ten years ago. She's lost somewhere in the Realm of Darkness. Where exactly, no one knows, but I know that she's still out there, and even in that vast, unending void of shadows, the light of her heart is still as strong and as radiant as it's ever been."

Some have often said that Sora was a bit dense and oblivious when it came to certain matters, likely because he had not realized by now that Kairi shares his feelings, but even he was able to pick up on the heavy emotion in Ven's voice at the end when he spoke of this missing friend of his, and he knew that it could only mean one thing. Ventus was in love with this lost master, whoever she was. Seeing this, Sora smiled a bit and said, "Well then, I guess we'll just have to help you find her too, along with Riku, Kairi, and the king."

Ven's gaze immediately jumped back to Sora in shock, having not expected him to suddenly say that, but in the end, he could not help but smile in appreciation for this new promise of Sora's. Somehow, he just knew that Sora would be able to help follow through on that promise, or rather, it would be more accurate to say that he believed that he would be able to. "Thank you, Sora," Ven nodded. "Now then, I think that's enough history for one day, since I don't want you to fall asleep listening to such things, so what do you say we start helping you get a feel for the energy inside of you that you'll need to tap into in order to use magic."

Sora laughed a bit at Ven's remark about him falling asleep if they kept going with the Keyblade History lesson, and then nodded excitedly for whatever Ven had in mind for helping him learn how to harness magic. He honestly could not wait to try whatever awesome idea Ven had for helping him learn to cast spells like he had seen Donald doing during the battle against the Guard Armor back in Traverse Town, and he was sure he would have it down in no time.

* * *

"I just can't get it," Sora moaned, completely exasperated and utterly bored out of his mind.

It took everything Ven had to not roll his eyes or sigh in irritation to this complaint, but once he had, he reminded Sora once again, "There's nothing to really get. You just simply need to calm your mind, look inside yourself, and find a small point of energy that is now steadily growing within you."

"But how is meditation supposed to help with any of that," Sora asked, not moving from where he was seated Indian-style across from the blonde.

"Many great warriors will often meditate for the same purpose of calming their minds. It helps them be able to keep their focus and channel their emotions in battle, and for wielders of the Keyblade, it can also help to keep the darkness in our hearts in check so that it never gains a foothold that would allow it to overcome us. In the case of Keyblade Wielders that are just starting out like you, it will allow you to discover the source of your magical powers so that you can effectively cast spells, be it in general, or in the heat of battle. Knowing where you draw that power from can be of great benefit later on, because doing otherwise would lead you to draw from the energy you would likely need to keep fighting, and that can leave you exhausted at a critical moment. More than that, it requires you to put more focus into that while drawing a great deal attention away from the fight itself."

"But we've been at this for hours and I haven't felt anything. I don't think I'm doing it right," Sora pointed out.

The boy was not wrong. They had indeed been meditating like this for quite a while now, and Sora still had not managed to find the central point of where he would draw his magic energy from. It is true that he had never even known about such things before now, but Ven had been sure that would not hinder their efforts in this by so much. Now he was beginning to reconsider, especially since it had not taken even Terra this long to learn how to draw out his magical energies. "Well you can't expect everything to just come to you in an instant. Some of these things take time, no matter how much you want it," Ven advised. He then looked over Sora's form for a minute, analyzing him carefully to see if there was anything there that could indicate what the problem was, and he was quick to discover just that. "Right now though, you're too tense and trying to force something out, and if you keep straining yourself you'll never be able to draw from the natural source of magic inside of you that was awakened by the Keyblade. Just take a deep breath, relax your muscles, and allow your senses to help quiet your mind."

Sora was not willing to just leave it at that and said, "Are you sure there isn't something else we can do for this?"

This time, Ven did allow a reaction to come forth, but this one came in the form of a humoring chuckle as he revealed, "Believe me, if there was, I would've had you doing it by now. Trust me, you're not the first one to complain about this part of the training. I should know since I did my own fair share of it when I had to do this the first time and probably then some."

Hearing this seemed to encourage Sora into continuing with the meditation training, and he then said, "Alright, I'll give it another try then."

"No. Do or do not. There is no try," Ven said.

"What does that even mean," Sora asked.

Ven became a little sheepish at this question before he hesitantly replied, "I…actually have no idea. Master Eraqus and Aqua used to say it a lot whenever I would say I would only be trying my best, so it must mean something important. I'm pretty sure they both got it from a movie though."

Sora chuckled a little at that last remark, but his curiosity was a bit peaked at a certain point that he had to ask about. "Who're Master Eraqus and Aqua?"

A nostalgic, sad smile formed on Ven's face at that question before he replied, "Master Eraqus was my teacher before the king, and the man who my two best friends and I considered to be a like a father to us, and Aqua is…she's one of the most important people in my life and the Keyblade Master I mentioned earlier. The one who is currently lost somewhere in the Realm of Darkness."

"Why didn't you mention Master Eraqus earlier though? I thought you said that there were only three Keyblade Masters left including you," Sora asked.

"And there are. Master Eraqus was killed many years ago," Ven revealed.

"Oh…I'm sorry, Ven. I didn't mean to bring it up like that," Sora apologized.

"It's okay. He cared a great deal about both us and the worlds, and I like to think that even though the actions he was taking weren't the best ones at the time, he had still left us doing what he could to defend the worlds from darkness," Ven waved off. "Now, enough sad stuff. This boat runs on happy faces after all, so let's get back on task. Just relax yourself, steady your breathing, and quiet your mind as you look inside yourself. Once you feel the magical energy inside of you, try to pull it to the surface."

Sora did as he asked, and after taking a deep breath to help calm his nerves, he began his meditation again, searching for that magical energy inside of him that had been awakened the moment he had gained the Keyblade. At first he could not feel anything different at all, just like before, but after a minute or so, he registered a strange feeling coming from somewhere inside of him. He was not sure what it was, but he knew that it felt warm and calming, so he could only assume that this was what Ven was talking about whenever he mentioned the magical energies inside of him, so he focused on it, letting it come closer and closer to his senses, until it felt like it was close enough for him to grasp hold of, and he immediately began to pull it up to the surface.

"Yeah, there you go! Keep doing that," Ven suddenly cheered, but Sora did not let it distract him and instead did as his master instructed. A few seconds later, he could feel something warm settling in his cupped hands, and he opened his eyes to see what looked like a small orb of light pulsating between his palms. "That's it! You've got it," Ven cheered once again. "Well done, Sora. Now, just try to hold that there until it feels effortless to do so."

Sora nodded in understanding and immediately began to focus on doing as Ven asked, and after holding that energy there for what felt like ages, Sora found that it barely even seemed like he was trying anymore to keep that ball of energy where it was. Upon letting it fade away so he could test it to see how true this was, Sora was happy to discover that he did not even have to do all that much to create a second orb like the first one in only a few seconds, earning him an approving nod from Ventus in result. "Congratulations Sora. You've taken the first step in learning how to use magic with the Keyblade. Now we just need to teach you how to use the actual spells," Ven informed the young boy.

Before either of them could say anything more on the matter though, Donald's voice suddenly called out over the ship's intercom, _"We're approaching our destination! Repeat, all hands, we're approaching our destination. Ven, come on up to the cockpit to see for yourself."_

Hearing this announcement made both Keyblade Wielders wonder just how long they had been meditating, since Donald had told them it would be several hours before they had arrived at the next closest world to Traverse Town, but they shrugged it off and decided to continue the lesson at a later time, and then immediately raced out the door and up to the cockpit. Upon reaching their destination, Ven immediately walked over to Donald and asked, "Not too much trouble getting here?"

"No, just some meteors that we had to blast through," Donald replied.

"Hey, check it out," Goofy called, drawing everyone's attention to the world that was now before them. Looking over this world, the first thing that immediately came to mind was that it looked rather weird, with an oddly shaped house on one end, and a castle on the other. In addition to this, the four could see what looked like a large hedge in that had the top half of a heart shape, a few trees positioned in various places, and strangest of all, a few playing cards with heads. "Have you ever been to this world before, Ven," Goofy asked, knowing that Ven had been to more worlds than anyone else in their group.

"No, I can't say that I have," Ven replied. "Although, I think I recognize it from what I read about some of the other worlds out there while training with Mickey."

"Well what do you remember," Donald asked.

"I believe this is the world known as Wonderland, and from what I can remember reading about this world, a lot of really weird and crazy things happen here," Ven said.

"Weird how," Sora asked.

"Hmm…I can't really say exactly, but one thing that the king said about this place does come to mind," Ven revealed. "He said that if anyone came here, then they had better be ready to jump down the rabbit hole and into madness."

That left everyone a little puzzled, but they did not linger on the question for very long, as Sora said, "Well, only one way to find out. Let's go down there and see what it's like."

Everyone immediately nodded in agreement with that sentiment, and after parking the ship in a stable orbit around Wonderland, Donald led the group over to the ship's teleporter. When Sora asked why they were using a teleporter to go down to the world instead of landing the ship like they had done at Traverse Town, Goofy explained, "Traverse Town has Gummi Ships coming and going all the time, and the people who live there know all about other worlds since they all come from different worlds. Since this world isn't like that, we've got to keep quiet and not let on where we're from. We've gotta protect the world border."

"Uh, I think you mean 'world order', Goofy," Ven corrected.

"Oh right, world order," Goofy chuckled, while Donald just sighed at how he had just reminded Goofy of that not too long ago. "Anyways, using the teleporter lets us get onto a world without raising suspicion by parking the Gummi Ship somewhere that everyone can see it."

Sora looked hesitantly at the device before him and then asked, "Are you sure this thing is safe?"

"Don't worry, Sora. It's perfectly safe. The king and I used to use it all the time back when my training required him to bring me to another world for some reason," Ven reassured his apprentice.

With that reassurance, Sora slowly stepped onto the pad after a nervous swallow, followed by Ven, Goofy, and Donald, and in a flash of light, the four had disappeared from the ship. When they reappeared on the world below, they were all shocked to find that they were dropped somewhere in midair, but what was even more surprising was the fact that they were falling very slowly. After falling for a few minutes, the four had landed softly on the floor, except for Goofy, who had ended up falling asleep at some point during their descent and ended up being jarred awake again after falling flat on his face. Glancing around, they could all see that the place certainly looked like a very lavish rabbit hole of some kind, with oddly shaped furnishings decorating the room around them, though the ones on the floor seemed be as flat as a pancake for the most part.

"Guess Mickey meant it very literally when he said people would be going down a rabbit hole and into madness," Ven muttered aloud.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late," a new voice exclaimed, drawing everyone to turn and see a white rabbit in a suit and a large pocket watch in his hand running through the room. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

"Uh…what do you think he's late for," Donald asked.

"Gawrsh, I hope what he said about the queen having his head was just a metaphor," Goofy added, feeling quite worried for the little guy.

"Well we're not going to get any answers by standing around here, so let's follow him," Ven told the others, and they started after the white rabbit, following him deeper and deeper into the strange rabbit hole.

The strangeness of the world only continued to unfold the further they went in, from the odd arrangements of furniture, to the door that opened up to doors that were each smaller in size than the one before it, but the four did their best to pay as little attention to such things as possible, knowing that it would only distract them from what they were currently doing. Soon enough, they had followed the rabbit hole into a small room with a bed at one side and a dresser on the other, and they quickly spotted rabbit running towards the door on the opposite end of the room. The odd thing was that the door the rabbit was running towards was much smaller in size than the one they just came through, and the white rabbit himself had somehow shrunk down to be just the right size to get through.

"How did he get so small," Sora asked as he walked over and kneeled in front of the door.

"Uh no, you're simply too big," the doorknob of all things suddenly corrected, surprising all four members of the little group.

"Wak! It talks," Donald exclaimed.

"Said the talking duck sorcerer," Ven pointed out.

"What's your point," Donald questioned, clearly not getting the irony behind his statement.

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up," the doorknob yawned before the two could go any further.

"Good morning," Goofy waved.

"Good _night_! I need a bit more sleep," the doorknob retorted drowsily.

"Wait, what do we have to do to grow small," Sora asked before the doorknob could nod off completely.

"Why don't you try the bottle…over there," the doorknob yawned once again, directing everyone's attention to something behind them before it fell asleep again. None of them could see what he meant at first, until a white table and chair suddenly sprang up from the floor with two bottles resting on the table. Walking over to the table, the group could see the two bottles were labeled to indicate which one would make them shrink and which would return them to normal size again, making it easy for them to know which one they should try.

"Okay so I doubt we're likely to get through the tiny door, since he's fallen asleep again, so before we drink this we should look around the room for any other ways through," Ven suggested, looking at the door and its snoring doorknob. When he turned back to the others though, he was surprised to see that they had disappeared. "Sora? Donald? Goofy?"

"Hey Ven, down here," Sora's voice called, and the blonde immediately looked down at the floor to see that the three had already drank from the bottle to shrink down, and now just about reached the top of his feet in height at minimum.

"Really," Ven asked. "You guys couldn't wait a few seconds before drinking the thing?"

"Sorry Ven, but we really need to get moving," Sora shrugged.

"Hey fellers! I think there's a way through behind the bed," Goofy called out, and they all turned to see the captain of Disney Castle's royal guard trying to push the bed aside so they could get through.

Ven just let the three tiny heroes try their luck at pushing the now too heavy bed aside, before he finally took pity on them and walked over to push it out of the way himself, thankful that there was a cavity in the wall that they could push the bed into so that it was not in the way of anything else. With that done, Ven walked back over to the table and drank the shrinking potion so that he would be the same size as the others, and once he was, they all raced through. They were surprised to find that they came out in a hedge maze that appeared to be just outside the nearby castle, which they could have sworn had been at the other end of the world judging by its position from the ship, but they put it aside for now and immediately started walking towards the castle, thinking that the White Rabbit had gone in that direction since he had mentioned being in trouble with the queen if he was late.

Their hunch was spot on, seeing as they arrived in an open courtyard, which seemed to be rearranged to look similar to a court of justice, and they immediately spotted the White Rabbit running up a nearby podium with a horn in his hand. In addition to this, they also saw a blonde girl in a blue dress and a white apron standing at the witness stand, while a large woman in a crown and a red and black dress sat in the judge's seat with a scowl on her face while a number of guards, who all looked like playing cards with arms, legs, and heads stood around the perimeter. Seeing all this quickly gave them all a very bad feeling about what was going on here, and that feeling only grew stronger when they heard the rabbit speak again after blowing the horn in his hand.

"Court is now in session," the rabbit declared.

"I'm on trial? But why," the girl at the witness stand gasped.

The White Rabbit paid her no mind as he continued, "Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!"

Looking at said queen, Ven could already tell that this woman was not likely to give a very fair trial, even without sensing the darkness within her heart, and his suspicion was immediately proven true when the Queen of Hearts declared, "This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it, and the reason is…because I say so, that's why!"

"That is so unfair," the girl protested.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense," the queen questioned.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong," the girl nodded in full conviction. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"

"Oh, that's not gonna go over well," Ven muttered, earning nods from both Donald and Goofy, since they too could see where this was going.

"Silence! You dare defy me," the Queen of Hearts shouted, completely red in the face.

"Hey, guys, we should help her out," Sora then stated.

"Yeah, but the…" Donald started to say, not noticing how Ven had started staring at the accused girl so intently, like he had just recently noticed something.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling," Goofy asked.

"'Meddling'," Donald corrected.

"Oh, yeah, and that's against the rules," Goofy nodded.

Clearly Sora did not like hearing that they had to just sit back and watch as this girl was wrongly accused of something she did not do, whatever it was, but before he could protest, Ven suddenly muttered, "Definitely seems to fit the personality profile…and I can feel the light from here…without a trace of darkness…"

"Ven? Is something wrong," Sora asked.

"That girl…I think she's one of the Princesses of Heart," Ven replied.

"Princesses of Heart? What's that?"

"Not what; who. The seven Princesses of Heart are some of the only beings in all of the worlds who don't have even the smallest hint of darkness in their hearts. They are the only ones who are naturally born with hearts of pure light, and they are also well known for the fact that they hold strong beliefs, are typically great judges of character, care about others, believe that dreams come true and that true love conquers all, and have no dark thoughts at all. Because of the fact that they do not possess any darkness in their hearts, they also can't become a Heartless if they were ever to lose their hearts, but if anything were to happen to any one or all of them, the results could have devastating effects on the worlds as we know them," Ven explained.

"And you think that girl over there is one of them," Sora asked. "But she doesn't seem to be a princess."

"Well the name 'Princess of Heart' is really just a title. The person in question does not have to be an actual princess, but they are usually referred to as such because a good number of the members are princesses," Ven clarified, hoping that would clear up the confusion.

"Then we've definitely got to help her!"

"No Sora. Goofy and Donald are right to say that we can't interfere. Not every problem between light and darkness needs to be solved by a Keyblade Wielder. Sometimes things must work out on their own," Ven insisted.

"The court finds the defendant guilty as charged for the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart. Off with her head," the Queen of Hearts decreed.

"And this would definitely _not_ be one of those times," Ven quickly amended, and he immediately charged forward with Sora hot on his heels, and Goofy and Donald just behind him.

"Hold it right there," Sora shouted as they came to a stop before the witness stand just behind the girl on trial, the guards parting as they made their way through.

"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court," the queen demanded.

"Please forgive the interruption, your majesty," Ven bowed as politely as possible, hoping that keeping up some form of courtesy might help them with their cause. "My name is Master Ventus. This is my apprentice, Sora, and our friends Donald and Goofy, and we know who the real culprit of the crime you're accusing this girl of is."

"Uh-huh. It's the Heartle…" Goofy started to say, but he immediately clamped his mouth shut before he said anything more, reminding each of the others that they could not reveal the exact nature of the creatures of darkness without causing more harm than good.

"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for," Sora continued to insist all the same.

"That's nonsense," the queen scoffed. "Have you any proof?"

The four all exchanged sheepish glances between them at this question, providing the queen with all the answer she needed, but before she could order her guards to carry out the girl's sentence, Ven quickly said, "We don't have any proof right at the moment, but we can bring you some if you'll allow us some time to gather it!"

The queen seemed to study Ven very carefully, before she finally waved for her guards to stand down and said, "If you can truly find any, then bring me evidence of Alice's innocence. Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or as little as you please, and then come back here once you're ready."

Donald and Goofy both seemed very concerned about taking this deal, because it would mean that they would end up in just as much trouble as the girl was right now, but Sora and Ven were both more than confident that if the Heartless really were here, then they could find what they needed somewhere in Wonderland, and so, the two Keyblade Wielders both replied, "Deal!"

The queen then ordered her guards to lock Alice up in a nearby cage, and as she was being led away, the girl looked over to the group and said, "Thank you for this, but who are you?"

"I'm Sora, and this is Ventus," the younger Keyblade Wielder said.

"Call me Ven," the blonde insisted.

"I'm Goofy, and that there's Donald," the taller of the two cartoon characters nodded in greeting.

"Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances," Alice nodded in return. "I'm sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense."

"Don't worry about it," Sora waved off. "We're happy to help.

"Yeah, and don't you worry. We'll have your name cleared in no time," Ven added in reassurance.

Alice nodded in thanks once again, and the four immediately headed off into the nearby forest to find whatever they could to prove that the girl was innocent, never noticing the young girl giving them a worried look as they left while the queen just scowled at them all.

* * *

"Okay," Ven sighed once they were all well into the forest. "So on the upside, we managed to keep Alice safe for the moment, but on the downside, well…"

"We need to find a way to prove the Heartless were responsible or we're all dead. Literally," Donald quacked in a near panic.

"Yes, thank you Donald, for the very blunt reminder of that fact," Ven deadpanned while throwing a matching look at the duck sorcerer.

"Well, where should we start," Sora asked. "I mean, should we just capture a Heartless and show it to the queen?"

"Definitely not," Ven replied while his posture stiffened to show how against that idea he was. "The Heartless may go after strong hearts full of light, but they are also drawn to hearts of darkness as well. A friend of mine once said that darkness will always find a way into a selfish and despicable heart, until it has turned them into something truly terrible, and trust me, that Queen of Hearts is definitely a person with a good deal of darkness in her heart, even without the Heartless around. If we bring a living Heartless to her as evidence, we'd risk causing it to consume her heart, and that would make us public enemy number one in all of Wonderland."

"Well what else can we do," Goofy asked.

"What indeed? Oh it's so hard to really see," a voice suddenly chuckled.

Everyone was immediately looking around for said voice until Sora suddenly jumped back in fright at the sight of a purple and pink cat's head suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The cat head then disappeared and reappeared again all over the area around them, until it finally materialized on top of a nearby, large tree stump with the rest of its purple and pink stripped body, smiling widely in a maniacal way like it had just heard the funniest joke ever, or like a prankster who had just come up with the craziest scheme of all time. The really freaky thing was that the head was not on top of the body, but instead, was actually sitting beneath its feet while the rest of his body balanced on it as though it were a ball, until the body jumped off and placed the head where it should be like it was no big deal.

"Who are you," Donald demanded, clearly ready to fight if it came down to it, with the others right behind him as they slowly began dropping into fighting stances.

"Who, indeed," the cat teased. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing."

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us," Sora requested.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, and the cat all lie in darkness," the now identified cat replied with a nonchalant shrug before he disappeared once again.

"Hey wait," Ven shouted in an attempt to get the Cheshire Cat to halt in his departure, for what little good it did.

Oddly enough, even after the he had vanished, the Cheshire Cat's voice still seemed to echo out around them. "They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

Hearing this new information left the group skeptical. On the one hand, they now had someone offering them some evidence if they could find where he had hidden it, but on the other hand, the cat had somewhat admitted that he resided in darkness, and there was just something about him that made them a little uneasy. "Should we trust him," Donald finally asked, voicing the group's thoughts with that one question.

"To trust, or not to trust. I trust you'll decide," the Cheshire Cat responded for them as he appeared once again, only to disappear after he had spoken.

After the Cheshire Cat disappeared again, the group stared at where he was in silence for a moment, not daring to say anything in case he was still around to hear them. When they had gone a few minutes without hearing one word from him, Sora looked at his new friends and said, "Well, it's the only real lead we have right now, so it's not like we have any other choice but to go after this evidence of his."

"Maybe, but we should still be careful," Ven warned, maintaining a very suspicious glare at where their unexpected help had just been, which did not go unnoticed by anyone.

"Are you okay, Ven," Sora asked.

"Fine. It's just…I've had some bad experiences when it comes to cats," Ven replied a bit cryptically, his mind quickly going back to some of the time he had spent on the world known as the Castle of Dreams, while Donald and Goofy both nodded in acknowledgement at the memory of another bad cat that they both knew quite well, and which Ven had been well acquainted with at one point. Sora was not really sure what to say in response to that, and when Ven saw the confused look, he waved it off and said, "That's a long story that we don't really have time for right now. Let's just find that cat's evidence and get back so we can save Alice."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the Keyblade Master, and they were quickly heading off to find the evidence that the Cheshire Cat had promised, each feeling a slightly uneasy feeling as they went about just what they would find if they were to follow said cat's advice.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 1:**

 **My very first real journey through the worlds, and it all ended in disaster. Well, maybe that would be putting it a little harsh. I mean, I did make a lot of new friends, and the bond between me, Aqua, and Terra is now stronger than ever after all the trials we've been through. Some parts were definitely weirder than others though, namely the points that had involved time travel and a very dark and terrible future, but in the end, I think we all became a lot better and stronger as Keyblade Wielders and as friends. I just wish that the price hadn't been so steep.**

 **Terra's been possessed by Xehanort after losing his heart to darkness, leaving only an empty shell who's only purpose is to carry out and finish the mission that Terra had started. Mickey had told me that such a being was known as a Lingering Sentiment or something like that, but I think I was too broken up about what I had heard concerning my other friend to really notice. Aqua…sweet, beautiful, amazing Aqua…lost somewhere in the Realm of Darkness, all because Terra's body would have fallen into that realm had she not made that sacrifice. When I first heard this, I wanted so badly to find what was left of Xehanort, and tear him apart as painfully as possible, even if he was still possessing Terra, but I know that's not what Aqua would've wanted. More to the point, I know that Aqua's not dead. That's something that I didn't need Master Yen Sid or Mickey to tell me; I could feel it in my heart that she was still alive, looking for a way to get back home some day, and when she does find her way back, I intend to be able to really stand by her side as a true equal.**

 **It was for that reason that I asked Master Yen Sid to help me finish my training to become a Keyblade Wielder, and while it was a little disappointing when he said that he could not do it, I was actually really glad when Mickey agreed to become my new teacher instead. Now, I'm spending my very first night at Disney Castle, eagerly awaiting my first day of training under King Mickey Mouse, looking over the dark red and bright pink, star-shaped charms that Aqua had made for two very special friends that we had made near the end of this terrible journey as I write down this entry. Mickey said that Aqua wanted me to make sure that these charms found their way back to their rightful owners when I met them again someday in the future if I woke up before she returned, and I don't intend to let her down anymore than I intend to give my training tomorrow anything less than my all.**

 **Well, here's to that, and to my wish that I'll see all of my friends again someday soon.**

* * *

 ** _AN: So that's the first world, which I'm really hoping to not spend so much time on, because Wonderland is really not my favorite world in the Kingdom Hearts series, we've seen the council of villains make their debut (don't worry, even though it doesn't seem like I added anyone, there will be other villains and worlds in this story besides the ones who were around in the original story), and Ven's given Sora a start on his training. Add in the fact that Ven's already figured out that Sora has Kairi's heart inside of him, or at least a heart that belongs to a Princess of Heart, and it looks like we may have a great deal of drama unfolding later on down the line._**

 ** _Also, we got to hear Ven divulge a little bit about his past to Sora, or at least what he could tell him, and had him teach Sora a bit about both magic and the Princesses of Heart. I'm gonna be honest here, that little meditation bit was something that was partly inspired by Legend of Korra, because I could just see Sora having a hard time doing something like meditating._**

 ** _Finally, the introduction of this story's version of the Yen Sid Reports: Ventus' Journal Entries. See these are actually here just for the sake of letting you all have a look at what has happened to the worlds from Ven's point of view since we left him at the end of Keyblades of Future Past, and will allow us a look into Ven's mind as he grew up and trained under Mickey, while also occasionally dealing with some of the stuff that Mickey dealt with before the events of the first game. I suppose you could say that they really serve very little purpose this time around other than telling you what Ven had been up to over the years that had passed, but it's not like there was really much else to be done there. Just wait until we get to the sequel if you want something like that which could actually be viewed as important._**

 ** _Roxas: Important how?_**

 ** _AN: They'll see when we get there. Now, let's move on to...to...huh, I guess there really isn't anything else I could mention this time around._**

 ** _Roxas: Well, it's not like you really changed that much aside from adding Ven in and what you've already mentioned._**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you for that, Captain Obvious. Well, I'll just let you all of you guys move along. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The strange adventure in Wonderland continues, as our heroes struggle to deal with all the twists and turns of the world and its various leaps in logic. Even when they find what they're after though, things are not so easily solved due to the Queen of Hearts' selfishness and attitude, which leads to even bigger problems for our heroes. Can they save the day before something terrible happens to Alice, or will the Cheshire Cat play them for fools? And just what else is there to discover while they are on Wonderland? Find out next time._**

 ** _Roxas: So you're just going to wrap up Wonderland with next chapter or something? That seems like a bit of a waste._**

 ** _AN: Why are you still here?! Weren't you listening when I said that you're not in this story?_**

 ** _Roxas: I know, I know, but I just had a little question I wanted to ask about one of those story ideas I read about in your booklet._**

 ** _AN: Okay. What's up?_**

 ** _Roxas: Are you really considering a Spider-Man & Final Fantasy XIII crossover like the one I read about in there?_**

 ** _AN: Yes. Yes I am. I think the idea has a bit of merit. Now with that out of the way..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	5. And Into Madness

**_AN: Hey fans, readers, writers, and all other fanfiction viewers alike! lyokoMARVELanime here once again with another exciting chapter of Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys, where we'll be wrapping things up in that crazy, mixed-up, messed-up, wacked out world that is Wonderland!_**

 ** _Sora: I gotta ask, why did we only do the Wonderland wrap-up in this chapter?_**

 ** _AN: Well because Wonderland's wrap-up involved facing off with a major Heartless boss like the Guard Armor for one thing, and because there were also a few other things in this chapter that I just had to throw in that made it a little too long for us to really get into having anything else in there. Plus, the next world you guys go to will have a serious focus on one particular thing, and I wanted to leave that for at least one chapter in total._**

 ** _Ventus: Makes about as much sense as anything does in Wonderland._**

 ** _AN: Ven, really? Come on._**

 ** _Ventus:...Okay, yeah it makes way more sense than_ anything _in Wonderland, period._**

 ** _AN: Thank you._**

 ** _Goofy: Hey, there lyokoMARBLE...uh loco-Marvin..._**

 ** _Donald: Just call him something like Mister Author!_**

 ** _AN: While I wouldn't have said it the same way as Donald, I wouldn't have a problem with it if you did so, Goofy. Seriously, don't strain yourself trying to say the whole name. Anyway, what's up?_**

 ** _Goofy: Well I was just wondering if you were gonna answer any of those reviews you've gotten since the last chapter?_**

 ** _AN: Well sure, why not? Where should we start?_**

 ** _Ventus: How about this one, from "Jibanyan with Komasan"_**

 ** _AN: Ah yes. The one where he asked what had happened to Terra and who is in Sora's heart. If you really need to ask my friend, then you probably didn't read Ven's Journal Entry from the previous chapter, or you just didn't play Kingdom Hearts BBS, or read my previous story. [Warning, some of the following will be spoilers for both if you have not done either]. Terra's still been possessed by Xehanort, and as for who's in Sora's heart, it's Kairi, as we all already know from playing the first Kingdom Hearts game, and of course Ventus' heart._**

 ** _Donald: But how's Ven's heart in Sora when Ven's still around to teach him?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, that's actually similar to an earlier question from reviewer "rinsegaku". Yes, a fractured version of Ven's heart is in Sora, because Ventus received a fully recovered version of his heart from the Future Sora that he met during the events of Keyblades of Future Past. So that's a thing, and yeah, we may likely see a few other problems that would result from time travel mess, but like said reviewer had said, that's what makes this fun!_**

 ** _Sora: Hey, how about this question from "Jad826", who was asking if we would ever see any kind of artwork for the new design of Ven's Keyblade?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, well as much as I would like to post something like that somewhere online, I'm afraid I can't, seeing as I do not have a deviantart account, nor do I really intend to ever get one. While I do actually do my own cover art for these stories, that does not mean I'm confident enough in my abilities as an artist or with photo-editing programs like Photoshop to go and do something like that. But if anyone would like to take on the challenge of trying to do so, please, let me know._**

 ** _Goofy: What about this one from "Nerdman3000", who was telling you about how he hopes that Kairi's role in this story isn't the same as it was originally in the first Kingdom Hearts game?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you for that reminder, Goofy. I've gotta be totally honest here. Kairi's role in this story may actually start off as being similar to that original iteration, but I can promise that it won't be completely the same. I do indeed acknowledge that in my last Kingdom Hearts story, Kairi got the chance to really shine as a true Keyblade Warrior, or as said reviewer and probably a few of you would put it, a real badass, and honestly, I'd like for her to have a similar role in this story as well. I just can't really make it happen right away, but I can promise that it will happen. Kairi's not some damsel in distress, even if she is a Princess of Heart, and she's shown, even in the first game, that she's not afraid to stand up and fight if she has to, so I have no intention of relegating her into such a role when instead, I can take her bravery and willingness to fight and enhance it a little. That's all I can really say at this time though. Then again...maybe I've already said too much?_**

 ** _Now, let's move onto the story, shall we? Are we able to do it like we normally do, or are we gonna have to use the manual controls for starting this story?_**

 ** _Ventus: Looks like we're back to the manual controls._**

 ** _Goofy: I've got it!_**

 ** _AN: No, wait! Goofy, don't pull that lever!_**

 ** _Goofy: Uh, pull this lever? Okay. [pulls the wrong lever]_**

 ** _AN: [gets a massive amount of muddy water dumped on him from the ceiling] Pah...Goofy, I said_ don't _pull that lever. It's the other lever for starting the story._**

 ** _Goofy: Oops. Sorry! [pulls the correct lever]_**

 ** _AN: Enjoy everyone, while I go and get cleaned off._**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter IV**

After thinking over the information that the Cheshire Cat had given them, the four friends figured it would be easier to find the four pieces of evidence if they split up, so that way, they would each be likely to find one piece of evidence each, but at the same time, they also determined that they should try to stay as close to one another as possible while they searched, and so they were all soon off searching the forest for the evidence that the suspicious cat had left for them to find. Ven and Donald had an easy enough time finding two pieces of evidence right there in the forest, one being a picture of footprints that could likely have belonged to the Heartless, and the other being a pair of antenna that were clearly ripped off of the head of a Shadow Heartless, and shortly afterwards, Goofy came back with a box that he was holding very tightly under his arm, almost as though he was doing his best to make sure it stayed closed.

"Hey Goofy, why are you holding that box so tightly," Ven asked when the knight reached him and Donald at the forest's entrance.

"Because of the nasty smell that's inside of it," Goofy explained.

That confused both wizard and Keyblade Master, and prompted the latter to ask if he could see for himself. Goofy seemed a little hesitant on letting Ven check, but still handed over the box to the blonde anyway, allowing Ven to crack the box open so he could look inside. The instant he had slid it open just enough, though, Ven immediately slammed the lid closed again and flinched from the horribly nasty scent that had seeped out when he did open it, and even from that brief whiff, he knew that it could only belong to one thing. "How did that cat manage to get a Heartless' scent into a box like this," Ven questioned with a groan, as he was trying to suppress any urge to gag from the scent he had just inhaled.

Donald and Goofy both shrugged in reply to his question. They ended up deciding to leave such things for later when they heard Sora calling out to them from a tree branch high above them. Turning to see the spiky haired kid waving down to them, Ven could only assume that Sora had ended up finding the evidence that was difficult to get, and he immediately made his way up to Sora as fast as he could. "What's up, Sora," Ven asked once he was standing on the same branch as his apprentice.

"Aside from us and level of weirdness in this world, I think I found the evidence that cat said would be the hardest to get," Sora joked before confirming what Ven already suspected.

Ven then motioned for Sora to show him what he meant, and the boy immediately led his teacher through an opening in the tree. Oddly enough, they ended up coming out at a very high point of the bizarre room that they had started out in earlier, which was only reinforced by the fact that they could hear the doorknob snoring several feet below them. Looking at their current surroundings while trying his best to not look down at the moment, Ven quickly found the box containing the last piece of evidence, sitting on a ledge just across a gap from where they would end up standing once they had completely entered the room, which was actually the very small space of the top of a faucet. It was at that point that Ven was glad had waved for him to wait before stepping out of the exit completely, because that gave them the chance to go back and call Donald and Goofy up to them so they would not end up having to go all the way back around to meet up with the two again.

After the two Keyblade Wielders were joined by their other two traveling companions, Sora started to brainstorm on some ideas on how they could get to the evidence box from the faucet. The gap itself may not have been that wide, but the main concern they had with the jump was the distance between their current position and the floor below, which was most certainly not the least bit small, so what they really needed to do was think of a way to get across without falling all the way down and possibly breaking their necks. "Maybe Donald could use a levitation spell to help one of us float across," Sora suggested.

"No way. That takes a lot of concentration, and if I'm not careful, I could end up dropping whoever I'm trying to move over there," Donald shook his head.

"Well, maybe I could just jump down and then give one of you a boost to help you jump over," Goofy suggested.

"No, that has a bit more risk to it than just trying to jump across ourselves," Sora said.

After letting the three throw a few more ideas around, Ven finally interrupted with a small cough, gaining the three's attention as he summoned his Keyblade. "I'll take care of getting the evidence," Ven reassured the three. "You guys stay put and try not to fall."

Before any of them could ask what he was going to do, Ven reeled back and then threw his Keyblade forward, letting in spin through the air before returning to him as his Keyblade Glider. Sora may have seen it before in Traverse Town, but that time had only allowed him a small glimpse, so this was the first time he was really seeing what had once been the blonde Keyblade Master's usual mode of transportation between the worlds, and naturally, he was thrown into wide-eyed awe at the sight of it. "Wow! The Keyblade can become a hoverboard," Sora asked in excitement.

"Not exactly," Ven chuckled as he hopped onto the board. "This is actually just one of many forms that it could take on when it becomes a Keyblade Glider. Sometimes they can become hover cycle, a hover scooter, or really anything else, and at one point, they were used to allow Keyblade Wielders to travel between the worlds without the use of a Gummi Ship."

"So why aren't you using yours to travel to other worlds instead of riding in the Gummi Ship with us," Sora asked.

"Well for one thing, I wouldn't be able to teach you very much if we were traveling with separate vehicles," Ven joked before turning serious again. "The main reason though is because the king believed that the Heartless could track us through the Keyblade, and that using it to travel between worlds would be like drawing a moth to a flame, since it doesn't make it seem like we'd be able to fight back while they're in this state."

"So I guess that means I won't learn how to use a Keyblade Glider any time soon, will I," Sora asked, slightly disappointed.

"Afraid not, kiddo. Besides, we should probably let you learn how to fly the Gummi Ship before I teach you how to at least summon your own Keyblade Glider," Ven smiled in sympathy before ending what he said with a light joke, drawing a smile to Sora's face once he did. With that bit of conversation settled, Ven easily flew down to where the evidence was sitting, and retrieved the box in question. After opening said box, Ven was able to see a picture of a tree in the nearby forest that had claw marks on it, and the claw marks in question were surrounded by a haze of shadows, indicating that they had been made by the Heartless.

"Well, look what you've found. Nice going," the Cheshire Cat's voice called out, drawing everyone's attention to the faucet that was sitting just below where Sora, Donald, and Goofy were standing to see that he had appeared right on top of said faucet.

"So, is that all of the evidence you wanted us to find, or is there something else that you would care to share with us that would help prove Alice's innocence," Ven questioned, making sure that his tone carried a bit of a hidden warning in it.

"That's all the evidence there is for you to find, but don't be so sure it'll be of that much help. Alice may be innocent, but what about you," the cat asked in a clear riddle.

"What do you mean," Sora asked, clearly not getting it anymore than Ven was, beyond the uneasy feeling the blonde had gained after hearing said question.

"I won't tell, but I'll give you something, little boy," the cat replied, and he then sent a small orb over to where Sora was standing with a wave of his hand. The orb in question had the image of a snowflake inside of it, and it easily went into Sora's chest, but since he was not expecting such a sudden thing to occur, Sora had jumped back a little in surprise, and ended up losing his balance as a result.

"SORA," Ven, Donald, and Goofy all shouted when the brunet's footing finally slipped and he started falling to the floor. Ven immediately jumped back onto his Keyblade Glider and dove down so that he would be directly underneath Sora, and not a second later, Sora safely landed on the back of Ven's Keyblade Glider, much to everyone's relief.

"That was way too close," Ven sighed once he had moved down to the floor and dropped Sora off. Once his apprentice was safely on the floor, he then moved to carry Donald and Goofy down as well, and after doing so, he reverted the hoverboard into a Keyblade once again and then asked Sora, "How do you feel, Sora? Did that cat's little trick do anything to you?"

"I feel okay, but, it feels like there's a cold feeling building up inside me. Like I'm going to freeze in an instant at any second," Sora admitted as he shivered a little.

Ven let this information sink in as he thought for a minute, and then told Sora, "Summon your Keyblade and focus on that feeling. Then, aim the Keyblade up into the sky as you think about creating a shard of ice that would freeze an enemy."

Sora was not really sure why Ven was telling him all of this, but shrugged and did as he was instructed. After summoning his Keyblade thinking about the cold feeling that was building inside him for a few minutes, Sora aimed the Keyblade up into the sky and thought about wanting an enemy to freeze like Ven had told him, until he finally shouted, "Freeze!"

In an instant, a shard of ice came rocketing out of his Keyblade and soared into the air before shattering on the ceiling above them, surprising Sora while Ven just smiled in amazement. "Well, how about that. Looks like that cat helped increase your magic powers just enough for you to be able to use the starting level ice magic spell," the blonde commented.

"So, I can use magic in a fight now," Sora asked.

Before Ven could respond, a number of Heartless suddenly started forming around them, prompting all four members of the group to ready their weapons for action. "Looks like we're about to find out for sure," Ven commented.

With that, the four were charging into battle once more. Ven did not really need to worry too much about Donald and Goofy, since he knew that those two could take care of themselves rather well, as evidenced by how Goofy would smash and bash various different Heartless with his shield, especially when they got too close to Donald, while Donald blasted them left and right with various different spells, so while he fought off the Heartless that were coming at him, he kept a close eye on Sora as he fought. Looking at the boy's fighting style, it was quickly apparent that he had not had any actual training in sword fighting, but Sora's amateur skills were still rather impressive nonetheless. More than that, he seemed to flow from swinging the Keyblade at enemies to trying to blast them with the Blizzard spell rather easily. Still, Ven could find a few faults in Sora's fighting style that indicated how he was trying too hard to make the Keyblade do what he wanted instead of letting the Keyblade guide his actions, something that Ven himself had trouble with during his own early days of training. In the end, despite whatever faults Ven had noted in Sora's fighting style, the four were able to fight off the sudden ambush, much to everyone's relief, with each of them none the worse for wear save for a few scratches. Thankfully, those were easily remedied by a Cure spell, courtesy of Donald.

"Well, if the stuff we found in the boxes isn't proof enough that the Heartless are here, than that little fiasco certainly settles it," Ven remarked as he let the cool, calming feeling of Donald's healing spell wash over him.

"But what do ya think that crazy cat was talking about when he asked if we were so sure that we were innocent," Goofy asked.

"Who cares?! We've gotta hurry and go save Alice, now," Donald reminded Goofy as he finished patching everyone up with his magic.

"Yeah, we've got all the evidence we need, so it shouldn't be too hard to prove that Alice isn't the one that tried to steal the queen's heart," Sora eagerly added.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Sora. Given what impressions we've had of that woman so far, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to pull something that would make sure that she would win any argument no matter what, so let's keep on our toes until after we've made our case," Ven cautioned.

Everyone nodded in agreement with that sentiment, and they all immediately turned to leave the strange room that apparently had multiple entrances in and out of it to the rest of the Wonderland, and return to the Queen of Hearts' court in order to prove Alice was innocence, each feeling very concerned and bewildered by the Cheshire Cat's odd warning riddle.

* * *

The group knew full well that they were not given a time limit for gathering evidence, but considering what they had seen of the Queen of Hearts, Ven felt that it was best for them to get back as quickly as possible just in case said queen decided to carry out the sentence she had given Alice while they were gone, and that was why they ended up racing all the way back to the court area as fast as they could. After speaking with one of the guard cards to say that they were ready, Donald and Goofy were brought to a set of bleachers off to the side while Sora and Ven were directed to the witness stand to present the evidence that they had found. Standing before the queen now made Ven and Sora praise Alice for her bravery in speaking out against the queen in the way that she had, because each of them could not help but feel a bit nervous right now. Of course, Ven was actually much less nervous than Sora, seeing as he had dealt with things that were much worse than this, but when he saw that the younger Keybearer was actually shaking a little due to his nervousness, he did not hesitate to place a calming hand on Sora's shoulder in an attempt reassure him that everything would be fine. Sora nodded in thanks to Ven for this, and the two then brought their full attention to the queen so that they could present what they had found.

"Well, that's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed," the Queen of Hearts remarked when she saw the four boxes of evidence that the two had presented. "Cards, bring forth my evidence!" This order immediately drew a subtle, suspicious glare from Ven as two cards brought in a fifth box of "evidence" as the queen called it, as he was sure that this box was one that contained a piece of evidence that would allow her to rule in a way that she preferred instead of how they wanted it to go. The cards then shuffled the five boxes in a way that made it hard for them to really keep track of which box was one of theirs and which was the queen's, and once they had finished the queen declared, "All right, then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."

"You want to decide something like that based on one piece of evidence? That doesn't really seem like something one would expect in a fair trial, your highness," Ven questioned.

"Checking all five would only be a waste of time, and I do believe that you were in a hurry to prove Alice's innocence," the queen pointed out.

"What? After all the trouble we went through of collecting it, you're just going to decide based on what's in one box," Sora moaned.

"You dare object? Then you will lose your head," the queen practically hollered.

"No! No, we do not object," Ven immediately insisted.

"Then choose one box, and one box only," the queen ordered.

Well, now the two were stuck. After all that trouble they went through in collecting evidence, they ended up being forced to choose only piece to present, and what made it worst was the fact that their pieces were mixed in with the one that the queen's cards had added before being shuffled around, so there's was a one-in-five chance that they would end up choosing the box that the queen had added, and saying that it was a safe bet that hers was not one that told the truth was putting it mildly. The whole situation was actually making Ven start to sweat just a little bit, and he was honestly wondering if they would be able to survive if they chose wrong, until Sora suddenly tapped him on the shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.

"Let's choose the box in the middle," Sora whispered once Ven had turned to him.

"What? Are you sure about that," Ven asked. "The odds may be in our favor, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be a bit careful Sora."

"I know that, Ven, but I've got a good feeling about the one in the middle. I can't really explain it, but I feel like…like I can kinda sense something bad coming from that box that's similar to what I feel around the Heartless," Sora explained.

Ven was not entirely sure why Sora would sense something like that from a piece of evidence, but he did have a pretty good idea. Still, he had to be absolutely sure before they did anything. "Can you sense that same feeling from any of the other boxes?"

Sora closed his eyes to better focus for a minute, joining Ven in ignoring the queen as she shouted for them to hurry up and decide, and eventually he said, "Yeah, I'm getting a similar feeling from three of the other boxes, except for one of them. I mean, it feels a bit similar but like its hiding something that's supposed to have a strong light."

Ven turned towards the boxes and focused his own senses for a minute, until he was able to pick up on the same thing as Sora. The fact that Sora was able to sense such things at all so soon after acquiring the Keyblade was actually rather impressive, since even Aqua had admitted to being unable to sense various levels of light and darkness around her until she had reached a certain point in her training, but then he remembered that Sora had the heart of a Princess of Heart inside of him at the moment, in addition to the fragmented version of his own heart, so it only made sense that one or even both of those two factors was amplifying his senses to some extent. After he had reached this conclusion on what was affecting Sora's senses, Ven looked to his apprentice and nodded to say that he agreed with his decision, and the two then faced the queen again to announce said choice.

"Are you certain? No second chances," the queen reminded the two.

"Yeah, we're sure," Sora nodded confidently.

"Very well then. Now we shall see who the real culprit is," the queen announced.

Despite how confident they were in their decision, Sora and Ven could not help but hold their breath, hoping that they did not choose wrong. They watched as one of the cards presented the box to the queen, opened it for her, and then revealed the contents of the box had formed into a temporary illusion of a Soldier Heartless, much to the queen's shock, and the card guards' greater surprise, as they had not expected such a creature to suddenly appear, even as an illusion. "What in the world was that," the queen demanded.

"Your evidence that Alice is innocent, as well as anyone else you were hoping to convict," Ven simply stated. "That creature is but one variety of monsters known as the Heartless. They're beings of darkness that are born from the darkness within people's hearts, and they prey on the hearts of others out of an animalistic instinct to create more Heartless by drawing people into darkness."

All around them, the two Keybearers and their companions could hear the card guards muttering words of disbelief and slight fear of what would happen should they ever come into contact with such creatures, and unfortunately, the queen was able to hear such murmurings too, and she did not like it at all. "Silence! I'm the law here," the queen finally roared, rendering an end to all matter of speech that had broken out due to what had just been revealed. "Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!"

"That's crazy," Donald protested, only to suddenly end up locked in a cage along with Goofy.

"Sora! Ven! Help," Goofy shouted, alerting the master and apprentice to the two's plight.

"Seize them at once," the queen shouted as the stands and court all melted away in a puff of smoke, soon to be replaced by a single tower in the center with a number of cranks on the side that the cards used to raise Alice's cage into the air, while the judge's stand that the queen was sitting upon was lowered a little to the ground. "Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!"

"Which means we can save our friends by taking out the tower! Thanks for the tip, 'your highness'," Ven shouted in retort before he summoned his Keyblade and threw right at the queen, knocking her unconscious the minute it hit her. When his Keyblade was in his hand again, Ven looked to Sora, who had summoned his own Keyblade already and started to fight back against the cards that had moved to attack them, and shouted, "Sora, focus on the tower in the middle of the field!"

Sora immediately nodded in response to this and shoved the spear of the card he was currently keeping at bay back, along with the rather flimsy guard in question before running over to the tower. Ven then took this moment to engage the cards by swiping and slashing at them as fast as he could, providing Sora's approach to the tower with some very welcome cover. At one point, Ven noticed that one of the cards get blown back by the residual wind of his strikes, and that made him smirk a little at a new idea for keeping the cards back, while mentally berating himself at the same time for not thinking of said idea before now. With his new plan in mind, Ven raised his Keyblade into the air, letting it glow with magic as he summoned the spell he had in mind, and shouted, "Aero!"

Upon announcing the name of the spell, a powerful vortex of wind erupted around Ventus, sending the cards flying away like they had been swept into a tornado, which was actually not that far off from the truth if one were to be completely honest. Ven then swiped his Keyblade in a quick variety of different, fast attacks, until he felt a familiar energy finally build up inside of him, and he immediately directed that power into his Keyblade, unleashing his unique Command Style: Fever Pitch. With the power of his Command Style enhancing his abilities, Ven was able to easily race around the field and knock back any cards that dared to approach Sora again at a much faster speed than he had been moving at before.

From where Sora was, he could hardly believe what he was seeing. One minute Ven was fighting like he always had up until now, and then the next minute, he had blown the cards away with a simple wind spell and then, after hitting a few of the cards a few more times, he had started glowing with a light green aura. A minute after the aura had appeared, Ven started moving a lot faster than he had been before, almost like he had suddenly gained super speed for a minute. Seeing all of this made Sora giddy with excitement for the moment when Ven decided to teach him how to do all of that, but he knew he had to focus on his current job, and he quickly went to work breaking the tower as fast as he could, slamming his Keyblade into whatever piece of the tower seemed most vulnerable. Unfortunately, it was taking a little too long, and he was starting to get a little frustrated, especially since some of the cards would occasionally get through Ven's rather rapid defense and try to attack him, for what little good it did them, but then he remembered that Donald and Ven were not the only ones who could do magic now, and when another group of cards started charging him, he immediately spun around and fired an icy blast of the Blizzard Spell at them, freezing them in a block of ice that Ven easily cut down seconds later, allowing Sora to destroy a good half of the tower.

While it was good that Sora was making progress, it was not quite fast enough for anyone's liking, but thankfully, Ven knew just how to remedy that. Moving quickly, Ven immediately cast a few more wind-based spells, most of them being Aero or Aerora, until he finally felt a new bit of energy build up inside of him like when he was preparing to unleash his Fever Pitch Command Style, and he did not hesitate for a second to unleash this energy as well, activating one of his unique Tier Two Command Styles as his aura changed from light green to bright white. "Sora, get clear," Ventus then shouted, and the spiky haired boy did not hesitate to do so, providing Ven with a clear opening for what he was about to do. "Command Style: Cyclone Finisher!"

Instantly after Ven had announced the name of his attack, the blonde began racing across the battlefield while spinning around like a top, tearing through anything that stood in his path, be it the cards, or the tower he was directing most of his attention towards. Doing so was not really all that easy, seeing as this particular Command Style's finisher was not that easy to direct like some of the other Command Styles that Ven used, but thankfully, that was not a problem when the target was as stationary as the tower keeping Alice, Donald, and Goofy locked up, and in no time at all, the tower had been completely destroyed like an old, rundown wooden house caught in a tornado. With the tower gone, Donald and Goofy's cages were instantly snapped open, freeing the two from their unexpected confinement, and Alice's cage was lowered back to the ground, waiting for the four heroes to open it and free the captive Princess of Heart inside.

Donald and Goofy were quick to approach Alice's cage, mostly because they were the closest to it, but Sora and Ven hung back for a minute, the former because he wanted to talk to his master about what he had just seen, and the latter because of the feeling of dizziness that had come over him after he came out of the attack he had unleashed. "This is why I don't normally use that Command Style," Ven muttered to himself as he wobbled on his feet a little, trying to shake off his dizziness.

"That was so awesome," Sora shouted once he had reached the blonde, obviously too star-struck by what he had just seen to notice his teacher's current state. "How'd you do that weird glowing thing that gave you some kind of power-up, or what even was that? Was it some kind of really advanced magic spell? No wait! I bet it was a cool Keyblade power, right? Can you teach me how to do it?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Sora," Ven chuckled once he had finally managed to shake off his dizziness. "There will be plenty of time to tell you about all of that later, but right now, let's help Donald and Goofy check on Alice, and then get her to safety, okay?"

"Okay, sure," Sora conceded, slightly disappointed. "But can you at least tell me what it was that you just did?"

Ven thought about it for a minute, until he shrugged in agreement with that as he revealed, "That was a small demonstration of the Command Styles, a special power boost with unique abilities that all Keyblade Wielders possess. I'll tell you a bit more about them later though, because like I said, we've got a job to do right now."

Sora was more than happy to accept that little explanation for now, after all, Ven was right to say that his training schedule had to take a backseat until they had made sure Alice was safe, but unfortunately, it turned out that would be a bit more difficult than they had originally thought it would be. "She's gone," Goofy shouted, drawing everyone's eyes to the cage and rousing the queen from her unexpected nap.

Sure enough, the cage Alice had been in was completely empty with not a single sign of the girl in question ever finding a way to break the cage open so that she could escape or that Alice herself had ever been in there. "Please tell me this is just another weird thing that happens on this world," Donald pleaded, hoping that was the case.

"No, I don't think so," Ven mused once he was standing in front of the cage with the other two. "I can sense that something or someone with a strong darkness in their heart had been here. They must've kidnapped Alice while we were too busy to notice."

"You fools! Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how," the queen shouted, clearly just a small bit distressed about Alice's disappearance as the four outsiders to Wonderland were, though more than likely not for the same reasons as them, and the card guards were instantly off and running in an attempt to find the missing girl.

Looking at the cards as they scrambled about to try and chase after the mystery kidnapper immediately told the four that there was no way the Queen of Hearts or her cards would ever be able to find Alice or her kidnapper before they were long gone, and that was all the prompting that they needed to take off in pursuit of their own search efforts. "If they wanted a way out of this world, they would probably head for that bizarre room," Ven commented as he led the group towards the forest. "And since there are so many ways into said room through the forest, they would have an easy way of losing anyone who would try to go after them by going back to the room through there."

"So why don't we just go back to the room and wait there," Sora asked as they entered said forest.

"Because for all we know, they could go along a path that we don't know about. One that could allow them to get through without anyone ever noticing them, so for now, the best thing to do would be to follow the trail of darkness that they left," Ven replied.

"How do we do that?"

"The same way you were able to figure out which box we shouldn't choose back at that mockery of justice the queen called a trial. Keyblade Wielders have the ability to sense strong presences of darkness and light around them, and while it can be used by people who aren't Keybearers, it's still a very difficult ability to really get a grasp on," Ven explained. "Just reach out with your senses, look beyond what you see and hear, and search only for a feeling you would associate with light and darkness."

"A sound plan, though rather poor. Perhaps you might be willing to hear what the cat might have to say to help in this chore," a painstakingly familiar voice suggested, drawing everyone to turn and see that the Cheshire Cat was back again.

"Have you seen Alice," Donald asked, thinking that there could not be much harm in asking, since aside from that little hiccup at the court which he seemed to know about, the Cheshire Cat had been a pretty decent amount of help to them so far.

"Alice, no. Shadows, yes," the cat shrugged in reply.

Everyone looked to Ven, each silently asking what he thought about that, and he simply shrugged, "Good enough for the moment. Finding any powerful Heartless could give us a clue to where Alice was taken." The blonde then looked back to their riddle-giving acquaintance and asked, "Which way did they go?"

"This way? That way? Does it matter," the cat replied like he honestly did not care. "Left, right, up, down; all mixed up thanks to the shadows!"

"Enough with the games! Just give us a straight answer on where the Heartless went," Ven demanded, having had enough of this troublemaker and his penchant for dragging them along like a fish on a lure.

The cat jumped a bit at Ven's outburst, but ended up shrugging it off and said, "Fine. Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room."

"Thank you," Ven nodded in relief, glad that they had something of a straight answer on where to go now, and with that, the Cheshire Cat disappeared once again, leaving the four to be on their way in their chase after the Heartless and, hopefully, Alice and her kidnappers.

* * *

The group was able to find their way to the garden easily enough, especially given how the place seemed to be set up for a party of some kind, but that was not really important at the moment, considering that the minute they stepped into the garden, they were ambushed by another swarm of Heartless. Ven was a bit surprised by how much fire Donald and Goofy ended up putting into the fight, but he figured that the two felt that they had to make up for the fact that they were unable to do anything to help their friends a little while ago, so he left them to it and did not say anything. Still, the fact that they were so fired up did help them to deal with the Heartless quickly, leaving him and Sora with very little to do, surprisingly, and thus, the four were able to proceed to their destination, which turned out to be the very bizarre room once again, only this time, only this time, they were shocked to discover that they were walking around on the ceiling as though it were the floor!

"This place is completely screwy," Donald muttered aloud, earning him three nods in agreement after the others heard him. After a minute or so, the group moved on to see if they could find the Heartless they were looking for, only to have absolutely no luck finding anything other than the ones they had already dealt with, along with some larger ones that Ven was quick to identify as Large Bodies. These new, rotund Heartless proved to be much more resilient than the smaller ones that the group normally dealt with, and at one point, the group found themselves getting increasingly frustrated in dealing with them.

Surprisingly, Sora was the one who ended up becoming the most frustrated out of all of them, right to the point where he felt like he wanted to just light something on fire, and watch them all burn to ashes. In fact, when he found a moment to pause and think, he could not help but feel as though there was something inside of him that felt like it was also on fire, similar to how cold he felt earlier when the Cheshire Cat had given him a boost to help him learn Blizzard. Upon thinking of that moment, Sora decided to play a small hunch, and aimed his Keyblade at a nearby Large Body and focused on that feeling of wanting something to burn as he shouted, "Fire!"

An instant later, a burst of flames shot out of Sora's Keyblade and rocketed towards the Large Body, where it immediately began to incinerate the Heartless a little once it had hit. Smiling at this, Sora immediately charged forward and hit the large Heartless with his Keyblade a few more times until it was finally destroyed, and he then turned to fire off another blast of the same spell, which instantly set another Heartless ablaze, this time destroying it completely. Sora's newest magic ability did not go unnoticed by Ven, who quickened his pace in defeating the enemies before him until there was nothing left for any of them to fight. With their enemies dealt with for the moment, Ven dismissed his Keyblade and turned an excited grin towards his apprentice as he exclaimed, "Sora, you've learned how to use Fire Magic! That's amazing!"

"It actually wasn't that different from when I first used the Blizzard Spell. I just figured I should do what you told me to do that time and see what happened," Sora modestly shrugged in admittance.

"Well either way, it's still impressive that you were able to learn it on your own without any instruction or power boost," Ven said.

"Indeed it is, now you can proceed if you wish," the Cheshire Cat's voice suddenly commented, drawing everyone's attention upward until they spotted him standing on a ledge above them, or at least what counted as a ledge at the moment.

"Hey you, you said that we'd find the Heartless who took Alice here," Donald squawked angrily.

"They're hiding somewhere, and the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light," the Cheshire Cat replied before disappearing again.

"Gawrsh, what do you think he meant by that," Goofy asked.

"Well if this is the ceiling of the very weird room that we seem to keep coming in and out of…" Ven started reason as he indicated the nearby tables with what looked like candles in the center, though in point of fact, they were actually the room's main light fixtures. Ven then motioned for Sora to follow him up to the candles, and after the two were standing next to each of the candle-like lights, they both raised their Keyblades to them, and used their fire magic to light them both.

With both lamps now lit, none of them were surprised by the Cheshire Cat's return, or the fact that he had another odd clue to give them. "All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after that doorknob, too."

Hearing that new message made Sora, Donald, and Goofy concerned about the doorknob's safety, assuming that the cat was referring to the same doorknob that told them how to get small before going back to sleep, but Ven on the other hand, while concerned, had something else on his mind. "There's no way it could be that simple, could it," Ven quietly thought to himself. "I mean, this world is all kinds of crazy and messed-up, but is it really to the point that it would be so simple for it to be hidden there?"

"Ven, are you okay," Goofy asked, drawing Ventus out of his thoughts.

"Y-yeah," Ven nodded hesitantly.

"Then stop standing around! We've got to get down from here and help the doorknob before the Heartless get him," Donald reminded Ven.

Ven just nodded in response and joined the others and finding a way out of their current position and back down to the actual floor below them, all the while wondering if the very thing that the Heartless needed to find to drown this world in darkness was actually where he thought it would be.

* * *

The group found themselves going through the hedge maze once again in order to get off the ceiling of the bizarre room, seeing as they could not right themselves even if Ven were to fly them to the floor with his Keyblade Glider, which the blonde had attempted to try and failed at, and soon enough, they were back in the bizarre room again, coming in through the same entrance that they had first used after growing small. They did not see any Heartless right then though, aside from the usual ones, leading them all to think that the cat was just giving them the runaround for kicks for a moment, until Ven suggested that they try to get up on the table with the growing and shrinking potions so that they could get a better view of the room. That turned out to be the very thing that the Cheshire Cat seemed to have wanted them to do, as a second after they had all made it onto the table, the Heartless that they had been looking for appeared before them, dropping down from the sky before jumping over their heads in a spinning flip.

This massive Heartless that now towered over them was definitely the leader of all the Heartless here in Wonderland, as evidenced by the fact that it was extremely different from the others just as the Guard Armor had been from the Heartless in Traverse Town. It had long, spindly lavender legs that looked like scissor jacks connected to a thin magenta body, while the arms were steel blue and seemed to be made of paper. Its shoulders sported magenta shoulder pads and a set of lavender armor covered its body. Topping off the Heartless's body was a head that seemed to be made of several segments balanced on top of each other, each alternating between lavender and magenta with greenish-yellow borders between each segment, and each segment also sported a face with a jagged line for a mouth and gold-yellow eyes. This Heartless also carried weapons, which appeared to be a pair of batons that seemed like large maracas to the team, but after everything they had been through in Wonderland, they all knew better than to assume anything about what should be normal.

"What kind of Heartless is that," Sora exclaimed as he summoned his Keyblade and assumed a battle stance.

"Don't know! This is the first time I've ever seen it," Ventus admitted as he did the same as Sora, with Donald and Goofy quickly joining the two in this action.

"Well it won't be around long enough to matter. I'll hit it with some magic," Donald exclaimed as he prepared his first spell of the battle.

"Donald, wait! We don't know what this thing is capable of," Ven tried to warn his friend, but unfortunately his warning came a little too late, as Donald had already cast a powerful fire spell at the monster. Instead of hitting the monster's body though, the flame ended up being redirected towards one of the monster's batons somehow, and when it struck, the baton was instantly lit on fire. Seeing this did not seem to worry this Heartless, as it simply spun the baton around in its hand before lighting the other one as well, making everyone back up in nervousness. "I think that proves the point I was trying to make earlier," Ven muttered.

Donald just chuckled sheepishly in response before everyone immediately scattered to avoid the flaming batons when the monster swung said weapons down at them. In the process, they had ended up jumping down to the floor, and then scrambling in order to avoid getting stepped on by the large monstrosity. It was at this point that Jiminy finally made himself known again as he jumped out of a pocket of Sora's jacket and onto the brunette's shoulder. "Hey fellas, I think I dozed off for a bit during that fiasco that queen called a trial. What's going on now," Jiminy asked. The only response Sora gave was to point at the monster, which immediately made Jiminy jump as he exclaimed, "Whoa! The Trickmaster! Sorry I asked!"

Hearing the cricket's exclamation made Ven pause for a moment in his rapid retreat from the Heartless's attempts to get him and he immediately raced over to Sora and his passenger so that he could clearly ask, "What'd you just call this thing, Jiminy?"

"The Trickmaster. It's a powerful Heartless leader like the Guard Armor in Traverse Town," Jiminy started to explain.

"Yeah we figured that much out, but how do you know what it's called," Sora asked.

Jiminy reached into his coat pocket and produced the journal he was using to chronicle the events of their journey as he explained, "Before we left the castle, I found a few notes that the king had on the Heartless, thinking that they might come in handy. I didn't really know what they were at the time, but after hearing about the Heartless and seeing the Guard Armor in Traverse Town, I figured out that they must be notes on some of the more dangerous Heartless; namely things on what they might look like and what they can do."

"Are you sure about that," Ven asked as he deflected a fire ball that the Heartless boss threw at them with his Keyblade.

"Considering that this fella fits one of the descriptions in here almost perfectly, yeah, I'm pretty sure," Jiminy said before he ducked back into Sora's jacket pocket in order to avoid being singed from a spark of a fireball that Ven had deflected.

"Good enough for me," Sora said as he deflected a few fireballs with his own Keyblade. "Does it say anything about how we beat it?"

Jiminy popped out of the pocket once more as he skimmed through his journal for the desired information, until he finally replied, "Its weakest points are on its chest and its head; hitting the legs won't do any good according to these notes. Also, avoid using any fire-based abilities since those will only end up lighting the batons it uses on fire."

"Yeah, we noticed that," Ventus deadpanned as he nodded towards the batons that were still on fire, which the Trickmaster was now juggling.

"Then I'll try something else. Thunder," Donald shouted, raising his staff above him. An instant later, a storm of lightning bolts came raining down on the Trickmaster, one or two of them striking him at a weak point and causing him to stop in his tracks before flopping down a little.

Seeing this as their moment to strike, Ven immediately shouted for Sora and Goofy to move in, which the two were quick to do. Goofy was the one who ended up leading the charge, and as a result, he tossed his shield right into the Trickmaster's towering face. Once his shield had returned to him, Goofy jumped up to bash his shield on the top of the Trickmaster's head before he landed on the ground again and turned so that he was facing Sora, shield forward as the Keyblade Wielder approached. It did not take long for Sora to figure out what Goofy had in mind, so once he was close enough, he jumped up into the air, and then let Goofy and his shield act as a springboard for him to get even higher so that he could deliver a number of powerful hits to the Trickmaster in an aerial combo. Ven did the same as Sora, only without the assistance of Goofy and his shield, and while descending to the ground, he cast a quick Blizzara at one of the batons, thinking that the ice spell would render the weapon useless. When he landed, he looked to the baton he fired the spell at and saw that the flame had been completely extinguished, confirming what he already suspected, and what he needed to quickly inform his apprentice about.

"Sora, use an ice spell to douse the flame on the batons," Ven shouted, to which Sora immediately nodded to show he understood before he aimed his Keyblade at the baton that was still enflamed so that he could do just as his teacher had told him to.

With both batons now back to their original state, it seemed that the group would have an easier time dealing with the Trickmaster. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that the Trickmaster came out of its disabled state and stood up straight once again. It did not take long for the massive Heartless to realize that its batons were no longer on fire, but it did not seem to care all that much, as it simply started to juggle the batons in its hands like a master juggler, and it then somersaulted across the battlefield, likely hoping to squash one of the four beneath it as it did. Sora and Ven were quick to roll to the side in order to avoid being hit, while Donald and Goofy just ran or jumped out of the way, but they all still had to deal with it swinging the batons at them like a pair of large clubs. At one point, Sora ended up with the unfortunate bad luck of getting struck head-on by one of the juggling Heartless's batons, and he was sent flying into a nearby wall as a result, leading Donald to stop preparing the Thunder spell he was about to unleash on the Trickmaster and divert his attention to healing Sora while Goofy and Ventus kept the Trickmaster busy.

As it turned out, the two did not need to do much to keep their foe away from their friends, as the Trickmaster suddenly made its way over to the nearby stove. This action confused the two for a bit until they saw it place one of its batons on the stove and then hold it there until was in flames once again. Seeing this immediately prompted the two into action as they raced over to stop the Trickmaster from lighting its other baton, but their efforts only led them into needing to avoid the fireballs that the Trickmaster threw at them with the baton that was already lit. Goofy was able to keep safe by either dodging or blocking the fireballs with his shield, but Ven had to do everything he could to avoid being set on fire, and sometimes, that was not always the easiest thing to do, as evidenced by how some of the fireballs ended up coming so close to him that he was surprised that he did not have to remove his jacket due to it catching fire.

In the end, the Trickmaster's stalling tactics proved to be successful, because now, both of its batons were lit up with flames once more, and it was soon throwing out numerous different varieties of fire blasts at them once again. Ven could only grit in his teeth in frustration, until he turned to see that Sora and Donald were now racing over to rejoin the fight once again, and he quickly got an idea on how to end this fight for good. "Donald, you and Goofy keep this thing busy. Sora and I need a couple minutes," Ven informed the royal magician.

"Okay," Donald nodded as he charged forward with an ice spell already prepared to go as he joined his long-time best friend in battle.

Sora was about to ask Ven why they were not helping the other two when Ven cut him off by saying, "You wanted to learn about Command Styles, right Sora? Well, consider this a crash course in how to use one of the three basic ones that any Keyblade Wielder can perform."

"Is this really the best time to be teaching me something like that," Sora asked. He may have wanted to learn about the ability that he had seen Ven use earlier, and he was excited to hear that the blonde was willing to teach him how to use them so soon, but he really did not think that the middle of a battle like this was the ideal time or place for such a lesson.

"If we want to beat this thing, then I'd say so, especially since I'm teaching you a Command Style that will be perfect for stopping this thing," Ven informed Sora as he prepared to charge in. "What you need to do in order to activate a Command Style, is use certain types of spells or fighting abilities numerous times over, which will build up a surge of energy inside of you. When you feel that power reach its maximum, all you need to do is direct it into your Keyblade, and that will activate the Command Style. For the one that we need to use, we need to use ice magic various times over in order to activate it. Understand?"

"I think so," Sora hesitantly replied before he winced a little at hearing Goofy let out a yelp of pain after getting hit by the Trickmaster in some way that they just missed. "I mean, I get that we need to use ice magic a lot in order to use the Command Style you have in mind, but I don't think I really understand what you mean by directing power into the Keyblade or how using a bunch of certain spells and fighting abilities would help with that."

Ventus could see what Sora meant, as the confusion was evident on the kid's face, and so, he opted to take a different approach and simply said, "Just watch me, and you'll see what I mean in just a moment." With that said, Ven charged in, Keyblade ready, and he immediately started lashing out at the Trickmaster once again, giving Goofy and Donald a chance to breathe a little more easily. This time though, Ven used a much larger number of ice-based spells such as Blizzard and Blizzara over and over again, until he landed on the floor again and Sora saw him raise his Keyblade up in front of him as it seemed to glow a little. After holding the Keyblade in front of him for a few seconds or so, the glow from the Keyblade transferred over to Ventus in the form of an icy blue aura as the blonde shouted, "Command Style: Diamond Dust!"

Sora expected Ven to charge in and start attacking the Trickmaster once again, but instead, the blonde just turned towards him with an encouraging smile on his face that was clearly prompting Sora to take a shot at it. Not wanting to let his master down, Sora charged in and started doing the same as Ven, which was not entirely easy considering he was still just starting out with using magic and he only knew one ice spell, but after using said spell over and over again for a few minutes, he started to feel something building up inside of him. It was similar to the cold feeling he had when he first gained the ability to use ice magic, only this time it was much more powerful, like it needed a stronger outlet than just a simple spell, and when he felt this feeling reach what he could only assume was its peak, he did as Ventus had told him to and directed the power into his Keyblade. The first time he tried, he did not really get that far since it was hard to focus while he was still in midair, but thankfully, the strange power that had built up inside him did not fade at all before he landed on the ground, and he quickly started trying to direct it again, until finally, he too was glowing with the same icy blue aura that Ventus currently had around him.

Seeing his apprentice had now managed to activate the Diamond Dust Command Style on his first try instantly brought a proud grin to Ven's face, which he made sure that Sora could at least get a glimpse of before he hardened his expression again when he turned to face the Trickmaster once more. "Alright, let's end this, Sora," Ventus shouted as he rushed forward.

"Yeah," Sora shouted in reply as he did the same. A minute later, the two were both jumping into the air again and unleashing faster strikes than before, only this time, Sora noticed that said strikes were laced with ice powers, which became even more evident when one of their attacks completely doused the flames on the Trickmaster's batons without either of them ever casting a single ice spell. It almost made the spiky haired apprentice stop and stare in awe for a bit, mostly due to the fact that he could not believe that he was now able to do such things, but he managed to shake it off and tell himself to think about such things later after he saw Ventus swing himself over so that he was standing behind the Trickmaster, his Keyblade glowing a little, and Sora quickly to notice of the fact that his Keyblade was also emitting the same glow, prompting him to follow Ven's lead on what he should do next.

Once he saw that Sora was in position, Ventus immediately channeled every last bit of energy that the Command Style through his being and into the Keyblade and shouted, "Command Style: Diamond Dust Finisher!"

The blonde did not really take much notice of the younger Keybearer repeating the phrase he had just shouted, as the noise of a massive ice glacier forming beneath each of them made it a little difficult for him to really hear it that clearly. Once the glacier had completely formed with massive ice crystals surrounding them, the two both spun around rapidly before swinging their Keyblades out and sending the crystal shards flying in all directions, with most of them ending up heading towards the Trickmaster. With the power of this aiding them in their efforts, all that was left for them to do in order to defeat the Trickmaster was to have Sora, Ven, and Donald each cast one final spell while Goofy tossed his shield into the large Heartless' chest, and the Trickmaster soon started to wobble and shake before finally falling over and bursting into shadowy mist much like the Guard Armor had when the four had defeated it, releasing what seemed to be a heart-shaped crystal once it had.

No one could avoid letting out sighs of relief at seeing that they had somehow managed to scrape out a victory, and after a minute or so of tired panting, Ven walked over and gave Sora a small pat on the back as he said, "Congratulations Sora, not only did you just learn the first of the three general-use Command Styles, but you did so in the middle of a battle and won. I have to say, I'm impressed. I'm sure that not even Aqua would've been able to do something like that."

Sora only grinned up at his teacher, honestly feeling a little too tired to give any other form of response after that battle, and thus ended up leaving most of his celebratory reactions to Donald and Goofy who were already both cheered in congratulations for him and for their group's victory against the Trickmaster. Said celebrations were suddenly cut short when the doorknob suddenly let out a loud yawn, drawing everyone's attention to him as he complained, "What a racket. How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"

Everyone was honestly just wondering how he was able to sleep through any of that at all, until he suddenly let a large, drawn-out yawn that allowed them all to see that something was starting to glimmer into existence inside of his mouth. The object in question, which appeared to be a strange, glowing keyhole, quickly drew curious glances from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, while Ventus just stared at it in disbelief, almost as though he could honestly not believe that it was there in the first place. "What is that," Goofy asked.

"It's where the key to this door is supposed to go, you big palooka," Donald admonished like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't know. Something seems strange about this keyhole, and why is it glowing," Sora pointed out.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, step aside," Ventus suddenly interrupted in a commanding voice. The three then turned around to see Ven spinning his Keyblade around in his hand, until he was holding it in a standard grip as opposed to his usual reverse grip, with the tip aiming right at the keyhole that had just appeared before them. When they saw the tip of Ven's Keyblade suddenly start glowing with a small orb of light, the three immediately scrambled aside, leading them to watch as a beam of light shot out of the Keyblade and into the keyhole. After a minute of this beam streaming into the keyhole, the sound of something being locked could be heard echoing around them, and the keyhole disappeared just seconds before the doorknob's mouth had closed again. "Of all the places it could've been, it just had to be in the one place that you would expect such a thing to normally be," Ven muttered.

"Hey, Ven, do you know what that was," Sora asked, having overheard the blonde's grumbling.

"Yeah. What you just saw is known as a Keyhole, but not like the ones you typically think of. In this case, a Keyhole is like a passage that leads to the very heart of a world, and if something like the Heartless were ever to get inside of it, they could consume the world's heart and plunge it into darkness, ultimately leading to that world's destruction," Ventus explained.

"Is that why the stars have been going out," Goofy asked. "Because the Heartless have been gettin' into the Keyholes of other worlds?"

"That's exactly it," Ven confirmed.

"So how do we stop them from getting into the Keyhole," Donald asked.

"Well for starters, the Keyholes are typically very difficult to find, almost to the point where only specific individuals on a world even know where they are, but as for stopping the Heartless from getting into them completely, there's only one way to do that, and you all just saw it with your own eyes."

"With the Keyblade," Sora gasped in realization.

"Exactly," Ven nodded. "As you've no doubt learned by now, the Keyblade can open any lock, and the opposite is just as true. More importantly, the Keyblade is the only thing that can seal a world's Keyhole for good, making it so that it will forever be closed off to beings of darkness like the Heartless."

"So then when we go to other worlds, we need to find their Keyholes and lock them shut so that the Heartless can't get into the hearts of those worlds, right," Sora asked.

"That's right," Ven nodded.

The other three each returned Ven's nod with ones of their own, each now fully understanding what they needed to do on this mission now while looking for their missing friends, and they all then prepared to head out and start seeing if they could find any clues about Alice's whereabouts until Goofy noticed something on the floor in front of the door. "Hey, fellers, I think something fell out of the Keyhole," Goofy informed them as he walked over to pick it up.

"It looks like a gummi block," Donald said, identifying the oddly shaped, green and gold colored object that was now in Goofy's hands after they all got a good look at it.

"A what," Sora asked.

"It's a special kind of material that's used in the construction and repair of Gummi Ships," Ven explained to his apprentice.

"But this gummi ain't like the others, or at least not like the ones that we use for our ship. No, sir," Goofy pointed out.

"Maybe, but we should still hold on to it, just in case. There may be a chance it could come in handy later on," Ven reasoned.

"Okay, I'll hold on to it for us until we get back to the ship. Then we can store it someplace safe," Donald decided for the group, and nobody argued with the duck.

"Splendid. You're quite the heroes," a painstakingly familiar voice congratulated, though it did not sound like the congratulations were all that sincere, and upon turning around to see the Cheshire Cat standing on the table that currently towered over them once again, everyone was sure that said praise was not sincere at all.

"Hey you! You said that we'd find Alice if we followed the Heartless," Sora shouted.

"No, he just said we'd find Heartless if we listened to him. We only assumed that we would find a clue on where Alice was if we did," Ven pointed out before turning to glare at the cat. "But that doesn't mean you didn't at least imply that you were going to help with finding her!"

"Well, if you're looking for Alice, she's not here," the cat revealed. "She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness."

"No," Sora groaned sadly as the cat disappeared.

The younger Keybearer's despair was shared by everyone in the group. They were supposed to save Alice from whatever danger she had been in, and instead, they had practically allowed her to get kidnapped because they were too busy dealing with the Queen of Hearts and her selfish actions, and then ended up being played by a crazy cat. Such news was deeply saddening for all of them, and Ventus was quick to realize this and said, "Hey, cheer up you guys. Just because she's not here anymore doesn't mean she's gone for good. For all we know, she could've been taken to another world like Sora's friends had likely been."

"Yeah, Ven's right! So if we keep going, then we might find Alice along with the king and Sora's pals," Goofy nodded in agreement, having been the first to perk up after Ven's reminder.

"Then let's hurry and get back to the ship so we can go to the next world and help them," Donald declared.

"Okay, sure," Sora nodded in agreement, already starting to feel a little better now. "But how do we get back anyway?"

"Don't worry; we've got a remote control for the ship's teleporter that can bring us back up at any time. We just need to move outside for it to work properly," Goofy revealed.

"Well then, let's hurry up and do so," Ven said as he led the way to the nearest exit of the room. "I think I speak for all of us when I say I've had enough of this world to last a lifetime."

No one argued with Ventus on that sentiment, because the most important lessons that any of them had learned from this world was that one should never take anything at face value when traveling to other worlds, and that they all now hated Wonderland.

* * *

 ** _AN: [comes out of a bathroom with a towel over his head as he finishes drying off] Well, that's a wrap on Wonderland, and while they may not have saved Alice, they did seal the Keyhole, which Ventus gave an explanation about, and hey, look at that! Sora's learned a little bit of magic, and how to use a Command Style!_**

 ** _Ven: I kinda thought you wouldn't have him doing stuff like that until the half-way point in the story at least._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I've gotta be totally honest here, part of me wasn't really sure about letting Sora learn any of the Command Styles in this story at all, but then I figured, if he saw Ventus using any of them, he'd most likely keep begging him to teach him how to use the Command Styles until it drove Ven crazy, so I figured, why not at least let him learn about the three general-use Command Styles for now? I mean, sure, it was fun writing about the awesome abilities Sora and Kairi had when they were using the unique Command Styles that I had them gain in Keyblades of Future Past, but you have to keep in mind, those versions of Sora and Kairi were from the future, and they had been through all of the adventures we've seen so far with a darker edge to them, so having them learn such advanced abilities like how to use unique Command Styles just made sense. This version of Sora is just starting out with everything, from being a Keyblade Wielder to traveling the worlds, so to have him learn how to use his unique Command Styles would be a little strange._**

 ** _Sora: Aw, come on! Let me learn at least one of them!_**

 ** _Kairi: Or how about me? I mean, I may not be taking an active part in the story right now, or even one for a while, but you can at least let me learn a little bit about that, can't you?_**

 ** _AN: No and no to both. I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible here, and having you guys learn those special abilities that are your unique Command Styles is doing the exact opposite of that. But hey, if you readers want Sora to at least learn his unique Tier One Command Style, let me know in a review, and I'll take it under consideration, but I make no promises on the matter._**

 ** _Ven: What I liked was how at the end of this chapter, you pretty much summed up everyone's feelings about Wonderland in Kingdom Hearts by having us share that feeling._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I've never really heard of anyone who said that they liked Wonderland, and me personally, I find it to be seriously wacked out and messed up. That's why I avoided going back there as much as possible when I played the Final Mix version of the first game in the HD Remix that I own. That said, if any of you actually like Wonderland, then I'm sorry if I've upset you with such comments, but I'm pretty sure that even without acting on the feelings that I share with a good number of people, after all that they've had to deal with here, I doubt any of our four heroes are too fond of it either._**

 ** _Speaking of which, I know I could've been a little more original and had Sora choose the wrong box of evidence, but like I said, the odds were heavily in their favor, and unless you're really unlucky, it's very rare for someone to choose the box that makes it seem like our heroes are the guilty party. Still, that didn't stop me from at least throwing in a couple of things that would follow if that did happen, if you might have noticed. I know I don't really seem to give Donald and Goofy much of a chance to really do all that much in this story, but I've always kinda focused more on what the guys using the Keyblades do in a battle, and it's actually kinda hard to really write battle scenes for those two when you can't really take much notice of them, even while watching a walkthrough video or something similar to that online._**

 ** _Well, I think that covers everything I wanted to say this time._**

 ** _Ven: Hey, how come we didn't see another one of the Ventus' Journal Entries?_**

 ** _AN: Oh that. Well you can't expect me to really have all that much to put in there. Like I said last chapter, the stuff that goes in those things are about the events that had unfolded during the time that had passed between this story and where we last saw Ven at the end of Keyblades of Future Past when Mickey became his new teacher. There's not really all that much I can really say at the moment, but I promise, you will see something from them again soon, and it won't be every four chapters or so before you do. I'm going to try my best to add one in at the end of each chapter I can if it's possible to really say something important in them._**

 ** _Now, with all of that said, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team continues on to the next world while Ven continues to give Sora a few more tips and pointers on how to be a Keyblade Wielder, and their next destination turns out to be one that Ven knows quite well, having been there during his first journey, and also somewhere that the young master believes would serve as one of the best places to really take a step forward in Sora's training. In a coliseum where monsters and heroes are constantly competing to prove their strength and show their might in friendly competition, just what sort of dangers could the four really have to deal with? Well, a certain ruler of the Underworld and lord of the dead may know the answer to that better than they could hope to. Find out what challenges await the team when they arrive at one of the most well-known sites of competition in the Kingdom Hearts universe, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, I'm pretty sure all of you have already figured out where we're going next time, haven't you? I mean really, I couldn't have been more obvious about the destination even if I wanted to be, but I don't want to make you guys struggle too much with figuring out what worlds the group's going to, even in the case of the new ones that I'll be adding in. You'll have to wait and see about those though, so until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	6. Coliseum Training

**_AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, but wait no longer, because the newest chapter of Dual Keys is here at last!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, sorry to keep everyone waiting all this time, but a lot of things had come up recently, including the updates for some of my other stories, along with beginning my newest story, the Spider-Man and Final Fantasy XIII crossover A Spider's Focus, which you can now find on my profile page. Oh, and one other thing, I know this might seem a little late by now, but I feel that it should still be addressed all the same. Everyone, all together now!_**

 ** _Everyone: Happy birthday, Mickey Mouse!_**

 ** _Mickey: Aw, gosh. Thanks everyone. That's real swell of ya to say._**

 ** _AN: Hey, you deserve it, Mickey. You just keep on keeping the magic alive for all of us, and we'll do this a thousand times over for ya._**

 ** _Goofy: Gawrsh, not to change the subject but this chapter seems a bit shorter than the last one, doesn't it?_**

 ** _AN: Oh yeah, I'm not gonna lie, when I pictured this chapter in my head, I kinda figured that it would be longer, but I guess this length is okay too. I mean, it's not like we're at the point in the story where the chapters are usually expected to be very long or anything._**

 ** _Donald: Hey, aren't there some reviews you wanted to answer?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, thanks for the reminder, Donald. Let's start with this review from "knightblazer85". While I do appreciate your thoughts on ideas for Sora's Unique Command Styles, I actually already have a couple of them figured out, as you will notice if you had read Keyblades of Future Past. I may take a couple of them under advisement for what his other Unique Command Styles might turn out to be later on, but for now, I'm not really focusing on making anything new for him just yet in that regard. Besides, all I really wanted to know was if you guys wanted me to have Sora at least learn his Unique Tier One Command Style, aka the first Command Style he learned in Keyblades of Future Past._**

 ** _Goofy: Hey, how about this one here from "Nerdman3000", asking about how Ven still remembers what happened in Keyblades of Future Past?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you, Goofy. I'm gonna be honest, a part of me wants to say that is was due to the crazy confusion that always follows from time travel stuff, but that would be a cheap cop out on my part. There are actually a few different reasons why he would remember all that. One reason being that he had been training with Mickey during the last few years, so he had quite a bit of time to have his memories refreshed if he did lose them. Another reason is that since the heart he received from Future Sora was inside of Sora, it would not be too unreasonable to at least assume that the memories are still there since Future Sora experienced everything as well. Or you could also say that as the journey went, the memories just formed in there like they had been there the whole time. Like I said, it's a whole thing that would take a while to explain and you could just chop it up to the nuttiness that ensues following a time travel adventure._**

 ** _Ventus: How about that review left by the guest reviewer "Vakama"?_**

 ** _AN: Well, I gotta be honest with you dude, I think I'd rather see what happened in that adventure in full before I even think about trying to do a story on what happened there. For the moment though, I'd much rather focus on the stuff that I know the most about in the Kingdom Hearts story, ie. anything that happened from BBS and onwards._**

 ** _So, if that's everything, I believe we have a new chapter to get to, and this time, I'm getting Sora to operate the manual controls. Speaking of which, you ready over there, Sora?_**

 ** _Sora: Ready and waiting!_**

 ** _AN: Alrighty, then pull the lever, Sora._**

 ** _Sora: [pulls the lever and the building's fire alarm to start blaring]_**

 ** _AN: [hits intercom] False alarm, everyone! Just a minor bit of technical difficulties. Back to work, now!_**

 ** _[sounds of people scrambling back to what they were doing before are heard outside the room]_**

 ** _Okay, let's see...pull the lever so-and-so...something goes wrong...I comment on how we seem to really be overdoing it on one of the most well-known gags from Emperor's New Groove...disclaimer starts_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter V**

While things may not have gone as well as the team would have liked in Wonderland, they could not let that get them down for long, partly because the Gummi Ship ran on happy faces, as had been pointed out quite often now. The other reason was because Ventus needed Sora to keep his mind on his training, or at least what training they could do aboard the ship without causing any harm to the vessel that could prove problematic later on, and the boy would not be able to do that if he was too busy thinking about their previous failures. The past may be a great teacher, but dwelling on it too much can often lead one to make great mistakes or end up in deep trouble. This was a lesson that Ventus had actually learned quite a few times in the last few years of his training, and it was also a lesson that he needed to make sure that Sora learned before he learned it the hard way.

For the moment though, he needed to focus on getting Sora accustomed to using the spells he had already learned, along with getting an idea on how to learn a few other basic tricks that all Keyblade Wielders needed to know, such as the third basic spell, and the other two basic Command Styles. The latter of those two things would have to wait until they had reached their next destination, which was still several hours away, for obvious reasons. It was times like this that he thought back to all the times he had told Mickey that they should have had a training center or something installed in the Gummi Ship for these kind of scenarios, something that he intended to tell the king the minute they found him once again, but thankfully, helping Sora start to get a feel for what it would take to cast the basic lightning element spell aboard the ship without him having to actually cast the spell would not require such a thing. The only downside was that it required them to do a little more meditating, which Sora was still not really able to do all that well. The kid just could not seem to sit still for very long without feeling like he needed to do something.

Thankfully, despite any groaning and complaining the younger wielder did, they were able to help Sora start discovering the potential energy that he needed in order to cast Thunder, but just as they were about to move on to their next lesson, they were both thrown from their seats as the ship suddenly shook around them, while the sound of an explosion could be heard from somewhere outside. The minute that the room had stopped shaking so much, Ven was instantly on his feet and rushing for the nearest intercom so he could get in touch with Donald and Goofy. "Bridge, what just happened? Please tell me that you guys didn't accidentally damage the ship in a really bad way," Ven pleaded.

 _"We didn't do nothin',"_ Goofy protested, but Ven then heard sounds of someone shoving the captain of the guard aside before Donald's voice came through.

 _"We're under attack! All hands to battle stations,"_ the duck mage quacked.

"Huh?! Who's attacking us," Sora gasped in shock.

"I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count," Ven replied as he shut off the intercom and raced towards the bridge, and Sora was not far behind him after that.

Upon arriving on the bridge, the two Keyblade wielders both looked out the viewport to see that sure enough, a vast swarm of ships with the Heartless insignia on them were barreling towards and around their own ship, and many of them were firing weapons. "I thought the point of flying in the Gummi Ship instead of with a Keyblade Glider was so that the Heartless wouldn't attack us," Sora said.

"I wish that was the case. They won't be attacking us as often, but they will still come after us, especially since Gummi Ships can't travel on the same pathways and speeds that a Keyblade Glider can," Ventus corrected his apprentice. He then turned to the other bridge occupants and started giving out orders. "Goofy, find us a way out of this ambush that won't take us too far of course, and make it fast! Donald, what's the ship's status?"

"Shields are holding for the moment, last I checked," Donald reported as he quickly steered the ship clear of another onslaught of attacks, most of which just grazed the wingtips of the ship. "And Chip and Dale say that we've only taken minor damage so far…"

Donald's report was cut short when the ship shook again from another nasty hit from the enemy ships, which threw Sora and Ven to the floor and Jiminy out of Sora's jacket since none of them had managed to get into secure seats like Donald and Goofy were already in. The little cricket quickly hopped to his feet and up to a control console, and then tapped the necessary controls to contact the previously mentioned chipmunks. "Hey Chip, Dale, everything still okay down there?"

 _"No, not at all,"_ Chip replied. _"We've got a hull breach on the rear starboard side of the ship near the engines!"_

 _"If we don't seal it up soon, it'll cause the engine to shut down, and we'll end up spinning around in circles,"_ Dale finished.

Ventus had to curse under his breath when he heard that, but he already had an idea of what to do, so he quickly raced over to the pilot's seat. "Donald, consider yourself relieved. I'll take the controls while you go help Chip and Dale seal that breach. We can't let ourselves get stuck out here, especially not in these conditions. Goofy, keep your eyes on our shield levels while you continue looking for a safe route out of here."

Donald and Goofy both saluted in response to Ven's orders, and when the former had left his chair, the blonde wasted no time in seating himself there as he started to steer the ship clear of any other attacks and obstacles that he could. That just left one person to ask something. "What can I do to help," Sora inquired.

"Man the weapons. The minute you have a shot, take it," Ventus ordered his apprentice.

Sora nodded in reply and quickly seated himself at the controls that he had been assigned to. There was just one small problem: Sora had no idea how to work said controls, and he was very nervous about hitting any of the buttons in front of him at the moment in case he accidentally hit something he should not. After a few more seconds of scanning through the various, flashing lights on his console and seeing no labels as to what was supposed to do what, Sora hesitantly reached out and hit a large blue button, and he soon found a targeting screen projected in front of him while the console ejected what looked like a video game controller similar to the one he used for his favorite game console. Sora smirked as he grasped said controller, because that just made things a lot easier for him.

While Sora was grinning his heart out at what he had discovered, Ven was busy gritting his teeth in frustration as he steered the ship this way and that in an effort to keep them from getting hit anymore. This was not really all that easy for him, because while he may be a good pilot on both his Keyblade Glider and the Gummi Ship, he always found himself able to do better on the former since the latter always felt a bit slower when he needed it to move in certain way fast. The fact that Sora seemed to be taking his sweet time with returning fire was not really helping things that much in his opinion, and considering the last report Goofy gave about the shield levels, he really needed his apprentice to do something to help. His moment of griping ended up causing him to fly them into a position that put the ship dead-center in a Heartless ship's line of fire, and if they took a hit from the monster when it fired on the bridge, it would not matter how strong the shields currently were, because they would not survive. Goofy and Jiminy both covered their heads in anticipation of the incoming attack, while Ventus just glared ahead at the beast, making sure that it could at least feel that he was not scared of it, but just before the monster fired, a sudden energy blast suddenly struck it, causing it to explode in a burst of smoke. A few more energy bolts later, and all the enemies that were closest to the ship were destroyed as well.

"Huh? What happened," Goofy asked.

Ventus immediately spun around to face Sora, and when he did, he saw the young Keybearer grinning widely back at him, immediately telling the blonde what had just happened. "You sure took your sweet time," Ventus playfully scolded.

"Well you could've told me sooner that the weapons controls could be operated with a videogame controller," Sora jabbed back just as playfully.

"Fair enough," Ventus shrugged as he steered the ship clear of the next wave. It was only after he had done so that he realized that he had turned directly into a meteor storm. "Ah nuts! Hang on everybody! I'm going to have to pull a hard u-turn to get us out of this!"

"No wait! The Heartless are starting to swarm behind us! Besides, if we go through here, we'll get to our destination faster," Goofy revealed.

Ventus carefully weighed his options for a minute before he finally just shrugged and continued flying into the meteor storm. "Sora, focus most of your fire on the Heartless. Don't shoot the meteors unless you think you absolutely have to. They'll act as both an extra defense for us and as a way to get rid of the Heartless faster," Ventus told the younger boy.

"Got it," Sora nodded as he returned his full attention to the targeting system while lining up the weapons for his next few shots.

What followed afterwards was probably some of the most intense flying that Ventus had ever had to try and pull off, at least in a Gummi Ship, while Sora fired anything and everything that the ship had at the Heartless and meteors that got in their way. Flying through the meteor storm was not an easy task, especially since they were constantly hearing Donald scream up at them about how he was constantly having to reseal a number of hull breaches after he had already sealed them once, but thankfully, it did allow their shields to regenerate a little more quickly, since the meteors kept the Heartless from attacking them as often or as rapidly, proving that the large space rocks were doing the job they wanted them to do perfectly. Of course, they did not really need the meteors to do all that much in the way of destroying the Heartless, as Sora managed that quite well on his own. When Goofy praised him for the excellent shooting skills that the young Keybearer was displaying, Sora simply shrugged and quickly explained that he and Riku were both really heavy gamers back on Destiny Islands.

After one last hurtle through a collection of meteors, the Gummi Ship emerged from the storm with very little damage and its destination just a short distance away. All that was left for them to deal with was the few remaining Heartless that refused to just give up despite the clear evidence of their failure to destroy them. Luckily Sora did not need much skill to deal with the last few Heartless, and the monsters were soon all wiped out, leaving them clear to bring the Gummi Ship into the orbit of the world that they had just arrived at. Looking out the viewport, the world did not seem like much to Sora, but after looking it over for a bit, it was clear that most of it was focused on what looked like a fighting arena, and that quickly got Sora a little more fired up. He only made a minor note of the large, bronze statues of two gladiators crossing swords with each other outside of the entrance before he turned to Ventus to ask about the world before them.

Ventus just smiled nostalgically for a minute before he heard Donald finally come back onto the bridge, grumbling under his breath a little about the various damages that he had to constantly repair over and over again, and he then turned to the group so that he could announce their destination. "Gentlemen, allow me to welcome you all to Olympus Coliseum," the blonde declared with a wave.

"So have you been here before, Ven," Donald asked.

"Yep. This is one of the worlds I visited on my very first journey, and I've actually come back here for special training a few times with Mickey," Ventus nodded.

"What's this world like," Sora asked.

"Well…as you can probably tell, most people of this world can typically be found at the large coliseum, hence the world's name, but mostly because this is a world where various warriors all gather to prove their strength and ability as heroes. This is usually done in a tournament typically known as simply the games, but there are some times when monsters will attack the small city outside of the coliseum and draw strong warriors into action in order to defend it. Sometimes, warriors from other worlds will also show up to compete, so some of the people here actually know at least a little bit about other worlds," Ventus explained.

"Did you ever compete in the games, Ven," Sora asked, his excitement very apparent.

"Afraid not. Somehow I always missed out on getting in every time I came here," Ven replied. "But I've got a couple of friends here who have competed in the games, and my two best friends entered once and became the champions of the games. Plus, another of my friends on this world is a great trainer of heroes, so there's a chance that if he's not busy, he can help give you a few pointers, Sora."

"Well come on then! Let's get going already," Sora cheered, and he was out the room and heading for the teleporter before anyone had even blinked.

"He sure seems excited," Goofy commented.

"Well sure he is. We might be able to compete in the games too," Donald reminded Goofy.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet you guys," Ven cautioned the two, but they did not seem to pay him any mind, because they were already racing after Sora so that they could join him down on the ground as well. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be something that happens quite a bit in the near future, and that it'll lead them into trouble sooner or later," Ven asked himself before he too joined his friends in the teleporter room so that they could head down to Olympus Coliseum. He just put it aside for the moment though, because honestly, he was a little excited too, both for the fact that they could possibly be able to enter the games, and because he was going to see some old friends of his again soon enough.

* * *

"Ah, just as I remember it," Ventus sighed once they had walked through the entrance of coliseum gates. "Almost seems like only yesterday that I first landed here and then ended up helping to fight off a couple swarms of Unversed."

"What're Unversed," Sora asked.

"That's a story for another time, kiddo," Ven informed Sora as they walked into the lobby, where he saw a familiar looking satyr fixing up one of the signs on the wall. Ven immediately smiled a little more at the sight of said satyr, and quickly walked up to greet him. "Hey Phil…"

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya," Phil interrupted before Ven could say anymore, and he then indicated a large pedestal on the other side of the room. "Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

The four just looked at the large pedestal for a minute until Sora, Donald, and Goofy exchanged a quick shrug between themselves and walked over to try and move said pedestal. Ven would have said something to convince them not to bother, knowing that it would likely be too heavy for the three to move at the moment even they pushed together, but he figured that he should let them learn this on their own. That and he just wanted to enjoy the show of the three's futile efforts trying to move it. After a few minutes of watching the three stumble over one and other for a minute while trying to move the pedestal, Ven finally let out a laugh and then turned back to Phil. "Is that how you greet all your old friends, Phil, or just the ones you haven't seen in a few years? Seriously, I finally come back and the first thing you do is try to put me, my friends, and my apprentice to work?"

"A few years? I just saw ya the other day, and since when have you had a…" Phil started to ask as he turned to face the blonde, only to pause when he finally realized who he had actually been talking to. "Hey, Ven! Long time, no see, kid," Phil exclaimed as he hopped down from his perch to exchange a quick handshake with the blonde. "And it looks like you've gone and become a true hero since I last saw ya, at least if appearances are anything to go by."

"Well, I don't know about being a true hero, but I have become a Keyblade Master," Ventus nodded. "And now, I'm training my own apprentice to become one as well while tackling an important mission."

"And I'm guessing said apprentice is one of the three pip-squeaks over there," Phil asked, earning him a small glare from Sora and Donald.

"Yeah, the boy with spiky hair," Ven nodded as he indicated Sora. "His name's Sora, and since you're a legendary trainer of heroes, I figured that you could actually lend me a quick hand while we're here to help with his training."

"I would, but I've got my hands full preparing for the games," Phil replied. "But I can at least get you guys into the training field if that would help."

"Hey, anything you can do to help would be appreciated Phil," Ven nodded.

"Wait, why not let us participate in the games," Sora asked. When he saw Phil and Ven looking at him with questioning expressions, he quickly explained, "I mean, wouldn't it help a lot more if we got to fight against strong opponents or something?"

"Forget it. The games are for heroes only," Phil denied. When everyone other than Ven gave him a look for that response, Phil knew he would have to explain his reasons. "Look kid, it's like this: heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum, and they're all really tough contenders that would eat a bunch of rookies like you for breakfast."

"Hey, who're you calling rookies? You've got heroes standing right in front of you," Donald argued.

"Yup, Sora and Ven are both real heroes chosen by the Keyblade," Goofy nodded with an encouraging pat on both Ven and Sora's shoulders, earning smiles from both Keybearers.

"And we're heroes, too," Donald added, indicating himself and Goofy.

"Ven, I'll buy, but that runt? A hero," Phil laughed.

"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters, and I've already mastered a lot of different powers that Keyblade Wielders can use," Sora told Phil, feeling more than a little insulted by the satyr's laughter.

Phil needed another minute to calm his laughter, but when he finally did he turned to the pedestal that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were trying to move earlier and pushed against it as he grunted, "Hey, if you can't even move this…you can't call yourself…a hero!" Sora just crossed his arms knowingly in response to Phil's words when the satyr finally collapsed from trying to move the heavy pedestal, but that did not stop the trainer for a second. "Okay, so it takes more than brawn, but seriously kid, Ven just said he was still training you, so I think you'll understand if I'm more than a little hesitant about letting you and your friends enter. I mean if it was Ven asking to enter, maybe, but you other three…"

"Actually, I think Sora might be onto something with his idea, Phil, so why not put us all through a few quick trials or something so that we can all prove we have what it takes to compete," Ven suggested.

Phil had to pause and think for a minute, until he finally said, "Okay, sure. I'll run you guys through a couple of gauntlets, see how well you each do, and we'll see what happens depending on the results."

"Yes," Sora cheered with Donald and Goofy, earning a small chuckle from Ven at the sight of their enthusiasm. It was pretty obvious that Phil probably was not going to let the three enter since he did not specifically say that he would if they did alright in the trial.

* * *

Phil's trial for the team was actually pretty simple; all they had to do was destroy a number of barrels as quickly as possible, and they would also get extra points for how well they did so. Goofy did a surprisingly good job, despite tripping over his own feet a few times, but that ended up proving to be more of a benefit for him since it led him to destroy at least five barrels at once, and Donald was able to make quick work of his own trial thanks to his magic. When it came to be Sora's turn, he was quick to charge in and start slashing and bashing at the large wooden targets, and he managed to destroy them all in record time, a fact that had impressed both Phil and Ven, not that the former was really planning on completely admitting that to the kid. Once Sora was done, Ven took his turn, but unlike Sora, he ended up having to smash a few different, large pots.

The minute he saw the massive pots and vases, Ven had to smile in nostalgia because it reminded him of when he first came to Olympus Coliseum and helped out one of his other friends with some training. Of course, that mostly due to the fact that this was the exact same exercise as the one they did back then, but that was beside the point. This time around, Ven was going to be able to really show off how much he had improved since that time, so before he started, he stated that he would not even need to use so much as one Command Style to achieve a high score. This had shocked Phil and his three traveling companions, because they all knew just how powerful Ven's Command Styles were, so it made sense that hearing him make such a declaration would leave them stunned. Ventus proved to be as good as his word, because the minute the Phil blew the whistle to start, Ven was off and striking, using his Keyblade and a few different other forms of close-combat moves to tear through the various pots. What came as an especially great shock to Phil was when Ven actually destroyed not one, not two, but three of the larger pots all at once with a single swing of his Keyblade, and a small shockwave seemed to destroy some of the pots around those three large ones a second later. Seeing his master breeze through such an exercise like this served to get Sora even more excited for when they picked up their training again.

Once Ventus had finished, he joined the others in returning to the lobby, where everyone was quick to praise him on his show of skills. "You really have improved, Ven," Phil nodded. "Seriously, I think you'd probably give even Herc a run for his money now."

"Thanks Phil, but I can't really take all the credit. I had a good teacher," Ventus modestly shrugged.

Phil nodded in acceptance of that, and he then turned to Sora and the others as he said, "As for the rest of you, you kids actually ain't bad. I can see Ven's done a pretty good job teaching you, kid."

"Yeah, he is a pretty cool teacher," Sora smiled in agreement. "Looks like we're all headed for the games then."

"Afraid not," Phil immediately denied, surprising all but Ventus.

"Why not," Sora asked.

"Well, if he wanted to, then sure, Ven could compete, but as for the rest of ya, two words: you guys ain't heroes," Phil stated with finality.

"Come on," Sora protested while Donald hung his head and Goofy quietly counted the number of words that Phil had actually said.

Ventus quickly patted Sora on the shoulder before the boy could protest any further and said, "Sorry Sora, but I'm afraid that it's just not in the cards for you guys yet. Maybe someday in the future. Besides, unless something happens that requires us to step up and defend this world, or until we can figure out where its Keyhole is, we should really focus more on your training."

Sora could see Ven's point, but that did little to quell his disappointment at not being able to compete in the games, so in the end, he could only nod in response to Ventus before they all moved to depart. Before he did though, Ventus looked back at Phil and asked, "Say, where is Herc right now, anyway? And have you seen Zack around lately?"

"Herc's off visiting his father at the moment so he'll probably not be back to see all of the action. Zack on the other hand…I actually haven't seen him in a long time. He just up and vanished one day while I was training Herc and we haven't seen or heard from him since," Phil admitted.

"Oh, I see," Ven nodded, feeling a little disappointed that two of his friends were not around at the moment. "Thanks anyways, Phil. I'll talk to you later. Right now, I've got an apprentice to train."

"Hey, the offer to use the coliseum's training area is still open if you want it," Phil reminded.

"Thanks, I think we'll take you up on that," Ven replied, and he quickly followed after Sora so that they could pick up where they had left off in their training.

* * *

"That guy's screwy if he thinks we're not heroes," Donald grumbled as Ven led the way to the training grounds.

"Hey to be fair, we haven't really been working together as a team for that long, and besides, for all you know, he's probably just being careful about who does and doesn't get in," Ventus defended. "Phil's been training heroes for years, and he knows better than anyone what it takes to make it as a hero and just how dangerous being one is. Plus, if he let just anyone enter just because they show a little skill and say that they're heroes, then there's a good chance that a lot of people could get hurt. People who enter the games always run a risk of getting seriously hurt in that arena at best."

"But don't you want to compete, Ven? I mean, he did say you could if you wanted to," Goofy pointed out.

"Yeah! I bet you would totally win the whole thing," Sora cheered. "And besides, we'd be there to cheer you on the whole time."

"I appreciate it, guys, but right now, we have more important things to worry about, starting with continuing your training, Sora," Ventus said, at which point, they had finally entered the practice area that Phil had opened up for them. "And it starts with expanding your magic abilities."

"Okay, so I guess now I'm going to officially learn that lightning spell, right," Sora asked.

"As a starting point," Ventus confirmed. "But after that's done, I want you to practice using that spell and the other two that you've already learned so that you can increase your magical energy. As you already know, using the spells you can already perform often can increase and strengthen your magical energies so that you can use the spells more often and so that you can use stronger spells as well. For now though, our goal is to get your energies to the point where you'll be able to use the basic level spells of most of the magic spells that are typically common amongst Keyblade Wielders. The highest point I want us to reach is the point where you can use spells like healing, wind, and maybe even time."

Sora seemed to beam with excitement at this point, but there was still something he could not help but wonder about. "Just how many different types of spells are there?"

"No one really knows the exact number of different magic types, but you should worry about the ones that are more well-known for the moment," Donald informed Sora, taking the reins of the conversation so that he could share a little of his knowledge on his field of expertise in battle. "Those eight types are fire, ice, lightning, wind, healing, time, light, and darkness."

"There are other types of magic that can be learned, but most of them are a little too advanced for you at the moment," Ventus informed Sora. "You'll just need to work your way up to them."

"Okay, sure," Sora nodded. "But how long will it take until I can learn any spells for those last two types?"

"Actually, you technically already know some light magic," Ventus revealed. "The Keyblade's power is typically wielded by a person with a strong light in their heart, and in point of fact, the Keyblade itself is a kind of light magic since it is able to destroy beings of darkness like the Heartless. There are some actual light-based spells that can be used, but it takes a great deal of time until someone has built up the magical energy to use them unless they have a vast magnitude of light in their heart and little to no darkness at all. As for dark magic, we're actually going to be avoiding that one as much as possible, at least as far as using it goes."

"How come? I mean, the Heartless and whoever they're working for are using dark magic, so why not fight fire with fire," Sora asked.

"What are you crazy? Dark magic is very dangerous," Ventus replied. "Even the simplest of dark spells can stir the darkness in your heart to a level where it could possibly consume you. Only someone who has much more experience with magic than you do, or someone who has been a Keyblade wielder for years and has the potential to be a master can properly wield dark magic without being consumed by it. The only thing that I plan to teach in regards to dark magic is the best ways to counter it. After all, you can't really beat dark magic just by swinging your Keyblade at it all the time." When Sora nodded in understanding of this, Ventus took that as his cue to continue on and inform him of what else the blonde intended to teach him for this session. "The other thing I'll want you to learn is how to use the common Tier One Command Styles."

"But I thought I already learned about that back in Wonderland," Sora pointed out.

"No, you just saw a demonstration of some Command Styles and learned the basics of how to unleash one of the common Tier One Command Styles," Ventus corrected. "Every Keyblade Wielder is able to use multiple different Command Styles, including the three common Tier One Styles: Firestorm, Thunderbolt, and Diamond Dust, which you've already learned how to use once. In addition to those three, each wielder is able to use a variety of Unique Command Styles as well, including a Tier One Command Style that only they possess."

"Unique Command Styles," Sora asked.

"That's right, and those are often much more difficult to learn the first time," Ventus nodded. "The main reason for this is because of the fact that those Command Styles are unique to just one Keyblade Wielder, at least in regards to the Tier One Unique Command Style, and it always requires a certain combination of magic and abilities before one can activate it, sometimes including the spells that are needed to activate one of the three common ones. You actually saw mine back in Wonderland when we were fighting the Red Queen's guards."

"You mean that tornado one you used," Sora asked to make sure he was remembering correctly.

"Well…kind of. That 'tornado one', as you described it, was actually a Tier Two Command Style, but we'll cover those at a later time. I was actually referring to the command style before that; the one that made me move and strike faster," Ventus explained. "That was my Unique Command Style, Fever Pitch, and I'm able to activate it by using a variety of different abilities that involve physical moves, but knowing just what those moves were and which I could use without accidentally activating one of the other three was not an easy task."

"Gawrsh, it sounds like your saying that you can't control which Command Styles can be used, Ven," Goofy observed.

"Well, that is technically true," Ventus informed everyone. "The Command Styles are actually pretty random most times, but you can control which Command Style you want to unleash by focusing on one specific type of magic at a time, as you have probably guessed based off the names of the three common Tier One Styles. Before we can do anything with the Command Styles though, we need to increase your magic abilities to the level I had mentioned a little while ago, Sora, and that will take some time."

"Well then let's get started! I can't wait until I'm able to use a Command Style again without tiring myself out or something," Sora cheered.

Ventus immediately nodded and summoned his Keyblade so that he could use it to set everything up for the training regiment he planned to use, knowing that if Sora followed it right, they would have him wielding the magic abilities he had mentioned before in no time. The Command Styles on the other hand were probably going to be a little more difficult, but then again, those always were for starting Keybearers. The blonde could still well remember how hard his friend Terra was laughing when he first tried using the Firestorm Command Style and ended up setting himself on fire by accident.

* * *

Expanding Sora's magic repertoire had taken quite a few hours, as expected, but by the time that the afternoon had rolled around, Sora's magic energy reserves were at the level that they had been aiming for, and it had been a simple matter to help Sora learn how to use the spells Thunder and Cure afterwards. He was not quite able to learn the spell Stop like they had planned, but Ven had said that it was alright since Sora had managed to learn Thunder and Cure, both of which would likely prove to be more useful in the near future than the time spell. After Sora had mastered his new level of magic skills, Ventus had him move on to mastering the three common Command Styles, and Sora was confident that he would be able to master both Firestorm and Thunderbolt in no time since he now had a handle on the Diamond Dust Command Style. At least, that was his thought going in, but his confidence started to dwindle a little not long after they had started.

In order to start off his Command Style training, Ven wanted Sora to use Diamond Dust again just prove to both of them that he could use it effectively. Things did not go so well when he did though, because just when Sora had built up the energy and started directing it into his Keyblade, the energy seemed to spark a little before it fizzled out in a small explosion that knocked the kid off his feet. Sora did not let that stop him though, as he quickly got back to his feet and tried again, but he only ended up with the same results, much to his dismay. After a third failure, Ventus figured that Sora's success from the first time was likely due to the adrenaline rush of the fight against the Trickmaster, and since he was now making a more active effort to do it without the stress of a battle, he was having a hard time remembering everything about what he needed to do in order to correctly activate a Command Style. That was not going to stop them though, as Sora proved by making another attempt, which Ven watched closely along with Donald and Goofy to see if there was anything else that could be causing the problem in case it failed again.

When Sora was thrown back by another explosion, Donald and Goofy quickly ran over to help him up again, with the former using a healing spell on Sora while the latter handed him a vial of Ether to help him recover his drained magic energy. "We'll try again after you've rested up," Ventus told Sora as he approached the trio.

"Why am I having so much trouble though? I was able to do it just fine when we were fighting the Trickmaster," Sora asked.

"Part of the reason is because you were in the middle of a battle and you didn't really have time to think on much, but there are other reasons," Ventus told the younger wielder. "You're doing everything right in terms of the basic directions you need to follow, but the one thing that's holding you back is that you're not using the Keyblade in the way that you should."

"What do you mean, Ven," Goofy asked as he helped Sora to his feet, voicing Sora's question for him as Donald finished working his magic, literally.

"You see Sora, what you're doing right now is basically just treating the Keyblade like it's just another sword, but the truth is that it's much more than that. I'm sure you've heard of how some people will say that the sword is like an extension of your body and all of that before, right?" Sora nodded in response to Ven's question, and the blonde then continued on from there. "Well, the Keyblade takes that to a new level. It's a manifestation of the power and strength of your heart, but it doesn't stop there, because as I've said, it's not just a weapon; it's your ally and partner. If you want to truly master it's power, then you need to learn how to put your trust in Kingdom Key just as you would Donald, Goofy, or me."

Sora was a bit mystified by what he had just heard Ventus say. In a strange way, it did sort of make sense that the Keyblade was acting as an ally to him, since it helped him awaken many abilities that he did not know he had before, but there was one part of Ven's speech that ended up confusing him a bit. "Kingdom Key? What's that," Sora asked.

Ventus stared at Sora for a minute, wondering how the boy could not already know something like that yet, until he slapped his forehead upon realizing that he had actually not mentioned anything about it to him before. "Can't believe I forgot to mention that part earlier," Ventus muttered to himself, and he then turned his full attention back to Sora. "As I've told you earlier, each Keyblade is unique to the person who wields it, but what I had forgotten to tell you was that each Keyblade also has its own name as a way of showing its significance. A Keyblade Wielder is able to learn the name of their own Keyblade or the ones of others by focusing on the energy of the connection between the Keyblade and the wielder. That's how I know that yours is known as Kingdom Key."

"Oh," Sora nodded.

"What's your Keyblade called, Ven," Donald asked. He may have known the name of Ven's original Keyblade, but the only one who seemed to know the name of the blonde's current Keyblade was Ventus himself and the king.

Ventus smiled for a minute before he held it up for all to see, and said, "Why don't we have Sora tell us?"

Sora was a bit nervous about that at first, but he did not want to let his master down, so he simply nodded and reached out with his senses like Ven had been teaching him to so that he could try and feel the connection between the blonde and his Keyblade. After a minute or so, Sora was not sure he would be able to say, but then, he started to pick up on something that almost felt like someone was whispering into his ear. It was only two words, but they sounded quite powerful as though they could tell Ventus' entire story just by being spoken, and he soon found himself speaking them aloud for everyone to hear. "Guardian…Wind."

When the spiky haired teen looked up to see if he was right, Ventus confirmed it with a proud smile and a short nod as he lowered the Keyblade again, eliciting gasps of awe from Donald and Goofy. "I know it may be a little hard to think of what many would consider to be your weapon as an ally, but unless you can do that, you'll have a hard time using the Command Styles, and an even harder time discovering your Unique Command Style."

While he may have nodded in understanding of this, but on the inside, he was a bit concerned. How could he start to think of his Keyblade as anything other than the strange sword that he was suddenly able to wield one day? It just did not seem all that possible, and the fact that he needed to do so in order to properly use the Command Styles was also somewhat worrying for him. "How can I learn to do that," Sora finally asked.

"Well, as much as I know you'll probably hate to hear me say this, I'd advise you to try and meditate in order to focus on your connection with the Kingdom Key," Ventus said. Sora had immediately groaned a little at the suggestion of more meditation, earning a chuckle from Ventus, Donald, and Goofy, but the blonde was not quite finished yet. "Don't think of this like when we were meditating before, but more like sitting down to have a conversation with a friend, because in the end, the Keyblade is a friend to its wielder, and a very loyal one at that, so long as the wielder's heart remains strong."

Sora nodded in acceptance of that, but before he could even so much as kneel down a smooth, yet chilling voice suddenly caught the group's attention. "Oi, who comes to the coliseum just to play around in the dirt or sit around doing nothing? Well then again, I suppose it's either that or watching a bunch of deadbeats flail around fighting monsters in the games all day, and trust me, I know a thing or two about dead. Seriously, that stubborn old goat needs to learn how to live a little and let some new talent in to show their stuff, their moves, their skills, wouldn't you boys say?"

The four immediately spun around to find a large man with grey skin and yellow eyes, dressed in a long, black robe and blue fire on his head for hair approaching them with a sly smile on his face. The minute he saw this person, Ventus immediately tensed and dropped into a battle stance so that he would be ready for a fight if necessary, and when it came to this particular individual, he was pretty sure that it would be. "Hades! What're you doing here," Ventus demanded.

"Whoa, hey, hold on there, kiddo. First things first: hey, long time, you've really grown a lot, no seriously I remember when you were the squirt of the group, how've ya been," Hades asked as he held a hand out to Ven, all the while reminding Sora of some car dealers he saw on TV as he talked. When Ven just glared at Hades, the large man dropped his hand and said, "Oh okay, I get it. You're still a little sore over what happened the last time you were here with your pals Chickenheart and the little bluebird, aren't you?"

"Their names are Terra and Aqua," Ventus snarled.

"Right, right, whatever, but look, hey, I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm actually here to help you and your new friends out okay," Hades insisted.

"You want to help us," Donald asked, suspicious of Hades even without seeing Ven's reaction to him.

"Oh, right, before we go any further, introductions," Hades said as he turned to the rest of the group. "Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld, yadda-yadda, how're you doin'?" Hades paused for a moment as he looked over Sora for a minute and asked, "Say, don't I know you from somewhere, kid? I feel like I've seen you before."

"Uh…I don't think so," Sora shrugged, not noticing how Ventus seemed to tense up a little more at Hades' question.

"Eh, whatever. It'll come back to me eventually. Anyways, why I'm here," Hades shrugged off as he returned to the original topic. "Let me guess: You all want to enter the games, but only ol' Blondie here is allowed to, right? Well then, hey, get a load of this."

With a simple flick of his wrist and a puff of smoke, Hades brought a small slip into his hand and held it out for Sora and the others to see, and when they did see it, they could hardly believe their eyes. "A pass," Sora asked.

Indeed, Hades was presenting the group with a pass that would allow all four of them to enter the games if they wanted, and Ventus was already seeing a few more red flags starting to fly at the sight of it. "It's all yours," Hades said, waving for Sora to take it.

Just as the boy was about to, Ventus held a hand between the two and leveled Hades with a hard look that demanded answers. "What's your game, Hades? You wouldn't give us something like this unless it benefited you somehow, so what's the catch," Ventus asked. "And on a side note, how did you even get your hands on that in the first place?"

"Well in answer to that last question, hello, Lord of the Dead, remember? I can get a lot of things like this with a snap of my fingers," Hades pointed out. "Everything else though, there's no catch. I just want to see a real tournament for once, not a decathlon of disasters like we've had for the past few years since your pals had last competed. Besides, wouldn't you like to see your name up there with your two best friends' names on the list of past champs?" When Ventus did not give any response beyond continuing to glare evenly at Hades, the ruler of the Underworld took that to mean yes, and said, "So like I said, all yours. Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you and the little shorty over there."

With that, Hades vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the pass behind as the only indication of him ever being there, while Ven's suspicions went up just a little more at his last statement. Even as Sora retrieved the pass to look over it, the blonde could not help but wonder just what Hades would be planning to throw at them should they accept the pass and enter the games, and there was also the question of just how many people would get hurt. Then again, the games were usually well contained into the arena somehow, so there was a chance that the audience would not be in too much danger, but that still did not mean that the other competitors would not be, nor would the four of them.

"Hey Ven, did you know that guy," Goofy inquired.

"Yeah," Ventus nodded. "Aqua, Terra, and I had a couple of run-ins with Hades back in the day on our first journey, and they were not pleasant at all. I'm sure that this time is no different. He wants us to enter the games for a reason, most likely to try and destroy us if I had to guess, since he has had dealings with villains from other worlds before in an attempt to do similar things, but the real question is what that reason is."

"So does that mean we're not going to enter," Donald asked.

"No, just the opposite. If I know Hades, then he'll find some way to get us involved whether we enter the games officially or not. Sometimes the best way to beat a trap is to spring it and hope for the best," Ventus said.

"Are you sure we'd be up for it though? I mean, how much good can I do if I can't properly use the Command Styles," Sora asked.

"Come on, Sora. I thought you wanted to enter the games, and besides, you said it yourself, the experiences of a fight can be great teachers as well," Ventus lightly teased, knowing that this little lapse in confidence Sora was currently showing would pass the minute he said that.

He was proven right when Sora instantly perked up and nodded enthusiastically while he said, "Yeah, of course! So let's get in there and show them that we are heroes too by winning the games!"

The team all cheered in agreement with Sora and they were all soon racing back to the lobby so that they could show Phil the pass. They were concerned by whatever Hades had in store for them once they had entered, but for the moment, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were too excited about getting to compete in the games to really care that much, while Ventus was simply amused by their enthusiasm.

* * *

Phil was understandably shocked when the four returned and showed him the pass that would allow Sora, Donald, and Goofy to enter the games along with Ven, but he was still a little hesitant about letting the three enter even if the pass did allow them to. It was not until Ventus said that he would get the three to step out and leave him to fight alone that Phil finally agreed to let the four enter together, and while the other three did not like having to make that kind of deal, they were able to understand why Ven did. After getting any other formalities dealt with, Phil allowed the four to make a few final preparations so that they would be sure they were ready when they entered the arena, and they were soon heading in to take the tournament by storm.

What came as a surprise to the four young warriors was that they were actually fighting Heartless in the tournament, but Ventus quickly discovered that these Heartless were not real, but rather convincing and realistic imitations of the creatures. Knowing this put them all at ease, and the team quickly went to work fighting their way through the imitations of the monsters that were currently threatening the worlds. As they fought their way through, Sora and Ventus both had to give a bit of mental praise to Phil and whoever else ran the games for setting things up like this. By having competitors fight these Imitation Heartless, they would be able to avoid having anyone get hurt in fights with the more serious and stronger opponents, and they would also be able to determine which competitors would be able to really hold their own against another competitor in the tournament. An easy way of weeding out the weaker fighters so that only the best of the best were left, if you would.

Getting through the preliminaries was simple enough for the four, and the next few rounds, while slightly more difficult, were not much problem for them either, proving that they did indeed all seem to be getting stronger. It also served to leave Phil rather impressed as well, and this time, he did not hide it at all. "You're no heroes yet, but you three ain't doing bad," the satyr told Donald, Sora, and Goofy before he looked to the Keyblade Master of the group. "And Ven, you're really showing your stuff out there. I'd bet that if Aqua and Terra were here right now, they'd be bouncing off the walls in excitement at seeing you work out there."

"Yeah, I sure hope so," Ventus nodded with a fond, yet sad smile.

Sora could not help feeling curious, since this was now the second time that he had heard someone mention a guy by the name of Terra, but he knew that he needed to focus on the games so he decided to ask Ven about him later. Before anyone else could say anything else, the whole group found their attention drawn to someone who was walking past them on his way to the arena, and they could all only assume that he was another competitor in the games. As he passed, the group noticed that the man seemed to be staring at them, particularly Sora and Ventus, and the two could not help but stare back in an attempt to gauge him like he seemed to be doing with them. The man had blonde, spiky hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in a black shirt and pants, with brown boots and gloves, a grey shoulder guard on his left shoulder, and a flowing red cape. What really caught the two's attention were the metal claw on his left hand and the large sword on his back. Sora felt that these items gave him an idea of just how powerful and dangerous the man could be, but Ventus had only paid a small notice of the metal claw, as his attention was more focused on the man's large sword. The blonde was sure that he had seen a similar sword a long time ago, but he could not quite place where until it finally hit him. It was almost exactly like the sword he saw Zack using the last time he saw him, and that made Ven wonder if this mystery man knew about Zack.

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat," Phil commented, drawing the group out of their moments of thought. "Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him."

"I hope so. He's seems strong, and I'd like to see how well we do against him," Sora admitted in soft excitement.

"I hope not. I thought he seemed a little scary," Goofy moaned.

"Aw phooey. He's not that scary," Donald scoffed, but they could still see that the duck was actually trembling a little, no doubt from the chilling aura that they felt from the man as he passed.

Ventus did not say anything for a moment, but continued to stare at the blonde who had just passed them as he entered the arena and drew his sword in preparation for his fight. After watching this man for a minute as he fought, Ventus was definitely able to say that he had never seen a warrior like that before, and he eventually found he could not help but ask Phil what had now lodged its way into his mind. "Do you know who that guy is?"

"Hmm…If I remember right, I think his registration said that his name was Cloud or something," Phil replied after a moment of thought. "Why?"

"No reason," Ventus said before he returned his sights to the now-named fighter. He continued to watch Cloud's match, which ended rather quickly, Ven's interest in the man only seemed to grow, along with his wariness, until he eventually whispered, "Cloud…Just what is your reason for being here, or even…what is it that you're trying to find?"

* * *

After his match had ended, Cloud holstered his sword onto his back again and moved to stand off to the side so that he could watch the other competitors in their matches. Not that he really paid that much attention to most of them, but there was one particular group that he made sure to keep his eyes on: the group that consisted of Ventus, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Admittedly, he was a little wary on the idea that the last two were really that much of fighters, and while Sora was certainly skilled in some ways, he was still a child from what he could see. When it came to Ventus though, Cloud could tell that his fellow blonde was definitely someone that deserved watching, because it was clear in the way that Ventus carried himself that he was a very seasoned warrior who had seen and done a great many things in his life, and it was always people like that who needed to be watched. Of course, his reasons for watching the group as a whole went a little further than just passing curiosity or studying possible opponents, and that fact was proven true when a familiar Lord of the Dead suddenly stepped up to him from the shadows.

"Hey, how's it goin' slugger," Hades greeted. "Now listen up, those two little punks are your next opponents, okay? Now, don't blow it. Just take them out."

Cloud stared at Hades and the two Keybearers for a minute, almost as if he could not believe what he just heard, before he finally spoke up. "The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid and a skinny guy with odd shoulder armor? Sorry, but my contract says…"

"I know! You think I don't know? I wrote the contract," Hades raged. "I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you've gotta fight those two to get to him. Come on." Seeing Cloud's expression did not change in the slightest, Hades then added, "Hey, it's like that old goat says: Rule Number Eleven: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?"

Cloud glanced at the two Keybearers once again before he finally pushed himself off the wall and walked away, hoping to find a quieter place to mentally prepare himself for the next match, while Hades just stared after him with a tired look. "Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home," Hades muttered. "Still, suckers like him are hard to come by…"

At those words, a number of low growls could be heard from the shadows behind Hades, and the god of the Underworld could only grin maliciously at the knowledge of what it was that was growling from the shadows, because no matter what happened in this next match, he would be the only one who came out as the winner.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 2**

 **Well, today's training was no picnic, and that's putting it nicely. Then again, it's not like it was any more difficult than my first day of training with him, so that's gotta count for something. Who would've thought that a friendly, cheerful guy like Mickey Mouse could be such a strict and tough teacher? When we first started, we had a quick sparring match so that he could get a read on just what I could do, both of us promising not to hold anything back, and while I was giving it my all, Mickey clearly had a lot more to give than me. Aqua had always told me that I was the fastest in our little trio of friends, and Terra had agreed with that saying that my speed was what made me tough, but compared to Mickey, I felt like I was hardly moving all that fast. Although, part of that might have had something to do with the fact that Mickey is smaller than me, but even so, now that I've actually fought against someone who's faster than I am in a fight, I'm now more determined to get stronger, and part of that means I have to start training so I can be faster as well.**

 **Of course, even though he is the one who oversees most of my training and is my official master, Mickey isn't the only one who's been training me. Everyone else here at Disney Castle has been helping out with my training as well. For example, Minnie has been teaching me a few things about how to negotiate and handle politics, a skill that many Keyblade Wielders have needed over the years when traveling from world to world, although somehow, I don't think leaders of other worlds would typically be as understanding and open as Minnie Mouse is. Donald has been a big help as well by helping me to better improve my skills with magic, and despite his temper, and a few accidents here and there, it's proven to be a big help. Oddly enough, even Goofy has been a big help, too by teaching me how to make absolutely sure I'm prepared for just about anything, and given all the spills he's had since I've met him and in his life period, I think he might be something of a leading expert on what to do to be ready for anything.**

 **Having so many people helping me learn and improve has been a great help, right to the point where it almost feels like I'm back on the Land of Departure with Master Eraqus, Aqua, and Terra, but that doesn't mean it's quite the same here as it was back then. I really miss them. I know that there's a chance that we can save Aqua and Terra, and I want to go out and find a way to do just that as soon as possible. I probably would too were it not for Mickey's gentle reminders that I decided to focus on finishing my training first so that I would be able to do so the right way. That doesn't stop him from helping me look into some various clues as to where Terra might be and how we can at least bring Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness though, and I really appreciate him for trying, but I think we both know that there's really only two people who can really help us save Aqua and Terra. At least, for the moment, that seems to be the case.**

* * *

 ** _AN: So, hope that wasn't too disappointing for those of you who were really excited about Ven's return to Olympus Coliseum, and look at that, we get another look at what had been happening with our resident blonde, Keyblade Master with another one of his journal entries!_**

 ** _Ventus: I feel like putting those things on display for the world to see is a kind of breach in privacy._**

 ** _AN: Hey, it's not like they're the actual entries from any journal you may have kept in the cannon story line, dude, and besides, I said I was gonna do these things, so I'm gonna do 'em._**

 ** _Sora: Wait a minute, why did you suddenly decide to make me have a hard time using Command Styles when I was able to do it so well in the last chapter?_**

 ** _AN: I'm pretty sure I made it clear during the story why that is. Being able to do something in the heat of the moment is one thing, but doing it outside of such a thing is another. Plus, it also gave me more of a reason for Ventus to mention the whole thing about the names of different Keyblades, and finally reveal the name of Ven's new Keyblade while I was at it._**

 ** _Donald: But why didn't you show us in any of the fights during the games?_**

 ** _AN: Come on, dude, be honest. Do you really think anyone would really care to read about something that's really just the same fights from the game just with Ventus joining in on the action? And besides, it's really not that different from a lot of fights you guys would be getting into on a normal basis on all of the other worlds when it comes to Heartless swarms, so why put that in here when we're already going to see a lot of it later on?_**

 ** _Goofy: He's got a point there Donald._**

 ** _Donald: Aw phooey. I think it would've been better if we saw a few more fights in there._**

 ** _AN: Well speaking of things that nearly or did not end up in the chapter, I actually have a confession to make. When I was planning out the story, a part of me actually thought of having Ven and Phil do a duet-style alternate version of "One Last Hope" from Hercules, while they were training Sora, but that did not really quite make it to the final cut, and after a while, it just couldn't seem to really fit into the story all that well._**

 ** _Ventus: I can't really see myself singing that song while training Sora if I'm being totally honest here._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, that's another reason why it didn't make the final cut. Anyways, the next chapter is going to be the big fight against the Final Fantasy VII iconic hero, Cloud Strife, and let's not forget about what Hades will...oh, wait, why am I saying this now? I should be letting you guys read stuff like that after I say Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The finals of the games kick off in a match between our heroes and Cloud. After a short time, Ventus determines to fight Cloud on his own, and the two agree to hold nothing back as they engage each other, leaving Sora and the others in awe at the level of power and strength that are soon displayed before them. When the fight finally begins to reach a close, however, Hades makes his move, and it'll take more than what Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy have to get out of this one; it's going to take the strength of a true hero as well. See if the team survives what's coming for them, next time._**

 ** _Looks like things are about to get really interesting at the Coliseum, huh? To find out more, tune in next time. Same Keyblade Channel, same Keyblade Time, or to put it another way..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	7. Power of Warriors

**_AN: Hotcha! lyokoMARVELanime is back once again with another exciting chapter of Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys!_**

 ** _Donald: It's about time! We've been waiting for you to update this for two months now! [gets whapped on the head by two of author's fingers] Ow!_**

 ** _AN: Do you want me to make sure that the chapters I write are not a piece of crap? Yes? Then don't complain about time it takes for author to update!_**

 ** _Goofy: So is that part of the reason it takes you long to update all of your other stories too?_**

 ** _AN: Pretty much. Well that, and the fact that I've got other projects to work on too. Now, how about we answer some reviews before we get into things?_**

 ** _Sora: How about this one guest review that asked an important question that I wanna know the answer to just as much? The one about me flying the Gummi Ship?_**

 ** _Donald: How about never! [gets whapped again] Ow!_**

 ** _AN: That will happen soon enough, but it won't be until...next chapter at the earliest._**

 ** _Ventus: Hey, there's this other Guest review about Sora being my Keyblade Inheritor that's kinda got me a bit confused._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I know the one you mean. Yes, I am well aware of all those things, but tell me, was there a question in there, somewhere, or were you just trying to point out something that's already well established both in the actual series and in this story series? I don't think there's really anything else to say this time, so how about we roll on into things._**

 ** _Ventus: I'm good with that. I can't wait to see the action that you've got in store for us today._**

 ** _Sora: You the mean the action he's got in store for_ you _today. You did way more than all the rest of us did this time around._**

 ** _Ventus: One extra moment of fighting, and that's it. But come on, it was an awesome showdown, and..._**

 ** _AN: Hey guys! How about we let the readers decide such things for themselves and get on with it?_**

 ** _Sora &Ventus: Yeah, okay. We're cool with that._**

 ** _AN: Enjoy the show!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter VI**

Getting through the rest of the tournament turned out to be a breeze for the team of four, and with each battle they fought, each of their skills grew more and more. In the case of Ventus, it was really more in terms of knowledge on how to fight the Heartless, because while they were similar to his old foes from years ago, they were still different enough for him to need to know a few more specifics on just how to fight the creatures of darkness. Yes, he knew how to fight a few of the more basic Heartless, due to certain experiences from his journey ten years ago and his experiences in Traverse Town, but he never once fooled himself into thinking that those were the only types of Heartless to exist, and this little tournament was proving just that, so he was very glad to have the chance to gain this new knowledge. Donald and Goofy on the other hand had learned quite a few new tricks that they could use in fighting their enemies. The two of them had always been a strong team, of course, but as was proven back in Traverse Town when they first met Sora, they had a lot to learn when it came to fighting the Heartless. Thankfully, this tournament was helping them learn just that, and they were learning quickly, too. Goofy eventually figured out that he could not always be on the defensive, despite how against fighting he was, and thus learned quite a few ways on how he could really strike back with his shield, while Donald figured out how to rely a little more on his own natural combat skills instead of always depending on his magic to get him out of a jam. That did not mean that the two did not still get themselves into tight spaces, but thankfully, their two Keyblade wielding friends were always close at hand to help them out, if they were not able to help each other out that is.

Out of everyone in the group though, it seemed that Sora was the one to improve the most. Yes, he did have some skills in sword fighting, but those skills only grew stronger and stronger the more he fought, right to the point where one would start to think that Sora actually had a bit more training in sword-fighting than he had received back on Destiny Islands from Riku. The main thing that helped in this regard was when he finally figured out that the Keyblade was often trying to help guide his movements as he fought, and that helped him to have a little more of a realization regarding just what Ven had meant when he said that the Keyblade was now his ally and partner, because there were many times in the fight when he had just barely escaped being hit by a seriously harmful attack, and he was certain that said attacks would have landed if he did not have the Keyblade to guide his movements. Aside from that, it also helped him figure out how to vary between his use of magic and normal fighting abilities in battle more effectively, and that was something that Ventus knew he would need to be able to use the Command Styles to their fullest, assuming Sora could use them at will and not out of an instinctive reflex like he did back in Wonderland. All in all, the games were proving to be just as effective a method of training for the four as Sora had believed it would be when he first suggested they enter for the purpose of training.

Throughout it all, the crowd was constantly roaring in excitement for the four and their progress through the games, and among those who excited viewers was a particular satyr who had to admit was growing more and more impressed with both Ventus and the three rookies he had brought along with him. This was a fact that he was willing to admit as soon as the team came out of their last match before the final round. "You know, your little apprentice kid's a lot better than I thought, Ven. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're just as good a teacher to him as I was to Herc," Phil nodded.

"Well, I don't know about that," Ventus shrugged, modestly.

"Uh, who're you two talking about," Sora asked, while Donald and Goofy looked at the two with confused expressions that were asking the same question.

"Hercules," Phil replied. "He's a hero if there ever was one. Too bad he's off visiting his father right now, because I'm sure he'd like to have chance to at least face off with Ven here so that they can give each other a test of their strengths."

Ventus only chuckled at the thought of fighting Hercules, clearly still remembering the teenage kid he had met and trained with the first two times he had visited Olympus Coliseum, but a small part of him could not deny that he was actually kind of curious about how well he would stack up in comparison to his old friend now that Hercules had become a true hero, at least according to Phil. He shook it off before looking over to the satyr and said, "Well, I guess all that's left now is the final round, huh?"

"Yep, and it looks like you're gonna go all the way and win the whole shebang just like your old pals, Terra and Aqua did, Ven. Bet you wish they were here to see you win it all, huh," Phil asked.

"Yeah, you've got that right," Ven admitted with a sad smile and a far off look.

Sora's face immediately scrunched up in confusion as he looked to his teacher and wondered once again just who this Terra person was. Three times now he had heard that name mentioned, and yet he had no idea who the guy even was. It was obvious that it was someone Ven knew, given how often people brought the name up around him, and the look that Ven would get on his face afterwards depending on who brought it up clearly implied that it was someone very important to him. If that was the case, then why had Ventus not mentioned Terra before now? Was he another Keyblade Wielder that Ven knew, did he ever come close to becoming a master, or was there something else that made it hard for Ventus to talk about him? These questions were running rampant in Sora's mind the more he wondered about this Terra person, and he just had to know before he lost his mind. Just when he was about to ask though, Phil started to tell them about their opponent for the final round of the games, and he knew that he had to pay attention to this detail.

"Well, looks like you're really going to have to work for it if you guys want to win the games, because your last opponent is going to be that tough contender we came across earlier: Cloud," Phil revealed.

"Oh boy," Donald and Goofy both moaned, while Sora and Ven both felt intensely serious expressions form on their faces.

"Well, good luck out there," Phil waved before he moved aside so that the four could head for the arena.

Once the satyr was well on his way, Sora and Ven allowed Donald and Goofy to trudge on ahead of them, albeit with a bit more hesitance than they had in the previous rounds of the tournament, in order to collect themselves and start thinking of ways that they might win this match. Or at least, that was one of the things that the two of them were thinking about, and Sora felt that one particular subject on his mind could not be ignored any longer. "Hey Ven, just who is this Terra person everyone keeps talking about," Sora asked the blonde master.

Ventus instantly stiffened a bit when he heard that question, and his face then fell in sadness a little before he replied, "Now's really not a great time for that story, Sora."

"But…"

"Sora, I promise I'll tell you later, but right now, we should focus on the match. If you let your mind wander in this fight, it will cost you," Ventus preempted the boy's protest. It was a couple of minutes before Sora finally gave a hesitant nod of acceptance, and Ven then went on to give one last piece of advice before they stepped out of the lobby. "I noticed that you seemed to be trusting Kingdom Key a little more."

"Well yeah, I guess. I mean, I noticed during the last few rounds that the Keyblade was trying to direct me in certain directions, like it was trying to guide me in how I fought, and after hearing what you said earlier about how the Keyblade's our ally, I figured I should just go with it," Sora confirmed.

"And you were right to do so," Ventus confirmed. "One thing you should always remember when fighting with the Keyblade is that you shouldn't try so hard to move your body, but instead, you need to let your body move you."

"Huh," was the only response that Sora gave, not quite understanding what that meant.

"Letting the Keyblade guide you is always a wise move, because oftentimes, it will know better than you what you need to do in order to make it through a fight. If you try to fight against it, you will end up being your own worst enemy, and ultimately lose the fight. More than that though, you need to learn to trust your instincts when you're fighting, because when you do that, you'll become much stronger," Ventus explained as best as he could.

"Okay, I think I get it," Sora nodded, though Ven could see that there was still a little confusion in his expression about the matter. Still, it was also clear that he had gotten the basics of his point across for the moment so he let it slide for now. There was still one more thing that he needed to tell him.

"Sora, during this match, there's one thing that I want you to promise me to do," Ventus said, his tone serious and indicating that there was no room for argument on this. "If at any point during the fight I tell you and the others to step back and leave the fighting to me, I want you to do exactly as I say and not argue. This guy, Cloud is far different from any of the enemies you've faced so far, and I get the feeling that he's on a level that you're not quite ready for just yet."

Sora wanted to protest this at once, but seeing the look on Ven's face told him that his master would not be saying any of this if he did not think it was for the best. More than that, Sora could see that Ven was seriously concerned for Sora's safety in this matter, so there was really nothing else that he could do other than nod and give his word that he would do as Ventus was asking. With that matter settled, the two marched forward to join Donald and Goofy in the arena, where they would be awaiting their opponent. They did not end up waiting long though, as a few minutes later, Cloud walked into the arena as well, and somehow, seeing him enter from the opposite side of the arena, ready to fight them, made him seem much more intimidating than he had been before. This made Sora understand why Ventus asked him to make that promise much better, but all the same, they all stood firm, ready to face this clearly powerful opponent with everything they had. After a minute of staring one other down, the gong to begin sounded, and the final clash of the games began.

If any of the four were expecting Cloud to be slowed down by his massive sword, they were immediately proven wrong when the tall, silent blonde immediately dashed towards the center of the ring where they were waiting for him at an incredible speed, and while his first swing not all that slow, it was still incredibly powerful, right to the point where it created a shockwave when it hit the ground where the four had previously been before they had dove to the sides to dodge it. Ventus and Goofy were the first ones to attempt to counterattack, being the closest to Cloud after they had avoided his first strike, but the taller man was just as quick to raise his sword up in time to block their combined assault. Thankfully, he had left himself open just enough for Sora and Donald to hit him with a quick barrage of spells from behind, mostly fire and ice magic, and that disoriented Cloud just enough for Ventus to slip past his guard and land a few hits on Cloud's front with his Keyblade. Cloud just barely managed to avoid Ventus' follow-up assault by dashing out of the way, but he was unable to avoid Sora when he came in and landed a few hits of his own with the Kingdom Key. Somehow, Cloud did manage to parry the last of Sora's strikes, but the spiky haired boy managed to roll out of the way before Cloud's counterattack could hit, and Sora instantly followed up with a barrage of fire magic, which was quickly strengthened when Ventus combined it with his wind magic.

The resulting blaze caused Cloud to back off a little, and right into Goofy's shield as the royal knight swung it around to bash it into the blonde man's back. Donald then swooped in to knock Cloud's feet out from under him with his staff before calling down some lightning bolts with a Thunder spell. Shockingly, it did not hinder Cloud in the slightest, but instead, he somehow managed to shrug it off like it was nothing, and then swung his massive sword around to release a powerful wave of energy that knocked Donald and Goofy off their feet and into the barrier around the arena. The two both fell unconscious afterwards, and that was all it took for Ventus and Sora to charge in once more, ready to strike. Ventus took to fighting Cloud up close in a full-on sword fight, while Sora laid down a barrage of fire magic to cover for him in order to make sure Cloud could not take any advantages at any point.

After one last fireball was sent out from his Keyblade, Sora suddenly started to feel something build up inside of him, like his insides were beginning to burn up, and it did not take him long to realize what this feeling was, but it took him just as much time to wonder if he could even pull it off when he had failed so many times already. Just as those doubts were forming though, he suddenly felt a warming feeling in the hand that was currently holding the Kingdom Key, and he immediately glanced over to see what the cause was. Upon doing so, he saw that his Keyblade seemed to be glowing with a faint, fiery aura which everyone else had seemed to have missed, and as he gazed upon this incredible sight, he somehow felt like he heard someone or something speaking to him, encouraging him to try, and saying that they could do this if they work together. It was that last one that made him realize that it was actually the Kingdom Key itself that was speaking to him, and hearing these reassurances from his Keyblade made it all the more easy for Sora's confidence to skyrocket to new levels. With his confidence now raised, Sora nodded to his Keyblade, and raised it before him as he focused the power of this new feeling into Kingdom Key, until finally the power was released around him in a bright red aura that was emitting sparks of fire. No one really even noticed this was happening until Sora suddenly shouted out, "Command Style: Firestorm!"

That drew all attention to Sora just seconds before he charged towards Cloud, his Keyblade pulled back and ready to strike, and the minute he had reached the blonde, he unleashed his attack at full force, which not only caused Cloud to stagger a little as he attempted to block it with his massive sword, but also caused a stream of fire to swing out towards the blonde man in its wake, prompting him to jump back as fast as he could. Sora did not let up for a second, and continued swinging his Keyblade at Cloud with all he had, unleashing streams of fire as he did so, some of which even went burst out in a ring around him at certain points during his attacks. Eventually, Sora felt the need to channel every last bit of the Command Style's power though his being, and released its finisher an instant later, throwing out a storm of flames onto Cloud when he did. As Sora dropped down onto the ground again with the aura of the Command Style fading out, Ventus could not help but smirk with pride at the fact that the boy had just made another step forward in his training, but that smirk instantly fell when they saw Cloud stand up, slightly singed, but still able to fight.

"You're good, kid, but now, I'm not going to be playing around anymore," Cloud complimented, speaking up for the first time since they saw him, at least as far as they were concerned.

If that simple sentence did not send shivers up the spines of the other three, Ventus was not sure what would, because the slightly taller blonde had pretty much confirmed what he had suspected throughout their match with that one declaration. "So you have been holding back against us," Ventus noted aloud as he addressed Cloud with an even gaze.

Cloud smirked in response to this before he locked eyes with Ventus and said, "What, like you haven't been doing the same?"

Ventus just scoffed with a smirk of his own, having to admit that Cloud had him there, and he could tell that it was definitely time for him to start going all out. But first, there was something that he had to do. "Sora, get to Donald and Goofy, and then get clear."

If it were not for the fact that Sora had already promised he would not do so, Sora would have immediately protested with Ven's orders when he heard them, but there was something else that prevented Sora from arguing with his master. Looking up at Ven, Sora could see a confident, strong glint in his eyes that boasted of determination, confidence, and a hint of warrior's pride unlike anything Sora had ever seen before, and given that look in Ven's eyes and his posture, it was clear to Sora that the Keyblade Master was eager to face Cloud on his own simply because he could tell that the large sword-wielder was going to be the first real challenge that Ven had ever had outside of the king in a long time. Seeing this look and knowing what it meant, any rising complaints Sora may have had immediately died in his throat, and he quickly moved to pull Donald and Goofy aside just as the two were starting to wake up, leaving Cloud and Ventus on their own in the center of the arena.

"Smart move, telling him to get clear, but you do know that I'm going to go after him once I've beaten you," Cloud pointed out.

"You mean if you can beat me," Ven corrected before he dismissed his Keyblade for a moment. The Keyblade Master then slapped his hand on the shoulder armor he wore on his left shoulder, and was immediately encompassed in a flash of light that forced everyone to shield their eyes a little for a moment. When the light faded, everyone wore varying degrees of shock on their faces when they saw Ventus was now clad in a form-fitting, full suit of armor that was colored steel blue, gold, and black with several red lines decorating it. The steel blue helmet had a pair of horns that swept backwards and angled up diagonally, while his face was hidden behind a dull gold, almost black visor, and to complete this new appearance, he also had a flowing, steel blue cape billowing out from the shoulders of his armor. He then re-summoned Guardian Wind and swung it around so that he was holding it in front of him as he finished, "But you'll find that defeating a Keyblade Master is no easy feat!"

Cloud had half expected Ventus to charge him after that declaration, but he was immediately widening his eyes in awe when Ventus suddenly spun around a few times and released a number of star-like projectiles in his direction. He was immediately sliding and dashing in various directions in order to avoid being hit by the energy beams, but such a task was extremely difficult and often unsuccessful, even when he did pause to block the beams, and ultimately, he was pushed back a ways until he was knocked down to one knee. Cloud did not let this stop him though, as he was soon on his feet and meeting Ven's Keyblade with his Buster Sword with a loud clang that seemed to echo out across the world, given the small shockwave that erupted when their blades collided. The two held their positions for a moment before they finally pushed each other back, and Cloud charged in at an even faster speed than he was using before, his Buster Sword ready to stab through something. The man had moved so fast, that it was almost impossible to see him, but Ventus knew where he was moving. This partly because of his ability to sense the presence of others by the light and/or darkness in their hearts, and the rest of the reason was because of the various, high-speed slashes that were being dealt to him and his armor as Cloud dashed past him. After stumbling under the force of one particularly nasty strike, Ven immediately spun around and intercepted Cloud's sword with his Keyblade, bringing the taller man's assault to a hard halt.

The two held their blades against one another, glaring at each other as they did, for a few moments, until Ventus suddenly started to glow with the aura of his Fever Pitch Command Style. The sudden change in his opponent caught Cloud by surprise a little, but that little was just enough for Ven to be able to push the man's sword off and then race around to his blind spot at high speed. The resulting blow from Ven's Keyblade caused Cloud to stumble forward a little, but he still did not fall to his knees. Instead, he simply spun around and leveled Ventus with a look that, though neutral on the surface spoke volumes of how impressed he was as he raised his sword in front of him, ready for the next exchange of attacks. Ventus on the other hand simply stood up straight as he looked directly at Cloud, studying the man with an unreadable expression, mostly due to the fact that it was hidden behind his helmet.

"I'm impressed," Ventus admitted after a minute of silence. "Though I can't help but wonder just why you would really need dark powers for a simple tournament."

"So you noticed," Cloud said, though it was clearly not a question; if anything, it sounded more like an observation.

Ventus merely shrugged as he replied, "When you're a Keyblade Master, it's hard not to notice intense levels of darkness or light. Still, why would you want such dark powers for this tournament? It is just a game."

"Maybe for you, but not for me. Besides, who said I wanted these powers," Cloud pointed out. Before Ventus could further question him on the matter, Cloud's body suddenly gained a dark aura around it that just screamed the fact that he was about to unleash a powerful finishing attack, and even from where they were on the sidelines, Sora, Donald, and Goofy could easily tell that it was going to be a very dangerous one, especially since it would be mostly focused on Ventus.

"Ven, run," Goofy shouted.

"Get out of there," Donald cried out.

"Hurry before he gets you," Sora practically pleaded with his teacher.

Ventus did not heed the three's warnings, but instead, simply allowed the cape on his armor to vanish, almost appearing as though it were retracting into the back of his shoulders where it was hanging from, and said, "Alright then. If that's how you want to end things, I guess I have no choice but to play things your way." An instant later, the light green aura of Ven's Fever Pitch Command Style suddenly started to glow a little brighter, until it suddenly began to change to a bright, shinning blue, which only became brighter and brighter as the power it was giving off increased. Right when the aura had reached what seemed to be its peak Ventus swung his Keyblade outward, and seemed to release six light swords around him in a way that was reminiscent of angel wings, with his Keyblade appearing to become one of the six swords. As the light faded to just a slightly brighter aura than that of his Fever Pitch's aura, Ventus cried out, "Command Style: Wingblade!"

Cloud studied the appearance of this new power for a moment before he smirked a little and said, "So, you intend to fight my dark powers with a powerful light ability, huh?" When Ven said nothing in response, Cloud took that to be confirmation of his guess and said, "Alright then, let's see how your Wingblade can match up to my Omnislash."

Not even a second later, the two were charging at one and other at an incredible speed that was almost untraceable for everyone in the arena, including Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and yet somehow, Donald and Goofy were just barely able to keep up with the two as they lashed out with their two abilities, while Sora only did slightly better in tracking the two combatants. The two were unleashing everything they had on one another now, with Cloud landing blow after blow with his Buster Sword, while Ventus met as many of Cloud's strikes as he could with the six light swords that were acting like wings from him. At the same time, Ventus was also throwing out a massive variety of strikes with his light swords at Cloud, and whenever he swung one of the six swords at Cloud, the other five were soon follow, like afterimages that could inflict serious damage, and boy did they inflict damage, because Cloud could not help but flinch a few times after the six swords had all landed blows on him. The two combatants did not let up in their use of what was clearly their most powerful abilities for even a second, until finally, their barrages came to an end, but what Cloud did not expect was that Ven's attack was not over just because his main assault had ended.

The instant Cloud had landed on the ground again after his Omnislash had come to an end, Ventus leaped into the air with the six light swords spinning out around him, and shouted, "Command Style: Wingblade Finisher!"

A second later, all six of his light swords were thrown down around Cloud in a circular, magic emblem made of light, which he immediately dived down into the center of. The minute Ventus hit the ground, a massive burst of light exploded outward, blinding everyone who was watching, while encompassing both Cloud and the Keyblade Master who had unleashed it within its brilliance. When the light finally subsided, Cloud and Ventus were both still standing in the center of the arena, both back to their normal states, but both clearly on their last legs as evidenced by how they were both panting a bit heavily as they both seemed to struggle to remain standing. Seeing the state of the two warriors, anyone could have told you that the next move would decide the match, and they both knew that just as well, as they both readied their blades for one final attack. The start of their respective charges may have been slow, but they slowly picked up in speed as they got closer to the center of the arena, until finally, they both let out a loud roar of determination as they leapt up and swung their blades at each other as hard as they could. A single flash of light accompanied by the sound of swords slashing through something would have been all anyone would have taken note of if they had blinked when the two collided, because a second later, the two had landed behind their opponent on opposite sides of where they had started, blades held in a position they would have been in after taking a swing at their opponent.

No one said a word as the air became heavy with intense silence, almost as if the whole world was waiting to see who would emerge unscathed from that final clash, until finally, a few cracks formed on the side of Ventus' helmet, before a piece of the visor fell away to reveal the small smirk on his face that was hidden beneath it. "You're definitely good," Ventus commented.

"Yeah, you're not bad yourself," Cloud grunted in return, and a second later, he dropped to one knee, while his sword arm fell limply to his side, indicating that he was no longer able to continue standing or even holding the massive weapon up any longer. That was all the confirmation needed now to prove one thing about this fight: Ventus had won, or at least, that's what it seemed like.

Just before anyone could call the match, Ventus spotted a large shadow looming over Cloud, and after seeing what said shadow belonged to, he did not hesitate to rush over and push his fellow blonde out of the way just seconds before a massive, black paw came crashing down on where Cloud had previously been sitting. After checking to see if Cloud was still in one piece, or at least as close to it as he could be after that match, Ventus heard Sora gasp in shock, and turned around to see that his apprentice was looking up at the beast that had almost flattened them was a gigantic, three-headed dog with shadows oozing out of its mouth. Seeing this beast before them instantly prompted Ventus to stand up and prepare to fight, until he felt his legs go out from beneath him and cause him to fall to one knee.

"Damn, I must've used too much energy in that last fight," Ventus cursed as the monster dog loomed closer and closer to him and Cloud, who was just barely able to stand up as well, and unfortunately, it did not seem like Sora, Donald, or Goofy were going to be coming to the rescue any time soon, since they had all frozen up a little in fear at the sight of the beast.

As he watched this from the shadows nearby, Hades could only smirk as he disappeared into a puff of smoke, while commenting, "Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen."

Ventus continued to glare up at the beast as it came closer and closer, until it was finally close enough to lunge at him, and he finally flinched away a little, but shockingly, the pain he had expected never came. Upon looking up, Ven could only gape in awe at the sight of a tall, muscular man with red hair, decked out in orange-brown armor, sandals, and wristbands, a reddish-brown headband around his head, and a blue cape holding the beast back. When Phil saw this man, he immediately shouted out a name that Ventus was not expecting to hear in regards to this muscular man. "Herc!"

 _THAT's Hercules,_ Ventus thought in complete surprise, given that the last time he saw the man he was still a skinny, little teenager as opposed to the massive, muscular man before him.

Ven was quickly stirred out of his thoughts when Hercules looked over to his coach and shouted, "Phil, get them out of here!"

The satyr did not even hesitate to obey that request, and he immediately ushered everyone in the audience out of the arena, along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, with Ventus following shortly after them once he had cast a quick healing spell on himself and Cloud so that they would actually be able to beat their hasty retreat. What he did not realize though, was that Cloud was not following after them, but instead, glaring the three-headed beast down right along with the man that was holding it back.

* * *

"Whew, that was close," Phil gasped as he and the four friends from other worlds finally came to a halt in the lobby in order to catch their breaths. Well, Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to catch their breaths, while Ven on the other hand just collapsed onto the floor as his armor vanished in a flash of light, and he was unable to suppress the small grunt of pain that came out when he did drop to the floor, so everyone was immediately turning their attention to him.

"Ven, are you okay," Goofy asked, panic in his voice while he and the other two rushed over to him.

"I…I'm fine. Just a little more worn out than I thought after that fight," Ven panted. As he moved to try and get into a more comfortable position, he could not help but cringe a little as a slight pain flared up in his left side, and he then added, "Guess I must've taken a nastier hit there than I thought."

"Hold on; I've got it, Ven," Donald reassured the Keyblade Master, his staff already out and waving over the blonde as he performed a quick healing spell.

"Here, drink some of this too," Goofy said as he offered a bottle of Elixir to Ventus.

"Thanks guys," Ventus nodded in gratitude before he gulped down the Elixir.

Sora could do nothing more than stare down at Ventus in awe right at the moment, and after seeing the spectacle he had just seen the blonde perform, no one could blame him. He had so many questions for the blonde right now, like how was he able to summon that cool armor, what was that ability he used at the start of his fight, because it was clearly not a Command Style from what he could tell, and speaking of which, how was Ven able to use a Command Style out of the blue like that when he had not even cast a single spell beforehand? That last one he figured probably had something to do with the fact that Ventus was a full trained Keyblade Master and had discovered a way to use the Command Styles without needing to cast any spells like that, but the others were still more than valid questions, right along with how long it would be until he could get a cool suit of armor of his own like the one Ven had been using. Right now though, there was something else that was bothering him more than all of those questions. "What was that thing," the young boy finally asked.

"That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld," Phil answered, drawing attention to him. "Don't worry; Herc should be able to handle him."

"You sure," Ven asked as he stood up, now back to nearly full strength thanks to Donald and the Elixir he just drank.

Before Phil could reply a small tremor shook the building, no doubt due to something really strong or really big hitting the coliseum in some way. After that, the satyr's confidence waned a little as he said, "Well…maybe not, but the chances of that are pretty slim."

Ventus glanced back to the entrance to the arena for a minute, worried about his old friend, but if appearances were anything to go by, then he was pretty sure that Hercules could handle that overgrown, three-headed mutt on his own. At least, that was what he was thinking until Goofy suddenly pointed out a crucial detail that they had all missed. "Hey fellers, where's that Cloud guy at?"

"I thought he was right behind us," Donald replied as he started to glance around the room.

Everyone else was soon following the duck sorcerer's lead, only to find no sign of the tall, blonde spiky haired man with the massive sword anywhere around them. "You don't think he's still back there do you," Goofy asked.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly the case from what Ventus could tell, and it seemed that Sora was thinking the same thing, because a second later, the boy said, "We've gotta get back out there and help him then, and Hercules too!"

Apparently his apprentice was a bit quicker on the draw than he was, because Ventus was thinking the exact same thing as Sora was right at that moment, and he immediately turned to lead the group back out to the arena so that they could help his previous opponent and his old friend. Phil on the other hand was not so eager to let the four risk their lives like that. "Whoa, you're not seriously entering the arena, are ya?"

"Of course we are," Sora nodded in response for the group.

"Kid, this ain't just some match. This is for real!"

"Yeah, we know that, Phil, but does it look like any of us really care that much," Ventus asked.

Looking from the blonde master to his three companions, Phil could tell that not one of them had the slightest bit of hesitance in their expressions. They were all planning on going out there to help Cloud and Hercules, and from the look of their faces, they were willing to fight through anything if it meant helping the two out. The thing that settled it for Phil was when Sora said, "You can decide if I'm hero material or not later. Right now, I want to help save our friends."

"You were just fighting one of those two in the final match of the games, and you've never even met Herc before now, and you consider them your friends," Phil asked in surprise.

"Well Hercules is your friend, and from the sound of things, he's Ven's friend too, so that makes him my friend as well. As for Cloud, that was just a match in a tournament, and I don't think he's a bad guy, just a really strong fighter who didn't know what he was getting into," Sora shrugged in a friendly manner.

Hearing that was all Phil needed to stand aside and let the four head out there with one final piece of advice. "Be careful, kid, and that goes double for you and the other guys as well, Ven!"

"You got it. Just make sure you keep the door open long enough for Herc to get himself and Cloud out of there," Ventus nodded, and he immediately turned to the entrance to the arena once again as his friends raced out to meet Cerberus head on.

* * *

Normally, fighting something like Cerberus would not be a problem for Hercules, seeing as he had done so once before and won, but this time, there was a huge difference: he was alone back then and did not have to worry about anyone else getting hurt, and this time, while most of the people had been evacuated, one lone person had stayed behind to try and fight off Cerberus as well. Having caught much of the last part of the final round, Hercules was surprised that Cloud was even still able to stand, even with the aid of Ven's healing spell and the Elixir he saw the blonde man drink, and yet here he was, fighting against Hades' loyal guard dog for reasons beyond Hercules' understanding. At least he had been, until Cerberus landed a particularly nasty hit on the Buster Sword wielder that knocked Cloud out cold, and now Hercules was being backed into a corner since he had to stop and pull Cloud over his shoulder so he could hopefully move the man to safety, which needless to say, was not working out so well at the moment. At least it was not until something unexpected happened.

Just as Cerberus was reeling back for another attack, something hit in the back of its middle head, while something else hit the head on its left and a pair of fireballs hit the one on its right at the same time. Turning around to see who had dared to attack it, Cerberus was soon growling at the sight of Donald, Goofy, Sora, and Ventus, all armed and ready for action against the massive beast. When he spotted Phil waving him over, Hercules took this chance to quickly retreat into the lobby with Cloud over his shoulder. The minute that the hero of Olympus Coliseum was clear, Phil looked back to the four who were about to fight Cerberus and shouted, "Kid, I got two words of advice for you: ATTACK!"

"Hey, that isn't two words. I may be goofy, but even I'm not that stupid," Goofy commented, not realizing that Cerberus' left head was lunging towards him until Ventus had pushed him out of the way and hit said head in the jaw with his Keyblade.

"Not the time, Goofy," Ven shouted as he released a Blizzaga spell on Cerberus. A second later, his body was encompassed with the power of Diamond Dust, and he was unleashing frozen terror on Cerberus the minute the Command Style had been released.

At the same time, Donald was scrambling around in an attempt to make sure he was not stomped underfoot of the beast, while calling down a rain of lightning bolts. Unfortunately, the normally short-tempered duck was not paying enough attention to where he was going, and ended up tripping over Goofy as a result, knocking them both down. Cerberus seemed to have the two friends dead to rights, until Sora suddenly dashed in front of them and blasted the giant guard dog with a quick blast of fire, which was soon followed by a burst of wind magic from Ventus, making the fire blast even stronger, and while the overgrown mutt was distracted, Sora took the chance to leap into the air so that he could hit Cerberus a few times in one of his three heads with his Keyblade, while Ventus froze Cerberus in place with the Diamond Dust's finisher. With Cerberus restrained, Donald and Goofy were able to quickly get back on their feet and rejoin the fight, with Goofy starting off by tossing his shield right into the middle head's muzzle. After the shield had returned to him, Goofy dropped down to one knee so that Donald could use his back as a springboard to catapult him up onto Cerberus' back, where Sora was already waiting for him, and the two were quick to land a few blows on the giant, three-headed dog with their respective weapons before they jumped up and unleashed a pair of Thunder spells.

Under this barrage, Cerberus seemed to falter more and more, and this proved to be just the opening that the four needed to finish the job. Donald and Goofy started off using a similar tactic to the one they had used earlier, only this time, Goofy spun around to slash his shield through each of Cerberus' legs as fast as he could, and then tossed Donald up into the air as he came out of the last spin. While airborne, Donald unleashed a mighty magic barrage that left Cerberus stumbling into the nearby stands, making all four of them glad that the arena had been evacuated beforehand, because it would not have been pretty if there were still people there when Cerberus' body hit the stands. Using the stands as a way of getting higher up, Sora and Ventus were soon leaping up into the air and bringing down their Keyblades on Cerberus in a pair of powerful slashes as they descended to the ground again. After the two Keyblade Wielders had landed, they all gazed up at Cerberus for a moment, listening to the threatening beast's growls until it finally collapsed before them with a loud thud.

None of the four could believe their eyes at first, but once the stunned awe had worn off, Sora was soon taking the lead in the loud victory cheers, while Ventus just smirked as though he knew something that the other three had missed before he started ushering their group back towards the lobby so that they could tell Phil and Hercules that Cerberus was down, and so that they could check on how Cloud was doing.

* * *

After returning to the lobby and relaying the events that had unfolded after Hercules and Phil's departure from the arena, Ventus needed every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep himself from bursting out in laughter at the two's stunned expressions, though it was mostly in regards to Phil's expression since it seemed like his jaw had dropped so hard that he was sure he heard something crack. The two were both able to shake off their shock though and congratulate the four on their victory over Cerberus, and then went on to reveal that Cloud was all right and left just a few seconds before they had come in. They did not know what the blonde man was going to do after he had left since he did not say anything about it, but at the moment, that did not matter, because Phil decided that there were more important matters that they had to address, and he wanted to get the first of those matters out of the way as soon as possible.

That was why Phil was now up on a pedestal with Hercules and Ventus standing on either side of him as he read off something that was written down on a paper to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further…," Phil read, only to be stopped short when a certain duck felt the need to protest.

"Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes,'" Donald demanded, heatedly.

"You three rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," Phil waved off as he stowed away the paper, knowing he would not be likely to get any further in his speech.

"So, what does it take," Goofy inquired, his head tilted in confusion along with Donald and Sora's.

"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did," Hercules replied, cryptically. He then smiled a little as he added, "And just the way that Ven did."

"Yeah, hopefully not the _exact_ same way that I did," Ventus chuckled nervously, remembering all-too-well how he had learned that particular lesson. The last thing he wanted was for these three to learn such an important lesson the same way he had.

His nervousness must have gone unnoticed, because Sora was not bothered by the cryptic answer at all. If anything, he seemed to take it as more of a challenge as he confidently declared, "No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games."

"Correction, _you_ will start by continuing your training. It is impressive that you've learned how to use another Command Style, and that you seem to be getting closer to actually mastering the way to use them, but you've still got a long way to go in your training with the Keyblade, kid," Ventus told his apprentice. After taking a moment of pause though, he then added, "Besides, there's a lot more to being a true hero or a Keyblade Wielder in general, let alone a master than just being a strong fighter."

The initial statement caused Sora to deflate a little, but he was so quick to perk back up again that you would have blinked and missed it, and he said, "Well then, I guess I'll just have to train even harder than before until I have done just that."

Ventus was proud that Sora was still so confident in the idea that he could handle his future training, and after the victory that they had just achieved together, he could not really blame Sora for that. Sadly, they all deflated a little when Phil ended up giving them some bad news. "Hate to break it to you guys, but there ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first. Oh, and I'm afraid that some of the training areas were hit too, so they're gonna be closed down until further notice as well."

"That's okay; I kinda figured we'd probably end up doing a lot of training while on the road anyway," Ventus shrugged while the other three deflated at the news. Seeing this, Ven decided to say, "But we would still appreciate it if you guys could let us know when everything's up and running again so that we can test our skills in another tournament."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all perked up at that declaration, and stared at Phil as he stroked his chin in thought for a minute until he finally conceded, "Sure, why not. After all, I'd still kinda like to see where these rookies go, and I'm sure Herc here would like a chance to have a little sparring match with all of you depending on how you all do in the future."

The three immediately cheered excitedly at this decision, prompting a round of chuckles from Ven before he finally got them to calm down. "Okay, we'll be back as soon as we hear that you're ready again," Sora said as he waved goodbye before he turned to join Donald and Goofy in leaving the lobby. When he noticed that Ven was not following, he turned back to ask, "Aren't you coming, Ven?"

"In a moment, Sora. There's something that I've gotta take care of here first," Ventus replied. Sora nodded in understanding and then turned to leave as well, and once his apprentice had left the room completely, and when he was sure that the brown, spiky haired wielder was out of earshot, Ventus turned to Hercules with a small smirk and said, "So, I'm guessing that you had worn Cerberus down quite a bit when we finally stepped in, didn't you? Say, right to the point where just about anyone could've beaten him?"

Hercules glanced at the exit that Sora and the others had just disappeared through before he sheepishly shrugged and admitted, "Well, just between us, I might've done just that a little while before that point. How'd you know?"

"Dude, I know how strong you were back when we last met, and you've clearly only gotten better since then. Plus, you're not the only one who's improved in the last few years. I just didn't say anything until now because I didn't want to spoil Sora's excitement over defeating such a powerful enemy. That confidence is something he's going to need in the future if he's ever going to get strong enough to become a Keyblade Master," Ventus pointed out.

"So does that mean you plan on telling him at some point," Hercules asked.

Ventus glanced over to the exit Sora and the other two had left through before he finally replied, "Maybe once they've gotten to the point where it wouldn't matter as much, until then though…"

Phil caught the small looks that were exchanged between his two friends before he said, "Don't worry. My lips are sealed, too."

Ventus nodded in thanks to the satyr and his former hero-in-training before he clapped hands with Hercules and said, "It was great to see you again, Herc. Glad you achieved your dream."

"Great to see you too, Ven, and it looks like you've got a new dream of your own," Hercules nodded.

"Yeah, I've got a few new dreams now actually, and I know that I'll make them come true someday soon," Ventus replied. "But just so you know, if we do get the chance to face off in the games someday soon, I won't hold anything back."

"Same here pal, especially now that I've seen some of what you're capable of now," Hercules agreed.

"Speaking of the games, I think this belongs to you, Ven," Phil interrupted, presenting the blonde with a trophy that signified his victory in the games.

Ventus was stunned at the sight of this, hardly believing his eyes. "But…but the final match was never officially decided," Ven pointed out.

"You really think that matters after the fight you put up out there, or how you were the one who was still standing after that final clash with Cloud just before Cerberus showed up? Just accept the trophy, kid. You've earned it," Phil insisted.

Ventus took the trophy in his hands to look it over before he finally smiled widely and said, "Thanks Phil. I'll be sure to show this to Terra and Aqua when I see them again."

Phil and Hercules both nodded in return to this, and the blonde then bade his two friends one last goodbye before following after his apprentice and their other two friends. When he went through the door, he was a bit surprised to see that the three had not gone much further than half-way through the entrance's courtyard. That is, until he saw what it was that had given them reason to pause, or rather, who it was. There, sitting on the steps in front of the main gate, was none other than Cloud Strife himself, and it was pretty clear that the three were a bit curious about how to approach the man who had been their opponent just a moment ago, even though Sora said that he did consider him a friend. Luckily for them, Ventus knew just what to do, and he immediately lead them all over.

"Hey, are you all right, now," Ventus asked, gaining Cloud's attention once he and the other three had reached him.

"Yeah," Cloud replied simply.

When he did not say anymore than that, Sora decided to ask, "So why did you go along with him, anyway?"

Ventus was tempted to point out that, in a way, they had gone along with Hades' little plan as well, but right now, they needed to hear Cloud's reasoning, and it probably would not have done much good if he heard they had gone in while suspicious of the lord of the Underworld without knowing whether or not he had as well. Cloud just stared between the four for a minute until he looked down in thought and replied, "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help."

"Yeah, he does kinda tend to make promises with several different strings attached like that. Trust me, you're not the first he's done that kind of thing to," Ventus reassured.

If Cloud had any appreciation for Ven's concern, he did not show it. Instead, he just stood up and continued talking. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."

That sounded a little too familiar to Ventus, and it showed as he looked away with a faraway expression on his face that almost matched the one on Cloud's. Both blondes lost those expressions when Sora suddenly said, "You'll find it. I'm searching, too."

"For your light," Cloud asked. When Sora nodded, Cloud could not help but stare at the kid for a moment until he walked up and held something out for Sora to take as he cautioned, "Don't lose sight of it." After Sora accepted the item in his hand, Cloud turned to the other Keyblade Wielder of the group and asked, "What about you?"

Ventus did not need to know the full details about what Cloud was asking, but he did still hesitate for a moment before he replied, "Yeah, I'm searching for my light as well, along with some other very important friends, and I know that they're searching for a way to get back to me even at this very moment."

Cloud nodded in response to this and then walked past the group to leave, when Sora called out, "How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved."

Cloud paused for a minute before he glanced over his shoulder at the kid and smirked a little as he said, "I think I'll pass. Although…" The large sword wielder glanced over to Ventus and said, "You're a tough opponent. Maybe we'll get another chance to fight in the future."

"Well, here's hoping, and I won't make it any easier than this time for you," Ventus smirked. Just before Cloud could leave, Ventus quickly asked, "Hey, I wanted to ask you something about that sword you're carrying. The last time I saw a sword like that, it was being used by an old friend of mine named Zack. Do you know him?"

Hearing that question seemed to make Cloud freeze up a little before he turned around to face Ventus directly and asked, "You knew Zack?" Ventus instantly nodded in reply, prompting Cloud to say, "He was my best friend, but…he died saving my life. This sword was actually his, and he gave it to me just before…"

That was not what Ventus had expected to hear, and it certainly showed on his face when a long frown fell from his lips while his head started to hang down in sorrow. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all felt bad for Ven. Sure, they did not know this Zack person, but he was obviously an old friend of Ven's, so to hear that said friend was no longer around was all the reason they needed to feel sad for him. They wanted to cheer the blonde up, but none of them knew what to say. Thankfully, Ventus' sad mood lightened a little as he said, "So in the end, he achieved his dream and became a hero, too, and I guess you're carrying on his legacy for him, right?"

"I guess," Cloud shrugged, having never really thought of it like that.

Ventus nodded at that and said, "Well then, I'm glad he had such a good friend. I'm sorry about what happened to Zack. If I had known what was going on, maybe…"

Cloud was already able to see where his fellow blonde was going with that train of thought and immediately preempted him. "Don't try to weigh yourself down with what-ifs. It'll only become a problem for you in the future. Besides, I don't think Zack would want a friend of his to feel bad about what happened to him."

There was no way that Ven could deny that point, so he immediately nodded in thanks for Cloud's words and watched with a small smile as the man departed along with the others. The four continued to look on at where Cloud had just been in silence, until Ventus turned to Sora and asked, "Do you still want to know about Terra?"

Sora had not expected his master to bring that up, but all the same, his curiosity would not let him give any other answer than the one he did give. "Yeah. From the sounds of things, he's really strong."

"You're right, he is," Ventus confirmed with a sad smile. "Terra's my best friend…well, more than that he's like my older brother, and he trained alongside me and Aqua ever since I first met them. Out of all three of us, Terra was always the strongest in terms of raw power and sword fighting, and he was also close to becoming a Keyblade Master. Unfortunately, something on our very first journey through the worlds had happened and…well, let's just say that it doesn't look like he'll be able to take the Mark of Mastery Exam again anytime soon."

"Why not? Is he…" Sora asked, starting to fear that he had ended up like Zack.

"No, he's not dead," Ventus immediately replied. "But to be honest, I really don't know where he is right now. He's out there somewhere, hidden and trapped by a powerful darkness, but I still believe that someday soon, I'll find him and set him free."

Sora did not say anything in response. What could he, really? From what Ven had just said, Terra sounded like a really great guy, if not in general than at the very least in the eyes of Ventus, and he was out there somewhere being held prisoner in the darkness. Despite that, Ven was still determined to find his friend, and still believed that he could save him, just like he believed that he could hold his own in that fight against Cloud, even when the other blonde was displaying such incredible powers that left the rest of them trembling in fear for the Keyblade Master's life. It all made Sora wonder just how the older wielder could be able to believe in such things so strongly, right to the point where he eventually had to question him on it. "How do you know that you'll be able to do things like that," Sora inquired.

"I don't know; I just believe," Ventus replied with a smile. "An old friend that I met years ago once taught me…or reminded me, to be honest, that sometimes, just believing in something strongly enough will make anything possible. It's a lesson I've always done my best to remember, and one that I expect you to take to heart as well, okay?"

Sora nodded in understanding of his teacher's words, and then turned so that they could all depart from Olympus Coliseum, when Goofy suddenly pointed out, "Hey, we still haven't found the Keyhole for this world. Is it really okay to just leave now?"

"I wouldn't worry too much. From the look of things, it doesn't seem like the Heartless have managed to find it here, either, so it should be okay to leave things as they are for now," Ventus reassured the group before they could start to panic.

"Besides, we need to hurry up and find the king," Donald added. "And we can't do that if we spend all day here looking for something without any idea where to look."

"Not to mention that we still haven't found Riku or Kairi yet either, so maybe we should get going as soon as possible," Sora reminded everyone.

"Calm down you two. We'll find all of our friends soon enough, so there's no need to get all worked up," Ventus reassured them.

"Okay," the two agreed, and the four then left through the main gate to return to the ship.

Once they were aboard, Goofy immediately locked onto the location of the next world and Donald quickly set course for it, leaving Sora and Ventus to do their own thing. Sora had wanted to ask Ven every single question he had after seeing the latter's fight against Cloud, but before he could, Ven told Sora to head to his room and get some rest, since they had a great deal of time until they reached the next world. Sure, the main reason for that was because Ven was feeling extremely tired himself, but he could see that his apprentice was just about as exhausted as he was, and that was immediately proven true when Sora trudged off and disappeared into his room just seconds before a light amount of snoring was heard from the halls. After Goofy and Donald reassured him that they could handle things on the bridge while he got some sleep, Ventus also collapsed on his bed and began to sleep like a log, a nostalgic smile forming on his face as he recalled some memories about the days he spent with his old friends.

* * *

The very same night that the four heroes, or rather three junior heroes and one true hero had left Olympus Coliseum, a certain god of the Underworld was sitting around in his domain glaring at a small, life-like figurine of Hercules as he grumbled about the recent events that had taken place, and about the hero in question. "He's strong, he's kind. He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot. He's perfect. Perfect. Perfectly infuriating! He makes me crazy," Hades roared as the blue flames that made up his hair turned orange and red before expanding to the rest of his upper body and erupting into the air like a volcano blowing its top. After a minute, Hades took a deep breath to calm down and said, "Wait a minute. What are you worried about? All the pieces are in place. Relax. Here's what you do: let Hercules help the former Keyblade kid train the new Keyblade kid, and in the next games, I'll take care of them all."

It was a perfect plan in his eyes. Not only would Hades be able to get rid of the son of his hated, immortal enemy, but he would also have a chance to destroy one of the three brats who had meddled in his affairs ten years ago and his apprentice before they could mess with his plans any further than they already had. Well, to be more accurate, they were the plans he and his newest compatriots had been making, and one of said compatriots had just appeared before him to stick her nose where he felt it did not belong. "Who invited you to the party," Hades asked Maleficent before she could utter a word. "Stay out of this. This is my show."

If Maleficent was upset, she did a grand job of not showing it, both in her stance and in her words when she said, "As you wish. Fight to your heart's content."

Hades nodded smugly until the evil fairy's words registered in his mind, prompting him to turn and glare at her departing form in anger. The only thing that was stopping Hades from attacking Maleficent was the fact that she was one of the most powerful dark beings in existence, and stood a strong chance of being able to destroy him if she wanted to. Only a chance, not an absolute certainty, but Hades knew better than to try his luck with such chances, and there was also the fact that she knew the most about this grand scheme of theirs out of everyone else in their group, so he managed to swallow his pride and let it be for now. With his temper now calmed, Hades returned his attention to his own plans, grinning devilishly at what would come if he succeeded (Pun intended).

* * *

 ** _AN: Well how about that, huh? Talk about incredible face-offs, right? I mean seriously, did you guys see all that action that happened between Ventus and Cloud alone?! Did you see that?!_**

 ** _Ventus: I gotta agree, that was fun._**

 ** _Cloud: Same here._**

 ** _AN: WHOA! Where did you come from?_**

 ** _Cloud: What? I didn't hear anyone say I couldn't be here._**

 ** _AN: I know it's just...well, I didn't think you'd be the type to show up here._**

 ** _Cloud: And yet you somehow got Lightning Farron to make several different appearances in these things for other stories besides the one she's actually in._**

 ** _AN:...Okay, fair point. Now, on another note, what I want to add is that looking back at my last Kingdom Hearts story, I couldn't help but notice that I really only went over the details of one of the abilities that was used in "Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep", the Command Styles, and while I did have a couple of people use Shotlocks, they only did so one time, and then I pretty much zeroed them out completely. I'm hoping that this time, I can try and make sure that they make more of a regular appearance here, so that's why Ventus used one at the official start of his one-on-one face-off with Cloud. In case I didn't make it clear, that particular Shotlock was the one known as Meteor Shower._**

 ** _Sora: You know I'm gonna be begging for answers about that and several other things come next chapter, right?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, I am well aware of this. Originally, I had wanted Sora and Ventus to talk about Shotlocks, Ven's armor, and pretty much everything else incredible that Ven did during the fight at the end of this chapter, but as I wrote the thing, I felt that it kind of took away from the core features of the chapter, so I kept it where it was for the moment._**

 ** _Ventus: And yet you still found a way to get me to talk about Terra._**

 ** _AN: Well, I kinda had to make that a point here, since there was no way Sora could've been able to wait forever after hearing about him several different times throughout that very day._**

 ** _Also, the fight with Cerberus, yeah it was short, but consider this: Hercules had admitted to softening up the overgrown, multi-headed mutt before the heroes..._**

 ** _Goofy: Ya mean Junior Heroes._**

 ** _Donald: [grumbling about the title]_**

 ** _AN:...Right, uh anyways, Herc had softened up Cerberus before the guys had jumped in, so I felt that it was necessary to show that by making the fight so that it was nothing too spectacular or lengthy, at least in comparison to Ven's fight against Cloud._**

 ** _Cloud: I'm kinda disappointed that Zack didn't show up like that one reviewer was hoping._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, sorry about that "Librarian343", but like you said, Zack's part of the reason why Cloud's hunting Sephiroth, and I didn't want to change things that drastically. Besides, that whole thing happened outside the events of the game's main story, so unless I had Ventus or someone else do something to help, Zack was ultimately not going to show up here._**

 ** _Ventus: By the way, was that item that Cloud gave Sora the Sonic Blade ability like in the game?_**

 ** _AN: Uh, no. This time, it was actually something else. If you want to know what it was, well, we'll only be giving a clue on that, or maybe even reveal a possible idea as to what it is next chapter. Speaking of which, Onto the Preview! everyone..._**

 ** _Ventus reveals more about the abilities of Keyblade Wielders to Sora as the team's journey continues, but their lessons soon take a backseat when an argument between friends causes the group to crash land on the world of Deep Jungle. Can Sora and Donald resolve their differences? How long can Goofy and Ventus handle playing peacemaker? And just what will it take for the team to be able to really understand a word their new Ape-Man friend, Tarzan is trying to tell them as he attempts to help them in their search for their friends? Be ready for things to go wild, next time._**

 ** _Oh, one more thing, I've got a little poll up on my profile in regards to the new summons for this story that I would very much appreciate you all casting a vote on. Seriously, please do so as quickly as possible, because it will have a huge impact on an important detail in the sequel to this story. With that said..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	8. Rumble in the Jungle

**_AN: Ladies and gentlemen, after a short delay due to a variety of important events happening IRL, we're back once again, with the next chapter of..._ _Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys_ _!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yes, yes, I know, we're all excited, and I don't blame you, because this is going to be the longest chapter we've had in this story, so far, and it brings about nearly the entire main adventure of the world that the team travels to next, plus it's got quite a few feels to it, if ya know what I'm saying._**

 ** _Donald: Hey, why can't we just skip this world like the manga did?_**

 ** _AN: Because we're not going by the story used in the manga. We're going with an AU version of the original story that we saw in the video games series._**

 ** _Donald: Aw, but I want us to hurry up and get to the part where we all find out..._**

 ** _AN: Dah! Spoiler! [hits control]_**

 ** _Donald: [catapulted several hundred feet into the air before he comes crashing back down into a pool of freezing water, which he emerges from in a block of ice] {mutters} Aw, phooey._**

 ** _AN: Well, that was close. Moving on, before we get rolling, I'd like to answer a couple of reviews, starting with the review from "fairy saiyan". First off, I'm well aware of that little detail you informed me of, and that's part of the reason why this story exists. Because the events of Keyblades of Future Past, changed history, and now we're seeing a few more details on how that happened, and I actually have seen quite a few different crossovers for both Kingdom Hearts and other stories to help reinforce that point. But glad to see you're willing to recommend some of those stories to me, even if you didn't actually name some titles.  
_**

 ** _Next is in response to a variety of questions from a guest reviewer, who simply called himself "Guest". Technically speaking, Sora did learn an ability called Ragnarok in the original timeline, but I don't think that it's the same as the Shotlock, so it's really not fair to say that he did learn that particular BBS ability. Kairi's Dive to the Heart may not actually be seen this time around, but you never know how plans may change in the future. Maybe if there is a way to work it in somehow, but for now...Finally, a good part of the reason why Donald won't let Sora take the wheel may actually be revealed in this chapter, but I will go ahead and say that part of the reason is because he needs to spend as much of his time on the ship training with Ventus, at least in regards to the things that they can train and practice on while on the ship._**

 ** _Finally, in response to "Librarian343", glad to hear you approve of that, and yeah, I fully intend to do what I can to tie the stories of the Final Fantasy series, in regards to the characters from said series to appear in this story as best as I can in the future, assuming it is possible to do._**

 ** _Oh, one last thing, I'm sure if you've all gone over to my profile by now, you've seen the newest poll, if not, then I have to ask if you just ignored what I said in the ending note for the previous chapter? But anyway, the poll is simple: Which Star Wars character would you like to see appear in the story as a summon? Yeah, you read that right. We are going to see a Star Wars character appear here as a summon that one of our two Keyblade Wielders can use. At this time, we have had a total of 14 votes tallied in, and in the lead by a land slide is our favorite Togruta, Ahsoka Tano!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, and it looks like our newest Star Wars hero boy, Ezra is not doing so hot, but then again, I can't really say I'm too surprised. I mean, come on, Ahsoka's awesome, and sure, the whole lightsaber that's also a blaster thing is cool and all, but it's kinda hard to compare to a girl like Ahsoka, especially when the person she's being put up against is a kid like Ezra._**

 ** _Ezra: Hey! What's that supposed to mean?_**

 ** _AN: Ah relax, Ezra. I'm just messing with ya. So anyway, if you haven't voted on that yet, please be sure to do so soon, because you never know when this poll will close. Do not worry, I will be sure to give you at least a little warning in advance by the time we're close to the chapter where the final result will be revealed._**

 ** _In the meantime, Enjoy the show!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter VII**

Almost five hours had passed since the team of four had left Olympus Coliseum, and they still had not arrived at the next closest world, but no one was really complaining that much. With their journey so far being free of any Heartless attacks, they were all able to take the chance to relax a little and gather their thoughts in one way or another, assuming they were not doing anything too important, liking flying the ship or manning the navigation station in order to keep an eye open for the Heartless or anything that would qualify as a shortcut to their next destination. For Sora, it gave him the chance to get the first decent sleep he had since this whole adventure started, because even though it did not seem like much time had passed, for him, it felt like it had been several days since this whole adventure had started.

The only downside was that his sleep was disturbed with a few nightmares about his friends at first, one where Riku was fighting against a strange, shadowy thing closing in around him, while Kairi just lay somewhere unmoving, like she was in a coma or something. Sora did not want to think about the other reason why the redhead would be out cold like that, but when the nightmares passed, he was soon greeted with stranger dream, one in which he saw Ven, or a much younger looking Ven, and five other people along with him, fighting someone he could not see. Like the opponent they were facing, Sora could not really see all that much of the five people that were fighting with Ventus, but he was able to see enough to tell that they all had Keyblades, and that they were all wearing armor that was very similar to Ven's, or at least, four out of the five were, while the fifth, and smallest person did not. The odd thing was that the fifth individual actually looked a lot like a mouse. Still, despite all of that, he somehow felt that each of those four people were somehow familiar to him, like he should know each of them or had at least met them at some point in his life. After waking up and thinking back on the dream, that feeling only grew stronger for some reason, and more than that, Sora felt like he had heard something similar to this somewhere before. Then it hit him, Kairi had mentioned having a similar dream to the one he just had mere hours before the islands had fallen. It may have seemed like a bit of a stretch to think the dreams were exactly the same, but after thinking back a little more, Sora could not help but think that at least one of the mystery people he saw in the dream was indeed a woman, and that he did catch a few glimpses of blue hair once or twice, so that had to be something, while one of the other two did seem to look a little bit like him. Even if it was a long-shot to say that he had just had the exact same dream that Kairi had the night before he had lost his home, the fact was that Ven was definitely in his dream, and it had stirred up a couple new questions for Sora along with the ones he already had in regards to what he saw the Keyblade Master do in his fight with Cloud, and Sora intended to ask the minute he reached Ven's quarters for their next lesson.

That was exactly what Sora was now doing, and the minute he reached the door, he almost burst in, but stopped himself beforehand and knocked. The minute he heard the blonde say he could enter, Sora stepped in and saw Ven was sitting on his bed in a meditative position, with his eyes closed while a small smile was present on his face. That smile only grew a little more when Sora walked in, and Ventus said, "Well, did you have a nice rest, Sora?"

"Uh…yeah. Wait, how did you know it was me," Sora asked, since Ven had not opened his eyes at all since the door had opened.

"I believe I have already told you, Keyblade Wielders are able to sense the light and darkness within everything around us, but it is especially so when one or the other is stronger in a person, object, or even a place. Being a Keyblade Wielder yourself, you have a great amount of light in your heart, especially so since you just became a wielder, so it would only be natural for me, as a master to be able to sense your light," Ventus explained. The fact that Sora also carried the heart of a Princess of Heart did help of course, but Ven was still not quite ready to tell Sora about that just yet, especially given who that particular Princess of Heart was.

Sora had the decency to look sheepish at that, because he did in fact remember Ven telling him about that back in Wonderland. Putting that aside, he immediately seated himself across from the blonde as the door closed and decided to get right down to the reason why he was there. "Honestly though, I probably would've rested a lot better if it weren't for some of the dreams I had," the young Keybearer revealed.

That got Ventus to open his eyes and then meet his apprentice's gaze. "Strange dreams can often be a normal occurrence for a wielder of the Keyblade, usually because they would be receiving a type of vision or something. I'm sure you probably realized this when you had a dream in which you seemed as though you were being tested before you first gained Kingdom Key, right?"

"Yeah," Sora confirmed, thinking back to the very dream that he knew Ventus was talking about. "I was asked to choose between three different Keyblades before I suddenly started fighting Heartless, got asked a bunch of weird questions by some of my friends, and then had to…"

"Wait, wait, what did you say you had to do first," Ventus interrupted.

"I had to choose between three different Keyblades. One of them actually looked a bit like yours, except it was called Wayward Wind instead of Guardian Wind," Sora replied. Moments after he had finished speaking, Sora finally noticed the shocked expression that had formed on Ven's as he spoke. "Uh Ven, are you okay?"

Ventus did not immediately reply, but instead, summoned his Keyblade and then removed the Keychain from the end of the handle. The minute that he did, the blade glowed brightly and then changed into its original, base form. "Did it look like this," Ven asked Sora.

"Yeah, but how do you…?"

"Sora, Wayward Wind is my original, base Keyblade," Ventus revealed. "Most Keyblades posses an evolved form to signify that a Keyblade Wielder has finally achieved the Mark of Mastery or have at least reached a point in their training where they have the ability to become a true master, but the base Keyblade will always be usable to the wielder since it is their first Keyblade."

"Whoa," Sora gasped in awe. He then looked to Ven and asked, "But how did you make it change like that?"

"I simply removed the Keychain," Ventus replied, holding up the item in question as he did. "I'm sure you noticed that your Keyblade has one attached to its handle, right?" When Sora nodded in reply, the blonde continued, "Well, in case it isn't already clear, the Keychain isn't just a snazzy decoration. You see, Keychains actually contain the power and very essence of a Keyblade inside of them, so when you attach a different Keychain to your Keyblade as opposed to the one it had when you first received it, not only will your Keyblade change in appearance, it will also gain additional strength and sometimes even some special powers as well." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a Keychain that had a green gem with two silver flurries of wind spiraling around it on a silver chain. "Here, try placing this one on your Keyblade after you take off its default Keychain."

After accepting the Keychain from Ven, Sora did as his master asked, and summoned his Keyblade so that he could switch out the two Keychains. The instant he did, his Keyblade immediately transformed into an identical copy of Wayward Wind, much to Sora's astonishment. "Wow! So I guess if I have two Keychains, I can use two Keyblades," Sora asked as he tried a few practice swings with the Wayward Wind duplicate.

Ventus could only chuckle a little, though it was mostly due to how awkward Sora's practice swings were since Wayward Wind was meant to be used in a reverse grip, and replied, "Actually no. While the Keychains contain the essence of another Keyblade, and actually can be used to summon the Keyblade whose powers they possess with the right level of skill and magic, they do not allow you to wield an additional Keyblade. They just give you a way to power up your own Keyblade. It may look different and have some of the powers of Wayward Wind right now, but underneath that, it's still Kingdom Key." Ventus then held out his hand for Sora to hand his original Keychain back to him, which the brunette spiky haired boy did after another second or so, and once he had pocketed it and reattached the Keychain of Guardian Wind to his own Keyblade, changing it back to what it had been before, Ventus dismissed his trusted Keyblade and said, "Keychains can be found in a variety of different places, so it would be a good idea for you to keep an eye out for them, so long as you can remember that Kingdom Key is your true Keyblade. But enough about that, tell me about the other two Keyblades that were in your Dive to the Heart."

"My what," Sora asked.

"Dive to the Heart. That's what we call the ceremony, for lack of a better word, in which we are first granted our Keyblades, and it's always as a very strange dream like the one you had," Ventus explained.

Sora immediately nodded and began to recall everything that he remembered about said dream, at least in regards to the Keyblades, and Ventus listened attentively to every last word the boy said. From the sound of things, Sora's Dive to the Heart was not entirely different from the typical one, save for the very start when he chose between the three Keyblades, but all the same, the blonde was still shocked by what Sora had told him, mostly because of how the start of Sora's Dive to the Heart had played out. Silence reigned in the room for a moment until Ventus finally said, "Sora, normally when a person has a Dive to the Heart like that, they are given a choice between a sword, a shield, and a wand in the first part. The fact that yours was a choice between three Keyblades alone is significant in and of itself, but more than that, the Keyblades in question were all of the same generation of Keyblade Wielders that came before you: my generation to be more specific."

"Really," Sora asked. "You mean, those other two Keyblades were…"

He did not need the boy to finish his sentence to know what he was asking, because Ventus was already nodding in confirmation as he said, "Earthshaker is the base Keyblade of my friend Terra, while Rainfell is Aqua's. Still, the question remains as to why it was that you were given such a different choice as opposed to the one a Keyblade Wielder normally receives in their Dive to the Heart?"

Once again, silence was the only answer that the two received, as it was a mystery to both master and student. It may have been for different reasons, certainly, but the fact was that neither of them could really guess why that was the case. Their silence did not last long though, as Sora remembered the other reason he was here just seconds after Ventus had mentioned the names of his missing friends. "Say Ven, I was actually hoping to talk to be about the dream I had just now. It's got me wondering about a couple of things," Sora stated.

"Well I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll certainly do what I can to answer your questions, Sora," Ventus nodded, silently prompting Sora to ask away.

"Well first off…does Aqua have blue hair," Sora asked, thinking that was as good a starting place as any, even if it did come out a little blunter than he had meant it too.

The question drew a shocked look to Ven's face once again, and he immediately said, "Yeah, but how did you know that?"

"I think…I think my dream was actually about her," Sora explained. "At least, I think it was her, but I'm only guessing because you were there too, along with four other people, except you looked like you were about my age. The other four were a pair of guys, a girl, and someone who looked a lot like a mouse, and all of you were wearing armor like the one you wore in your fight against Cloud except for the mouse. From the looks of things, you were all fighting against someone, but I couldn't tell who it was."

Ventus was stunned at this new revelation, and as such, he did not respond to Sora's question right away. His mind was too busy running rampant with the fact that it seemed Sora had basically dreamed of the last battle he and his friends had all fought in their first journey, but he did not let himself panic too much, because he still needed to learn a few things before he jumped to any conclusions. "Was there anything else about the other people that stood out to you," Ventus asked.

"Well, I don't really know…I mean, I think that one of the others with you looked a bit like me, but that's just ridiculous, right," Sora admitted with a shrug.

"Yes, I suppose so," Ventus absently agreed as his mind ran through a variety of scenarios. He brought himself back to their conversation fully a minute later though, and said, "Sora, I think your dream may have been a vision of something that had happened to my friends and I when I was on my first journey, and believe it or not, I was actually just about a year or so older than you are when that journey took place, but I'm not entirely sure why you saw someone there with us that looked like you. There was really only one person there that day who had a slight resemblance to you, and that person was…well, he wasn't fighting on the same side as us, and part of me can't help but feel that saying he looks like you would be a bit insulting to you."

Sora would have asked Ventus about this person, but from the way the blonde's face had slowly formed into a light scowl, he figured that he should not pry. Clearly this person was not someone Ventus liked remembering, and he did not want the blonde to have to dredge up any old, bad memories just to satisfy his curiosity, so he let it drop for now. "There's one other thing," Sora added, gaining Ven's attention again. "The day my islands fell to darkness, Kairi had told me she had a similar dream to that one the night before. Do you think that could mean something?"

"I don't think so, Sora. Like I said, the idea that you had a vision about those days is really just a guess, and the fact that your friend, Kairi had a similar dream is probably just a random coincidence. Keyblade Wielders may get visions in their sleep, but sometimes, dreams are just dreams," Ventus immediately replied, making a mental note of that last new piece of information in his mind. If Kairi did indeed have a similar dream to the one Sora just had, then it could only mean one thing if you were to ask Ventus. The blonde put it aside for now though, and said, "Well, we can worry about such things later, because for now, we should continue your training, and I get the feeling you have a few questions that you want to ask me after seeing my battle against Cloud."

Hearing Ven say that immediately reminded Sora about everything he had been wondering since the previously mentioned moment, and at that point, he could no longer contain himself from bursting out in excitement as he quickly rattled off, "How'd you make that suit of armor appear on you like that? Is it some kind of cool Keyblade Wielder thing? What was that move you used at the start of your fight with Cloud, another Command Style? And how'd you use a Command Style without using any magic or abilities beforehand, or even activate a new one while you were already using a Command Style?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Sora! Try to remember to come up for air, kid," Ventus chuckled as he motioned for the kid to slow down a little, amused by the boy's excitement that reminded him so much of himself when he was younger. "Let's start off simple by having me explain why I could use Command Styles so easily and with using little to no magic in order to activate them. The overly short version is that it's because I'm a Keyblade Master."

Sora waited for a minute, but Ventus did not say anything else after that. "That's it? That's the only reason," Sora asked.

"Well, I did say that it was the overly short version, and it's also the version you go with if you're really not all that big on major details," Ventus shrugged, though the smile on his face made it hard for Sora to tell if he was joking or not. "Simply put, with enough practice and training, a Keyblade Wielder could easily learn to access certain Command Styles without using any spells at all, but that's really only in regards to their Unique Command Styles, since they are the only ones able to use those specific Command Styles. I'd still have to use specific magic for things like the Firestorm or the other common Command Styles, but for my Unique Command Styles, I just need to concentrate and use a bit of my own magic reserves, which are actually quite large."

"So I guess I'm not going to be able to do that for a while, huh," Sora sighed in disappointment.

"Afraid not, kiddo, and that's especially true since we still haven't unlocked your Tier One Command Style, which we will need to do before we go any further in your Command Style training," Ventus confirmed.

"You mean there's more," Sora gasped in awe.

"But of course," Ven nodded. "This actually leads to one of your other questions, the one about how I was able to use a second Command Style while I was already using one. That was one of my Tier Two Command Styles. Unlike the Tier One Styles, Tier Two Command Styles require you to be in the midst of using a Tier One Style, since they draw on a lot more power both from your magic reserves and your heart. When you first start using Tier Two Styles, you will typically have three at your disposal: one that's unique to you and you alone, and two that you share with the people who are closest to your heart, assuming those people are Keyblade Wielders. Sometimes though, it's the other way around, but that really depends on the Wielder, and given time and training, they can learn additional Tier Two Styles, but that does take a long time and a lot of hard work and practice."

"So when do I start learning how to use Tier Two Command Styles," Sora asked.

"Not for a very long time, I'm afraid. Personally, I'd like to at least wait until sometime after you've learned your Unique Tier One Style before we start on anything more advanced, and Tier Two Command Styles are very advanced, especially for a newly made Keyblade Wielder like yourself, even if you are a very unique Keyblade Wielder," Ventus revealed.

"What makes you think I'm unique?"

"Well the fact that your Dive to the Heart was a bit different is a good reason," Ventus reminded the kid, drawing a small round of laughter from them both. Once their chuckles had died down, Ventus moved on to the next question that Sora had asked, gesturing towards his shoulder armor when he did. "Now, the armor I used in my fight against Cloud is a very special kind of magic armor that is used by all Keyblade Wielders, or at least the ones who were around back in the day…Kingdom Hearts, I feel like an old man now that I've said that," the blonde started, grumbling a little in good humor at the end. "Anyway, while you can fight without the armor, many will wear it if it's necessary, such as when you're fighting in particularly serious battles against powerful enemies, or when you need to be able to survive in specific circumstances. Without this armor, I would never have been able to use my Keyblade Glider to travel between worlds, and it could also help me survive in an environment that has no breathable air or some other form of serious hazard that could prove harmful to your life."

"So does that mean that I'll be getting a suit of armor too," Sora inquired.

"Given time, yes. Part of what it takes for you to receive a set of armor these days is that you reach a certain level in your training, but another reason is because…well, let's just say that it's been some time since anyone's found the materials necessary for the armor's base, even with the Keyblade's assistance," Ventus revealed. At the questioning look on Sora's face, Ventus further explained, "You see, the armor is something of an extension of the Keyblade's power, in the sense that it draws some of its power from the blade. You could still possess a suit of armor like mine, but without the Keyblade, the magical enchantments in the suit wouldn't be quite as strong, and its protection would only last for a limited amount of time."

"Wow, the Keyblade seems to really allow a lot of things to be possible," Sora gasped.

"Indeed it does, but don't go thinking that just because we have Keyblades, that means we're invincible. There are still limits as to what we can do, with or without the Keyblade," Ven warned.

Sora immediately nodded in response before he thought of something, and immediately reached into his pocket. "Say, is there a chance we could use something like this to make my armor?"

Looking at the object Sora had pulled out, Ventus had to let out a small gasp of shock at the item in question. The item was a small, black pendant with a faded image on it that Ven could not quite make out aside from the fact that it seemed to have an animal of some kind in the center, and Ventus was left with only one question upon seeing it. "Where did you get that?"

"Cloud gave it to me before we left the coliseum," Sora easily replied, holding the pendant out in case Ven wanted to take a closer look at it.

Ven hesitantly accepted the pendant, and turned it over in his hand a few times before he said, "Sora, this isn't something we can use for your armor, but it may still be a very important item all the same."

"Why? What is it?"

"I think…I think this is a Summon Charm," Ven revealed in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "It's a kind of magic artifact that houses the spirit or essence of a particular individual so that one can call on the individual to help them out in a certain situation when the charm is activated."

"Really? So does that mean we can call Cloud to help us out with that," Sora gasped in excitement.

"No, I don't think so. It doesn't feel like this charm summons Cloud, but at the same time, I can't tell who or even what it would summon," Ven admitted. "More than that, this charm doesn't possess the same feeling of being alive that Summon Charms are supposed to have. I'm not saying that the charm or the person it summons are dead or anything like that; it's more like one or the other is…sleeping or something."

"So does that mean we can't use it at all?"

"Until we find someone who can wake it up, no, I'm afraid not. Still, it would be smart to hold onto it, and make sure that you don't lose it," Ventus advised, handing the charm back to Sora, who immediately pocketed the charm once it was in his hand again. Once the boy had done so, Ven moved on to the last question that Sora had asked. "Now, that first move you saw me use against Cloud at the start of our one-on-one match was actually not a Command Style. It was an ability known as a Shotlock."

"A what-lock," Sora asked.

"Shotlock," Ven repeated. "It's a special ability that is granted to you by the Keyblade. While the Command Styles are something that only Keyblade Wielders can use, they typically draw their power from both your magical energies, and your heart, hence the reason why the Unique Command Styles exist, and why your first three Tier Two Command Styles are typically unique to you and at least one other person. Shotlocks on the other hand, are abilities that come directly from your Keyblade, and the base Keyblade will always provide you with at least two Shotlocks that only you can use. Three maximum."

"Huh," was Sora's only response, along with a head-tilt in confusion.

Ventus took a moment of pause to consider his next words before continuing his explanation. "Think of it this way: your Keyblade is basically holding all the basic information on how to form a Shotlock, namely the ones that any Keyblade Wielder can use, but how soon they become unlocked is determined by your heart. Essentially, your Keyblade holds the basic plans for the Shotlocks, while your heart provides the power and tools to access them. The only time that the reverse is true is in regards to your own personal Shotlocks. Your heart does carry plans on how to form those particular Shotlocks, but they don't really start to form until after you've gained the ability to wield the Keyblade, at which point, the Keyblade starts to help finalize the plans and create a kind of outlet for the Shotlocks to form. Get it?"

"I think so," Sora hesitantly nodded. "Basically, the Keyblade is giving my heart instructions on how to use the normal Shotlocks, while my heart is giving it ideas on how to create my own Shotlocks. Is that right?"

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "The one you saw me use against Cloud is actually one of the basic, general Shotlocks, or at least one that Terra, Aqua, and I were all able to use. It's called Meteor Shower."

"What about your personal ones," Sora asked.

"We'll get into that later," Ventus said. "For now, let's see if you can at least discover how to unlock a Shotlock that you can use."

"Okay, but how would I use a Shotlock when I do discover it," Sora nodded.

"Now that's the tricky part," the blonde revealed. "You see, in order to use a Shotlock, you need to aim your Keyblade at whatever you want to target, like you would the targeting sight of a gun, and essentially mark the targets you wish to unleash the Shotlock on. You don't necessarily have to target a specific enemy if you're using them in a crowd, but when you're up against a single opponent, it's definitely a good idea to make sure you have them firmly locked in your crosshairs. This is why most of the time, Shotlocks are better used in order to fight a large group of enemies or a very large opponent, be it for an apprentice or a master of the Keyblade."

"But isn't it important for me to target all the enemies specifically if I want to make sure that I blast them all," Sora asked.

"Well, yes, but not every Shotlock is a long-range blasting ability. There are some that actually have you rushing towards an enemy in a high-speed slashing maneuver. One example would be a Shotlock known as Absolute Zero, which allows you to cloak yourself in ice magic and rush targets repeatedly, while causing pillars of ice to erupt beneath the foes you hit."

"Oh, okay," Sora nodded in understanding. "But when did you aim at Cloud?"

"Almost right after I had armored up," Ven shrugged, casually. "You didn't seriously think that I had just spun my Keyblade around so that I was holding it in front of me as just a bit of a fancy show, did you?"

Sora could not have stopped himself from laughing along with his teacher even if he had wanted to, and he most certainly did not. When the two finally stopped laughing, Sora looked to Ven and said, "So, I'm guessing that in order to discover what my Shotlocks are I have to meditate again?"

"Pretty much," Ventus nodded, much to the boy's groaning displeasure. "But this is not like when we were bringing out your magic potential. If anything, it's more like how I had suggested for you to establish more of a connection with Kingdom Key. Don't think of it as meditating, but more as having a conversation or a brainstorming session with a friend on ideas for a special project that you're both working on."

"And is that what we're going to be doing now," Sora asked.

"Mm, pretty much," Ven shrugged. "It's not like we really have anything else we can do until we arrive at the next world, and that's still a few hours away last I checked."

Sora nodded in acceptance of this, and the two immediately began their next session of meditation, knowing that they would likely be doing so for quite a while until they had arrived.

* * *

It came as a small surprise to Sora that the last few hours of their journey to the next world had ended up passing by at a relatively quick pace, considering that he and Ven spent most of that time meditating in order to help him better connect with his Keyblade. Oh they did do other things besides meditate of course, such as having Ven explain how Sora would know for sure when he learned to use a Shotlock. The blonde had explained that it would actually be something that the Keyblade would decide when he would be ready to do, and that he would know for sure when he suddenly ended up aiming his Keyblade directly at an enemy and suddenly feel like the world around him was slowing down a little. Not necessarily to a great extent, but still to the point where it was at least a little bit noticeable. The only advice Ventus could give to the boy about how soon he would be able to use a Shotlock would be to continue to put his trust in the Keyblade and let it guide him in his future fights as he had up until now.

Aside from that, Ventus also did what he could to help Sora improve his sword fighting abilities by running through some basic fighting forms with practice Keyblades, which were really just wooden Keyblades that were very similar to the one Terra had given to the blonde many years ago, surprisingly. Sora had tried to insist that he was already a great sword fighter, and Ventus did agree that the kid was decent enough, but the blonde did point out that there were still a few flaws in Sora's fighting style and battle form, and stated that learning some basic forms, or even just basics in general would help to benefit him in the long run. They were both very thankful that Ven's room was large enough for them to effectively and safely run through these basic forms, because otherwise, they would have found the wait until their arrival becoming that much longer. They were actually just finishing up with one last set of these basic forms when Goofy announced they were beginning their final approach to the next world over the intercom, and they immediately brought their session to an end so that they could head up to the bridge.

The world had just came into view the moment that the two Keyblade Wielders arrived on the bridge, and from where they were, they could tell that a good majority of said world was made up of a very dense, deep jungle. Aside from that, they could see large branches encircling the world, along with a very impressive waterfall, and topping it all off was an impressive looking tree house that had a small rowboat hanging down from a long crane of some kind on one side, making it seem like the only part of this world that was at least a little civilized or impressive from their current viewpoint. Still, it did beg the question that Goofy eventually voice for everyone.

"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there. Do you think we should investigate," the royal knight asked his long-time best friend.

"The king in a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on," the sorcerer huffed in disagreement, something that did not sit right with either Keyblade Wielder, with the younger one of the two being the first to speak up about Donald's decision.

"Hold on. Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out," Sora argued.

"Forget it! We're on an important mission," Donald reminded him.

"Just land," Sora snapped.

"No!"

"Donald, I get that you want to find Mickey, but you're not the only one on this team that's looking for a missing friend, and besides that, did you forget that finding Mickey isn't the only part of our mission that's important," Ventus cut in, leveling the duck with a small glare as he did. "Unlike Olympus Coliseum, we don't know how secure this world's Keyhole currently is, so if not for the sake of looking for Sora's friends, we should at least stop here and look for that so that we can seal the Keyhole and make sure that the world doesn't fall into darkness."

"Aw, phooey," Donald grumbled with a huff, knowing that Ventus was right. Sure, he wanted to help secure the worlds and make sure that none of the remaining ones fell to darkness, but he was more concerned about his missing king than anything else right now, and he thought for sure that Ventus at the very least understood that. In his opinion, trying to find a couple of kids that the newest Keyblade Wielder knew was a waste of time, seeing as there was a much more likely chance that they had suffered the same fate as their island, so locating King Mickey, someone who was far more important, and likely more safe in the Realm of Light, made more sense to him. Then again, Donald could see where Ventus was coming from in the fact that they needed to seal the Keyhole, but there was no reason for them to do that right away every time they found a world, was there?

Donald's hesitance in listening to Ventus was not appealing to Sora in the least, and the brunette spiky haired boy decided that he was not going to wait around to see whether or not the duck decided that they leave without investigating for another second. "We're going down there, now," Sora insisted as he instantly raced over to the controls, working anything he could get his hands on that looked like it would send them down to the world before them before anyone could stop him.

"Hey, don't touch that," Donald squawked in both warning and annoyance, but his warning came too late, as the ship was soon trembling around them before it suddenly spun towards the world that now lay before them out of control.

"Brace yourselves! We might be heading in for a crash landing," Ventus shouted as he and Goofy both scrambled to get a hold on something. When he saw that he was near the comm. system, Ventus immediately jabbed it with his fist and shouted, "Chip, Dale! Initiate the emergency teleport system and try to get the ship under control!"

 _"But if we do that now, there's no telling where you guys will end up,"_ Dale argued.

 _"And besides, what if we need help getting the ship under control and fixed up again,"_ Chip asked.

"JUST DO IT," Ventus shouted, and a minute later, the four on the bridge vanished in a flash of light to parts unknown, leaving the two chipmunk engineers to work their magic on getting the ship back under control before something worse happened. Of course, while the two were worried about their own safety, they were much more concerned for their friends who were now down on the world's surface, since there was a very real chance that they would not have all landed together, and they would probably be in for the fights of their lives down there.

* * *

When Goofy and Donald regained consciousness, they both found themselves in the middle of a bamboo thicket with no sign of their Keyblade wielding friends anywhere. This did concern Goofy a bit, but Donald on the other hand showed no outward signs of concern at all. If anything, the duck just looked cross because of the fact that they had ended up in this situation because of Sora in the first place. If the kid had not tried to mess with the ship, or if he had not been so stubborn about trying to find his own friends when King Mickey was missing as well, then maybe they would not be stranded right now. At least, that was what Donald was thinking.

Goofy on the other hand was of a different mindset, as evidenced by the worried moan in his voice when he commented, "I sure hope Sora and Ven are okay."

"Aw, who needs 'em? We can find the king without either one of them, and we could've found him way more easily without Sora, so why did Ven even bother dragging him along anyway," Donald huffed as he reached for his staff, only to feel his hand brush up against something furry instead when he did.

Turning to see what he had touched, Donald's vision was immediately filled with a dark haired, grey skinned gorilla, and while it was not all that big like a typical ape, the sight of it being there was still enough to scare Donald out of his wits, resulting in a loud screech of fright from said duck. Said screech was only matched by the gorilla in question, who immediately scampered away after dropping something on the ground. Looking to said object, Goofy and Donald both went wide-eyed at the sight of what could only have been another Gummi block, one that likely belonged to King Mickey. They both scrambled to scoop it up, only to freeze moments later when they heard someone approaching from behind, and they had a very bad feeling about who or what it might be. When they did turn to see who had been coming their way, they both found themselves wishing that Sora and Ven were with them right now, because they were not getting any friendly vibes off of the individual in question.

* * *

Unlike Donald and Goofy, Sora and Ven were both awake when they came out of the teleport, but unfortunately, they had ended up being teleported up in the air. As a result, they both had let out startled yelps as they fell down through the roof of the tree house that they had seen from the ship with a hard crash that was likely heard for miles. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to be hurt, at least as far as Ventus could tell, but he still had to make sure and immediately turned to his apprentice. "Sora, are you okay," Ven groaned.

"Oww…my head," Sora moaned, having not quite registered Ventus' question right away. When he did though, he slowly looked up and said, "I think so, but…where are Donald and Goofy?"

"They must've been sent to a different location. Emergency teleports are not usually all that reliable for keeping a group together, so we'll have to try and find them as we search for the Keyhole and any indication that your friends might be here," Ven replied while he looked around the tree house. While the place was impressive, it was clear that no one had been inside of it for a long time. Even without the hole that the two of them had made in the ceiling, the place seemed to be very run down, but another glance around allowed Ventus to pick up on some signs of their being a previous struggle at some point long ago. After another minute of looking around and not seeing anything that could prove to be useful to them, Ventus looked back to Sora and said, "Now do you see why I was a bit hesitant on letting you fly the ship without knowing what you were doing?"

"Well maybe if Donald hadn't been so eager to leave without coming down here to at least look for Riku and Kairi…" Sora grumbled, but said grumblings to the blonde were suddenly interrupted when a loud roar reached both of their ears.

Upon turning around, both Keyblade Wielders had barely enough time to roll to the side in order to avoid being pounced on by a large leopard, but unfortunately, Sora ended up being the large jungle cat's main target, and was soon sent flying into the wall behind him after receiving a hard hit from one the leopard's clawed paws. Ventus instantly rushed to the rescue by tackling the leopard from behind and wrestling it away from his apprentice, only to end up being thrown into another wall of the tree house as well. Seeing that its prey was looking to put up a fight, the leopard immediately began circling the two, menacingly, giving Sora and Ven the chance to draw their respective Keyblades and assume defensive stances.

"Just once I'd like to meet a _friendly_ cat," Ventus commented as he glared at the snarling feline before Sora suddenly charged at the leopard.

A few quick swings of his Keyblade allowed Sora to score some very impressive hits on the large beast, but the leopard was able to parry his last blow by swinging his paw at Sora just when he was bringing Kingdom Key down on the animal. The suddenness of this action caught Sora off balance and made him stumble a bit, which was exactly what the leopard was hoping for as it pounced at him once again. A timely intervention from Ventus discouraged the beast though, as the blonde was quick to send out a quick Aero spell that blasted the beast away, and while he would have instantly followed that up with a Shotlock, he hesitated to do so given the fact that he would likely bring down the tree house they were standing in around them, which was not a good thing seeing as they were likely several feet up in the air.

Ven's hesitation ended up costing him, as the leopard was able to use it in order to try and pounce him, but just when it was about to reach him, something suddenly stopped it. Or to be more accurate, some _one_ stopped it, because just as the leopard was coming down on him, Ventus had ended up being saved by a man with long brown hair, which was styled in dreadlocks, carrying a spear, and wearing nothing more than a tattered, brown loincloth around his waist. The man in question was certainly strong, no denying, as one could clearly see by both his appearance and by the fact that he was holding the leopard back with little trouble, and after a minute or so, the man shoved the jungle cat away and glared angrily at the leopard, as if daring the beast to try something.

Sensing that it would be in serious danger if it stuck around, the leopard took the wise course of action and fled out the nearest window, crashing through the glass when it did, leaving Sora and Ventus with their strange rescuer. After helping Sora to his feet, Ventus turned to see that the man had already approached them, and was currently hunched over like a gorilla as he stared at them, almost as if he was searching for something in the two. When he did not say anything for another minute or so, Ventus figured that he was waiting for them to say something, but he was proven wrong when the man suddenly grunted, "Sabor, danger."

"Um…thank you," Sora nodded for both himself and Ventus.

"Thank you," the man slowly repeated, indicating that he was probably not able to speak as well as Ven and Sora could.

Ventus decided that they should probably check to be sure while learning what they could about their surroundings, and then asked the man, "So what is this place?"

"This place, this place," the wild man replied.

"Okaaay…so do you know where the others are," Sora asked, thinking that he was following Ven's lead.

The only answer Sora received was silence, prompting Ven to point out, "Sora, I don't think he's able to understand us, and besides that, I doubt he knows who you're even talking about." The blonde then turned his attention back to the wild man and slowly explained, "Listen, we got separated from our friends. Have you seen them?" When the wild man grunted in confusion, Ventus slowly repeated, "Friends."

"Friends," the wild man repeated after Ven, making some of the same motions that the blonde did when he said the word.

"Right, our friends," Sora exclaimed happily, thinking the man understood that time. "There's two of 'em. The loud one is Dona-."

While their wild friend had to let out a grunt of confusion once again, Ventus was not confused at all as to why Sora stopped short when he was about to mention Donald. Clearly, the boy was still upset with Donald for trying to leave their current location without looking for Riku and Kairi, but Ven was not going to let that stop them from finding their missing teammates. "Two of our friends are Donald and Goofy, and we need to find them quickly."

"I'm also looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi," Sora quickly added.

"Look for Donald. Look for Goofy, friends," the wild man repeated.

"That's right," Ventus nodded.

The wild man then turned to Sora and asked, "Look for Riku, friends?"

"Right," Sora nodded. He was about to say something else when something suddenly caught his attention out of the corner of his eye from behind the man. Turning a little to try and see better, Sora let out a silent gasp when he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Kairi. At least, he was pretty sure it was her, but from his current distance and the glare of the sun shining through the window, he was not entirely sure he was seeing right.

"Kairi, friends," the wild man suddenly asked.

"Uhh…right," Sora nodded absently before turning back to where he thought he saw the girl in question, much to Ven's confusion. When the blonde turned to where Sora was looking, that confusion grew a little more since he did not see anything there at all. Sora on the other hand was now sure that he saw something there, and he was certain that it was Kairi, because a minute after fixing his gaze on her, she seemed to turn and walk towards the door behind the wild man. When Sora moved to look around the other side of the wild man though, he was shocked to see that the girl had vanished into thin air.

"Friends here," the wild man grunted.

"Really," Sora gasped excitedly, thinking that the man had seen Riku and Kairi along with the rest of their team.

"Do you know where they are," Ventus asked, assuming the same as Sora.

"Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah," the wild man grunted, earning confused looks from both Keyblade Wielders. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah. Friends here."

"Did you understand that," Sora asked Ventus, completely lost.

"Nope, but if he can help us find the others and your friends, we might as well see if he can lead us to them," Ventus replied to the boy, before turning his attention back to the wild man. "Please, show us where our friends are."

The wild man nodded with a smile before he gestured to himself and said, "Tarzan. Tarzan go."

It did not take a lot to figure out what that meant, and Sora instantly said, "I'm Sora."

"And I'm Ven," the blonde quickly added, thinking it would be better to just go ahead and give his nickname, since giving that and his full name like he normally did would probably confuse Tarzan a little. "Tarzan go, Sora and Ven go."

The minute that Ventus had said that, Tarzan nodded in response and bounded out of the tree house on all fours, exactly like a gorilla would, with both Keyblade Wielders right behind him. By the time they had reached the deck that wrapped around the house, Tarzan had already leapt over the railing, onto the safety netting below, and approached one of the nearest branches before looking back up at the two expectantly. After exchanging a glance with each other, Sora and Ventus just shrugged and followed after him, only to gasp in horror when they saw Tarzan jump down into the trees. Their horror was quickly absolved into awe when they saw him easily land on one of the many, large branches and actually slide down them like he was a surfer riding a wave.

"Don't suppose you've ever done something like that, have you," Sora asked Ven.

"Uh…nope; that's a new one for me too," Ventus admitted. "But considering my Keyblade Glider is a waveboard, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

With that said, the Keyblade Master was following after Tarzan, and though his start was a little shaky, he too was soon surfing along the tree branches with similar ease. Sora could only stare in awe at this new development before he steeled himself and jumped down as well, screaming a little in fright as he surfed the branches uncontrollably at first. After a few minutes though, his screams turned to excited laughter, as he started jumping up and flipping through the air before landing back on the branch again, or even a different one, almost like he had been doing something like that all his life. When they saw this, Tarzan could not help but grin widely at how well Sora seemed to be doing at one of his usual methods of travel, while Ven just smirked at how his apprentice was able to cut loose and have so much fun when he had been in such a sour mood just a moment ago.

Their jungle trek only got all the more wild when Tarzan leapt off the branch he was surfing on and began swinging on the vines while letting out a very unforgettable yell, and the way that the jungle man switched from vine swinging to branch surfing just made it even more apparent how at home this man was in the jungle than his choice of clothing did. In a way, it was very amazing, and Sora and Ven could not help but smile at the sight of it. That did not mean they were going to join in on the vine swinging right away though, but Ventus still felt the need to shout a warning for Sora to not think about trying just to be on the safe side, much to the boy's slight irritation.

The crazy antics that Sora would be likely to try after watching Tarzan was not the only thing that had Ven worried though, because he was a bit concerned about other things regarding Sora at the moment. Yes, his recent fallout with Donald was likely going to be a problem in the near future, but Ventus was a bit more concerned about how Sora had been acting back in the tree house while they were talking with Tarzan, namely with the way it had seemed like Sora had been staring at something that neither he nor the ape man were able to see or sense. Granted, he would likely have passed it off as Sora just imagining things due to a trick of the light or something, but given what he knew about the boy and what he was unknowingly carrying inside of him, Ven was not so sure if it was just that. When you added in the fact that the thing that Sora had been looking at seemed to have garnered just about all of his attention, you could see easily why Ven was already making plans to talk with Sora later to see if there was a reason for such odd behavior. Those plans would come after they met up with the others of course, and found out what Tarzan was trying to tell them.

Their rather exciting jungle trek soon came to an end when Tarzan finally landed in the midst of a camp, and from a few glances of the area, anyone would be able to tell that the person said camp belonged to was likely a scientist of some kind, what with all the research equipment and piles of books that were scattered about everywhere. In addition to this, the two could also see that there were a few other items that were typical for people who came from civilization, such as silverware, a washboard for clothes, and other similar items. The thing that caught Ven's eye though was the fact that there was also a typewriter on one of the nearby tables as well, something he had not really seen in quite a few years, indicating that this world's level of technology was likely very far behind what he was used to. Tarzan did not really seem to pay much mind to his surroundings, but instead, simply headed towards the tent in the middle of the camp, indicating that he had been here a few times before and probably knew who was staying here, and Sora and Ven were both following after him as fast as they could.

Upon entering the tent, the three were greeted with the sight of a young woman with long, brown hair, decked out in a faded, white tank top, and a long, red skirt that reached just above her ankles. It was a little hard to see what she was working on at the moment, but whatever it was, she quickly put it aside when Tarzan announced their presence to her. "Jane," the ape man called.

The woman seemed to perk up a little and immediately turned around to face him as she exclaimed, "Tarzan!" Clearly, this Jane was very close to Tarzan, since she seemed excited to see him, right to the point where she would have missed seeing Ven and Sora completely had they not been standing right next to him. "Oh, and who's this?"

"Uh, hi there," Sora hesitantly waved. "I'm-."

"Oh, you speak English! So, then, obviously, you're not related to Tarzan," Jane interrupted with a small smile of relief. Ven quirked an eyebrow at that, confused as to why she would have such a reaction, when Jane suddenly turned to him and asked, "Are you and this boy together, sir?"

"Yes, Miss Jane. He's with me. My name's Ventus, and this is my apprentice, Sora, but you can call me Ven," the blonde nodded.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ven, and please, call me Jane," the woman nodded in reply. "So, are you and your apprentice here to study the gorillas?"

"Highly doubtful," a new voice interrupted from behind the three recent arrivals. Turning around, all four of the tent's current occupants saw a tall man with thinning hair, a pencil-thin mustache, and dressed in what could only be described as hunting attire enter the tent, with his rifle held at the ready. The thing that had caught the attention of the two Keyblade Wielders though was the pair of individuals he was escorting into the tent.

"Sora! Ven," Goofy exclaimed excitedly as the two raced out from behind the hunter.

"Goofy! Donald," the two Keyblade Wielders cheered in relief, glad to see that their friends were alright, at least until Sora and Donald were about to hug each other. At that point, the two remembered their earlier argument and immediately jumped back to turn away from one another in a huff with their arms crossed, much to Goofy and Ven's disappointment.

"A circus of clowns," the hunter scoffed in a slightly mocking voice as he turned to leave. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

"Mister Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research," Jane protested after the man's retreating form, but it did not seem that Clayton was really paying her that much mind. The sigh of tiredness that followed from Jane a moment later indicated that she had likely had this conversation with Clayton many times before, but she quickly shook it off before returning her attention to her newest guests and said, "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

"Thank you," Ventus nodded on behalf of his group, while throwing a small look to Donald and Sora to indicate that they should try to behave themselves in their present company. The two either did not notice or just ignored him though, as they continued to glare away from one other like a pair of angry, small children, prompting him to say, "Sorry about those two. You see, we're actually a group of travelers, and we're looking for some missing friends of ours. Donald and Sora had a small disagreement on what direction we should take our search and, well…now we're sort of stuck here for the moment."

"Oh dear. Well, I certainly hope you won't be stranded for too long," Jane gasped.

"Thanks, but I'm not too worried about our transport. We've got the best mechanics I know of working to fix it up. In the meantime, Goofy and I have to work on fixing…well, that," Ven reassured Jane before he indicated the two, arguing friends.

"Well, anyway…" Sora started to say, only to end up saying the exact same thing that Donald did when the duck spoke up again.

"I'm staying," the duck announced right along with Sora, surprising both Keyblade Wielders.

Once that surprise had faded, Sora's face seemed to brighten up just slightly, indicating that the boy thought this meant that Donald had come around to his way of thinking, but Ventus on the other hand was certain that was not the case. Having known Donald far longer than his apprentice, Ven knew that when the sorcerer was in a mindset like his current one, he would only make a decision like that if it tied into whatever he had set his mind to, which could only mean that he and Goofy had found something relating to Mickey at some point during their separation from him and Sora. As much as he did not want to disappoint Sora with this fact, Ventus knew that the boy should know the truth about this matter before his hopes got up too high, and that was why he immediately looked to Goofy and said, "I'm guessing you guys found something relating to King Mickey?"

"Yep. Lookie here," Goofy nodded happily as he held out his hand to show Ven what he was holding in it, deflating Sora's rising spirits a little as he did.

His curiosity, on the other hand, did not drop quite as rapidly as his spirits did, because Sora was still interested in learning about the strange block that Goofy was holding out for them all to see, and it certainly looked very familiar to him. "Hey, is that another gummi block," Sora asked.

"Yeah, it is," Ventus confirmed as he looked it over. "And given how refined this block looks in comparison to ones that you normally find lying around on a world, I'd say that this was one that someone else had found first."

"So that means…"

"The king could be here," Donald finished for Sora while leveling the boy with a small look. "So we've gotta work together to look for him. For now."

Sora just glared back at the duck for a minute before he said, "Fine. I'll let you tag along. For now."

Ventus and Goofy both looked between the two quarrelling friends before they both let out tired sighs at the two's behavior. There was no doubt in either of their minds that Sora and Donald would likely be at each other's throats for a while, so for now, aside from trying to get the two to resolve things, they could only hope that they would not let their disagreement get in the way of their teamwork when they got into a fight. Yes, they had not encountered any Heartless yet, but considering their luck so far, there was a pretty strong guarantee that they were going to deal with the creatures of darkness sooner or later.

They were all reminded of their current location and company when Tarzan suddenly came over and sniffed Donald and Goofy for a minute, much to the two's surprise and confusion. Seeing this action immediately reminded Ven of the fact that they had not properly introduced their two friends to Tarzan yet, so he immediately stepped in and said, "Tarzan, these are two of our friends, Donald and Goofy."

"Donald and Goofy, friends," Tarzan parroted with a small grunt as he glanced between the two, who both nodded in reply to confirm this.

After hearing Tarzan speak like this so much and seeing how he acted, Sora decided that he needed to know a bit about the reasoning behind that once and for all and immediately looked to the only person around who was likely to have an answer that they could understand: Jane. "Hey, how come Tarzan acts like that, and why does it seem like he has a hard time understanding us," the boy inquired.

"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning," Jane revealed.

"So he was speaking in 'gorilla' before," Ventus asked, having overheard the conversation.

"That's right. It's a little odd, I know, but we're doing our best to help him understand English as best as possible," Jane confirmed.

"Maybe that's why he brought us here. He figured you could help us understand what he was trying to tell me and Sora before when we asked him for help in finding Sora's other friends, or that you could help him understand what we were trying to ask him," Ventus reasoned out.

"I suppose that would make sense, but it seems like you were able to understand one and other rather well," Jane pointed out.

"Well, I don't know about that," Sora disputed. "He said that Riku and Kairi are here, and one word that we couldn't understand."

Jane let a small hum of thought at that before turning to the device she was working on before. An instant later, her eyes seemed to light up with a stroke of inspiration, and she immediately offered, "Why don't we try this? We can show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word."

It was at this point that Ven finally realized that the device was an old slide projector, and he had to admit, the idea was a very clever one, but before that, he felt that they should try something else first. "Hey Sora, do you happen to have a picture of Riku and Kairi on you? Maybe if we show that to Tarzan he can tell us whether or not they are here for sure."

Like Jane's suggestion, Ventus' idea was good, but unfortunately, they were not able to follow through with it as Sora revealed, "I wish I did have one, to be honest, but any pictures I have of the three of us were back in my room on my island when…well, you know."

Ven, Donald, and Goofy all knew what Sora meant by that, and that part of the reason why he was not saying the exact words aloud was because of the fact that Jane and Tarzan were still standing right next to them, so they did not push him on that. Still, that did not mean they could not use Ven's idea at all, as Goofy did happen to have a picture of him, Donald, and Mickey on him that Ventus could show to Tarzan. After thanking Goofy for letting him borrow the photo, Ventus immediately walked over to Tarzan to show him the picture and asked if the ape man had seen the mouse king. After staring at the picture for a minute, Tarzan slowly shook his head with a sad face, telling them that he had not seen Mickey. It was disappointing to hear, but they all had to remember that just because one person had not seen their friend, it did not mean that he was not here, or that he had not been here at all. Besides that, they still had one other lead to follow, so they all quickly set to work helping Jane to set up the slide projector in an attempt to help discover what Tarzan had been trying to say to Sora and Ventus before.

* * *

Getting the projector ready was something that the team ended up leaving to Jane, since she actually knew what she was doing with the thing, but they were still more than happy to gather the actual slides for her. The only downside was that the entire time they were gathering up the slides, Sora and Donald flatly refused to so much as look at one another for more than necessary, or even a few minutes, and Ven and Goofy both overheard the two grumbling something about each other under their breathes every time they thought that they could not be overheard. Then again, Ventus had a strong feeling that the two were not really trying to keep from being overheard, because their grumblings were normally loud enough for someone to hear from a short distance away. This was just as much of a worry for Goofy as it was a taxing annoyance for Ven, as the royal knight really did not like it when his friends were fighting with each other, so the two both made a silent pact to do whatever they could to resolve the matter as soon as possible. They would have to do it after helping Tarzan figure out the English version of what he was trying to say to Sora and Ventus though, because right now, finding that out so that they could track down Riku and Kairi took priority.

After they had everything set up, Tarzan's attention was fully locked on the images being projected on the makeshift screen, looking for an image of what he was trying to say to the two Keybearers. About halfway through, it did not seem like Tarzan was seeing anything that resembled what he was trying to say, but when the image of a strange looking castle tower came up, Ventus could not help but note how similar it looked to the castle of Radiant Garden with a fond, nostalgic smile. That smile was quickly wiped away when he noticed Sora staring rather intently at the image as well, and from the way he was doing so, it seemed almost as though he were recalling something significant as well about the image. After another few seconds of seeing him stare at it, the others began to take notice of the boy's staring as well, and Ventus decided that he should try and get Sora's attention.

"Sora is something wrong," Ven asked.

"What? Um…No, nothing," Sora jumped, coming out of his sudden state of daze. Needless to say, Ven did not buy that for a minute, and Sora could tell by the look on his face, so he let out a reluctant sigh and said, "Sorry. It's just that…that place looks so familiar, but I don't know how. I've never been off my island before I met you guys."

Ventus had a pretty good idea that he knew why Sora felt that way. Since Sora was carrying the heart of a certain Princess of Heart inside of him, one who had previously come from Radiant Garden, Ven could only assume that said person's heart had made the same connection to that world from the picture that he had. Knowing this worried Ventus a little, as it seemed to indicate that said heart was starting to have a certain effect on Sora, aside from the effect that the person it belonged to normally had, and if anything else like that happened, Ven was sure that he would have to tell Sora about the fact he was carrying that heart inside of him sooner rather than later. Even so, now was not the time to be giving such revelations, and one such feeling was not really much of a reason for Ventus to suspect anything just yet, so he simply shrugged at Sora and returned his attention to the slideshow, only to discover that it had already finished without them realizing it.

"Well, Tarzan," Jane asked, turning to the ape man.

"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi," Sora asked, drawing Tarzan's attention to him.

Tarzan just stared at Sora for a minute before he shook his head at the boy, but whether or not he was saying that he had not seen anything that would help translate what he was saying, or if it was something else, no one could really tell. One thing that was certain was that Sora was starting to get a little anxious about dealing with the wild man. Before anyone could ask any other questions though, Clayton suddenly came in and announced, "That leaves just one place. Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now, but we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas."

"Why exactly would you think that Sora's friends would be with the gorillas," Ventus questioned, his gaze suspicious as he studied the hunter.

"Your guess would be as good as mine, dear sir, but if they are, we have a problem of reaching them. You see, Tarzan can lead us to the gorillas, but he refuses to take us to them," Clayton shrugged, clearly trying to play innocent as he leveled a small glare at Tarzan.

"Really, Mister Clayton," Jane chuckled, clearly finding such an idea absurd in her opinion. "Tarzan wouldn't hide-."

"Then take us there," Clayton interrupted as he addressed Tarzan. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."

Tarzan turned towards Sora, who was looking at him with a pleading gaze, silently begging him to do as he was being asked if it meant he could find his friends. Sensing his new friend's worry and desperation to find his missing friends, Tarzan found he could not ignore such a plea, and more than that, as he glanced around at the rest of Sora's group, he could also sense nothing but good intentions from them all, so in the end, he nodded in agreement with this request, surprising everyone, but it seemed that no one was more surprised than Jane.

"Tarzan…are you sure," Jane asked.

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," Tarzan stated.

"Kerchak? Who's Kerchak," Ventus asked in confusion.

"I think it should be clear, sir. This Kerchak must be the leader," Clayton offered. He then let out a small grin as he then said, "I'll go along with you as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Seeing that grin of Clayton's set off more than a few warning bells for the entire team, and as such, Ventus immediately said, "We appreciate the offer, Clayton, but I think we'll be fine on our own. If the jungle is so dangerous, you would probably be better off staying here to protect Jane and the camp."

"Yeah, we don't need any protection. We can handle ourselves just fine," Donald huffed in agreement.

Clayton's grin instantly dropped at that, but he did not quite let his smile disappear completely before he nodded in understanding with the two and stepped back out of the tent, leaving everyone else to get ready for their departure to see this Kerchak. Tarzan informed them that he would be ready to leave whenever the team was, and once they were left on their own, Goofy took the chance to point out something that had been bugging him for a while now. "Hey uh, don't you think it's weird that we haven't seen any Heartless yet," the knight quietly asked.

"Darkness may exist in every world in some way, but that does not necessarily mean that we'll find the Heartless in every world. More importantly, even if we don't find any Heartless in each world we encounter, we should still find and seal the Keyhole of that world so that if they ever do show up, they won't be able to consume the world's heart," Ventus explained.

"But what about the king," Donald asked.

"Or Riku and Kairi," Sora added in, drawing him into another glaring match with Donald.

"Look, I want to find all of our friends as much as you guys do, but we do still have other jobs that are just as important to carry out, if not more so. Sometimes, we have to put the needs of others ahead of our own, especially when dealing with such a major threat like the Heartless, otherwise, we might as well doom all the worlds to darkness," Ventus reasoned. His attempt to do so did seem to sober the sour moods of the two up a little, but they still turned away from each other in a huff before leaving the tent as well and heading over to where Tarzan was, drawing a tired sigh from Ventus. "I wonder if Master Eraqus ever had days like this when he was training me, Aqua, and Terra."

"Gawrsh, you don't think that they'll be arguing like that forever, do ya," Goofy asked.

"I don't think so, Goofy," Ventus reassured his friend. "Really, I think the problem stems from the fact that those two are more alike than they seem to realize at the moment. They both know that they have an important job to do, but after going so long without even the slightest clue on where either of their friends are, they've become too desperate to remember that our mission goes beyond just finding said friends. Donald wants to do whatever it takes to find Mickey, and Sora's the same in regards to Riku and Kairi. The fact that they're each trying to find people so important to them while the other is trying just as hard is what's really causing them to clash while making it hard for them realize the real reason as to why they're fighting."

Goofy could not help but hum in thought about what Ventus said, and after a minute of thinking, he offered, "Well, maybe if they heard about it from someone besides us, they'd be able to realize that a little more easily."

Ventus was about to dismiss Goofy's idea, until he realized just what the knight was suggesting and quickly found an excited smile reaching his face. "Goofy, you're a genius," Ventus praised. "I'll talk with Donald. You take Sora."

"Yes sir," Goofy saluted in reply, and they immediately raced off to join the rest of their friends in their jungle trek to wherever the gorillas were at the moment.

* * *

The team's journey to see Kerchak was relatively peaceful, save for the continued tension between Sora and Donald, and as they went, they could not help but marvel at the natural wonders of Tarzan's home. From the trees that towered to incredible heights, to the various animal-life that crossed their paths every now and again, and even the occasional round of vine swinging they found themselves having to do in order to keep up with Tarzan all had the four gasping and smiling in awe for some time. This peaceful journey also gave Ventus and Goofy the opportunity they needed to speak with their respective targets, and neither of them wasted any time in doing so.

Ventus was the first to do so, as evidenced by how he immediately approached Donald and asked, "How long do you plan on continuing with your current attitude towards Sora?"

Donald only response was to huff, "Like I told Goofy: who needs him? We can find King Mickey without Sora anyway."

"You do know that, for one thing, you'd be going against Mickey's orders if you were to go off without him, right," Ventus asked. When he received no response from the magician, he pressed on and said, "Donald, I get that you want to find Mickey, really, but you have to remember that we're not the only ones looking for a missing friend. Sora is too, and he's actually looking for two of them. He does want to help us find Mickey, but he wants to find his best friends even more, never mind the fact that he's never actually met Mickey before, so you can't really expect him to be as concerned about that as you are. Can you really tell me that you wouldn't drop everything for even the smallest clue that indicates Mickey is okay, just like how Sora would if he found a hint to show his best friends are?"

Donald did not have an answer for that, but Ventus could see that his resolve was faltering a little, which meant that he was likely getting through to him. "But still, King Mickey is important," Donald weakly defended.

"I know that, just like I know how he's also yours and Goofy's best friend. Whether you believe it or not, Sora knows that too, but you need to try to remember that Sora has two best friends missing and one of them is the girl he's clearly in love with."

"How do you know that?"

"You can just tell by the way the kid talks about Kairi," Ventus shrugged in response. "Just think about it, alright? After all, you'd be the same way if you were in his shoes."

Donald said nothing for a moment until he finally just nodded in response and continued on with their trek. Meanwhile, further up, Goofy was having a very similar conversation with Sora, and from what Ventus could see and hear, it looked like he was getting through to the younger Keyblade Wielder just like he was with Donald. In fact, Ventus was pretty sure that Goofy had probably done a better job getting through to Sora than he had with Donald, because while Goofy may be…well, goofy, he was also incredibly wise when it comes to the things that matter most. These thoughts seemed to help Ventus relax a little more when it seemed that they finally reached their destination.

Looking up into the trees, the four could easily spot a large gorilla with black fur and a bit of a mean look on his face looking down at them, but underneath that glare, they could also see a burning determination to protect what was important to him, easily indicating that said gorilla was Kerchak, even without hearing Tarzan speak with him. Of course, everything that was being said between Tarzan and Kerchak was all being said in gorilla, so none of the four could understand a word that was being said, much to some of their frustrations. Thankfully, they were able to pick up a few different cues that gave them some idea of the concept of what was being said, more so from Tarzan, and from what they could tell, it looked like Tarzan was practically begging Kerchak to let him help them. The ape man's pleas did not seem to be well received, as Kerchak just stood there looking down with an unchanging, even expression, and his gaze did not waver from the group until he suddenly looked off to somewhere in the distance and then moved away in a hurry. When they saw Tarzan's shoulders fall in dismay, the team could only assume that meant that he had failed, but then they started to think about why Kerchak had left in the first place, and the answers they were coming up with were not very pleasant.

"He seemed sorta distracted by something," Goofy finally noted aloud.

"Maybe…but I think it was more like concerned. Almost as though he could sense something was wrong," Ventus mused.

"Hey, was it just me, or did it seem like he was looking towards the tree house," Sora asked.

"Tree house? What tree house," Donald asked.

"The one that Ven and I crashed down into when we landed," Sora explained. "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that even without the route we took with Tarzan, it was pretty close to the camp. Do you think that maybe…"

"Only one way to find out," Ventus answered. He looked over to Tarzan to ask if the ape man could show them the fastest way back to the tree house, only to find that he was already a few steps ahead of the blonde and was urgently waving for the group to follow him, which they were all more than happy to do.

* * *

The group turned out to be right in their decision to see if something was wrong back at the tree house, because the minute they had arrived, they instantly spotted Clayton aiming his gun at a gorilla who had wandered inside; the very same gorilla that Donald and Goofy had encountered when they first landed in the jungle. Upon realizing this and what Clayton was intending to do, Donald immediately dashed in to intervene, startling the hunter just as he was about to fire, and alerting the gorilla just in time for her to take cover. This was good news of course, and the four were quick to make sure that Clayton was prevented from making any other threatening moves towards the gorilla, which Tarzan identified as his friend, Terk, but unfortunately, Kerchak saw the whole thing, and from what everyone could tell, it did not look like the lead gorilla was going to be doing Tarzan and his new friends any favors anytime soon. With nothing left for them to do, the team just elected to drag Clayton back to the camp so that they could keep him from doing any more harm than he already had.

Even after they had returned, Clayton continued to insist that he had been aiming for a snake that had slithered past Terk and he had simply been attempting to save her life, but the defense was so poor that the only way any of the group would have believed him would have been if they had all been born yesterday. Needless to say, when she heard about the incident, Jane was just as furious. "How could you do such a thing," Jane demanded of the hunter.

"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla," Clayton started to say once again.

"Yeah, yeah, spare us the act, Clayton," Ventus scoffed. "Even a rank amateur could've been able to tell that wasn't the case."

Before Clayton could retort to Ven's comment, Jane stepped in and stated with total finality, "You are not to go near the gorillas again, Mister Clayton!"

"All because of one mishap? Come, now," Clayton chuckled, but his smile immediately faltered when he saw that everyone else present was leveling him with a distrusting glare, silently daring him to keep pushing his luck. Seeing as Clayton was not that great of a fool, he wisely backed out of the tent and beat a hasty retreat before anyone decided that they were not too fond of this more peaceful solution, though some of them could still him grumbling under his breath about them all being imbeciles.

Once he was gone, nearly everyone let out a tired sigh and started wondering what they should all do next, though the latter of those things was mostly focused around Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy. Thinking that they should check in with their ship's engineers, Ventus took it upon himself to step out of the tent and call Chip and Dale in order to see how far along they were in fixing the ship, but not before asking Goofy to keep an eye on Donald and Sora, just to make sure that the two did not start fighting again. If you were to ask Goofy though, that precaution may not have been entirely necessary, seeing as the two had long since ceased arguing and glaring at one another, and now, they were just shooting unsure looks between themselves. Clearly they were still thinking about what Goofy and Ventus had told them, and if Goofy had to guess, he would say that they were now trying to figure out how to approach the other person so that they could attempt to talk things out. Donald's intervention earlier surely helped put a few things in perspective for them both, but everything up until now was still weighing heavily on the two's minds and left them unsure of what to do now. Even after Ventus came back and reported that the ship was still going to take a little more time, Donald and Sora had not said anything to each other, or even moved beyond casting an unsure look in each other's direction. Seeing this started to make Ven think that he and Goofy would have to intervene again, but all such thoughts were cast aside when they all heard the sound of a gunshot ringing through the air.

"Now what," Ventus groaned as the team raced back out of the tent, only to join his friends in skidding to a halt as they gasped in horror at what was now before them.

"Heartless," Sora shouted in horror.

Indeed, just a short ways from the entrance to the camp, was a group of Heartless surrounding a gorilla, but these Heartless were different from the ones that the team had encountered so far. Like the Soldier Heartless that they had encountered in Traverse Town, the Guard Armor, and the Trickmaster, these Heartless all had the heart-shaped emblem on their chests, but the main difference they saw was that these new Heartless were practically designed to fight in a jungle setting. The main thing that made it seem like that was the fact that they were very similar in appearance to large monkeys, even with the black claws on their large paws and feet, and they were all jumping and swinging around the area said gorilla was in like the animal they shared an appearance with. Whatever the case though, it did not matter, because they still needed to be dealt with, and the four friends were more than happy to jump into action, with Tarzan following close behind them.

The fight took a bit longer than the team would have liked, seeing as these new Heartless tended to be able to jump much higher than the ones they had encountered up until now, but they were all very quick to adapt their fighting styles with a little help from their jungle-native friend in order to show that they were not monkeying around. At one point though, one of the Heartless slipped past and was about to pounce on Donald, but a quick slide allowed across the ground allowed Sora to intervene just in time to kick the creature of darkness away long enough for them both to finish it off with a quick blast of fire. After destroying said Heartless, Donald gave a quick nod of thanks to the wielder of Kingdom Key, which Sora returned with a nod of his own before they both joined the others.

"What were those things," Jane gasped.

"They're called Heartless; dangerous creatures that prey on the hearts of others out of nothing more than basic, animal instinct in an attempt to plunge others into darkness," Ventus answered, seeing no other way to put it. "Our weapons are some of the only things that stand a great chance of destroying them before they can do any harm, but from what we could tell, it did not seem like there was anything to draw them here, let alone entirely new Heartless."

"You mean, you don't know about them," Goofy asked.

"Hey, you can't expect me to know about every single Heartless in existence, can you," Ventus pointed out, getting conceding shrugs from his friends in response.

At that point, Sora turned to where their resident chronicler was nestled in his jacket and asked, "Hey Jiminy, do you know what they're called?"

"Give me a minute. I'm checking my journal for some notes about them right now," Jiminy said as he hopped up onto Sora's shoulder. After flipping through a few pages of his journal, he finally said, "Sorry, but it doesn't look like the king had any notes on this kind of Heartless, at least not from what I can see of the notes I grabbed before we left."

"Well whatever the case, it doesn't matter what they're called. The fact that the Heartless are here at all does," Ventus pointed out.

"But why are they here now," Donald asked.

No one had an answer for that, and they did not have time to really think of one either, as they all heard yet another gunshot ring out from the nearby thicket of bamboo trees, which immediately told them that Clayton could be in trouble, or that he was causing some trouble. Whatever the case was, they could not just stand around thinking when the Heartless could be causing more problems than they already had, so they immediately raced off to help the hunter after telling Jane to get back into the tent and stay there until they returned. They did not have to go very far before they found something that proved itself to be a bad sign.

There, atop a small boulder in the middle of a clearing in the bamboo thicket, they were quick to spot Clayton's pipe, simply laying there like it had been discarded, but the real question was had it been left there on purpose so that they could have a way to find him, or was it dropped by accident just before something had taken him. Everyone could only hope that it was the former, but their musings were quickly disturbed when something suddenly jumped out of the thicket and pounced on Sora, startling them all. Thankfully, it was not another Heartless, but unfortunately, it was still just as bad, because the attacker in question was Sabor the leopard, back for another round with the Keyblade Wielder, and even though he was doing an admirable job of holding the leopard back with his Keyblade, Sora was still struggling to keep that way.

"Sora! Hang on," Donald shouted in a panic, and he immediately threw a fire spell at the leopard with a flick of his staff, blasting Sabor off of the boy easily. Sora was then quick to jump back to his feet and charge in with Keyblade swinging, while Donald fell in step behind him along with Tarzan, each with their respective weapons ready.

Goofy was about to join in as well, when Ventus held up a hand to stop him and said, "Wait. I think we should let them handle this."

Any protests that Goofy had died in his throat when he realized what Ventus was doing by letting Sora, Donald, and Tarzan fight this battle without the two of them, and just simply stood down as requested, but he kept his shield ready just in case Ven decided that they should join in. Seeing that the other two were not joining the fight made Sabor think that they were now easy prey, and the leopard immediately turned to charge at them, but Donald immediately jumped in to hold Sabor back with his staff, giving Sora the chance to repay Donald for his earlier assistance by blasting Sabor with a fire spell of his own. This placed the leopard within Tarzan's striking range, and the ape man was quick to capitalize on the chance by lunging at the leopard with his spear ready to impale Sabor. Even though the spear did not meet its intended target, it did still injure Sabor, making the leopard unable to put up as much of a fight as he did before, and that gave Sora and Donald an opening to let loose with another barrage of fire spells.

The two kept up their barrage of fire spells, peppering Sabor with little rest, until Tarzan lunged into the fight once more, with his spear ready and aimed directly at the leopard. When the ape man and leopard collided with one another, the other four could only watch with baited breathes in the hopes that Tarzan would come out on top in this struggle, until finally, Tarzan shoved Sabor off both him and his spear. When Ventus looked to the weapon made of a stick and a sharp stone, he could see that the tip of Tarzan's spear had a fair amount of blood on it, indicating that Tarzan had hit his mark, and turning to Sabor confirmed this, because the leopard in question was swaying and stumbling on his feet as he continued to glare, albeit weakly, at his would-be-prey. After a couple more minutes of this, Sabor finally fell to the ground, dead, and everyone let out a sigh of relief at this. Tarzan looked to his new friends happily, thankful for their assistance in defeating Sabor, before he glared over at the leopard and then lifted it over his head as he let out a powerful yell that was unlike anything any of them had ever heard before, but still sounded incredibly powerful, like it was something that only one who had experienced the things that Tarzan had could really call their own.

The other two combatants on the other hand, were not quite as celebratory as Tarzan was at the moment, as they were too busy exchanging unsure glances at one another once again. At least they were, until Donald finally said, "Good job, Sora."

"Yeah, uh…Thanks, and thanks for saving me back there, Donald," Sora shrugged just as awkwardly, but it was still clear that they both meant every word and feeling behind their statements, and that was enough to make Ventus and Goofy smile a little.

All smiles and celebrations ended very quickly though, when they all heard screaming echoing through the air nearby, and it seemed like Tarzan recognized that particular scream, because he was instantly racing back towards the camp after throwing Sabor's dead body aside. The team immediately followed him, and soon found themselves back at the camp, only to find more Heartless around the area, and no sign of Jane anywhere. While Tarzan went over to the tent to see if he could find anything that would indicate where she went, the rest of the group set to work on dealing with the monkey-like Heartless, which Jiminy had now dubbed as Powerwilds after logging some information about them in his journal. When the area had been cleared, the four soon joined Tarzan in the tent, only to find no clue as to where Jane was, at least, none that they could see.

Tarzan on the other hand did find something. "Jane, danger. Jane near…Near tree house," the ape man reported.

"Then let's go save her," Donald declared.

"Yeah," Sora nodded, and the two then lead the charge along with Tarzan out of the tent and in the direction of the tree house with Goofy hot on their heels.

Ventus would have followed after them just as quickly, but had to pause for a second when he noticed a particular page of notes among the various piles of books in the camp that seemed to stand out a little. After carefully removing the page from the pile, Ventus looked it over for a minute and let out a small gasp when he realized what it was: a page from Ansem's reports on the Heartless. Reaching this conclusion, Ventus could not help but look around to see if he could somehow spot anything that would indicate how the page had ended up all the way out in this world, even though he knew that he probably would not see anything. Once he confirmed this, Ventus quickly pocketed the page and then turned to race after the others, hoping to catch up with them before they got too far ahead, and leaving the bigger mysteries for later as he did.

* * *

Finding Jane proved to be little trouble, especially with Tarzan leading the tracking efforts, though the four were a little unsettled by how it seemed like he was tracking her by following her scent. Of course, it was not until after they found Jane and liberated her from her Heartless captors that they found out that she was not the one who was in the most danger. It turned out that shortly after they had left, Terk had come racing into the tent looking for help because the gorillas were all trapped, and she had gone to look for help, thinking that Tarzan was at the camp. Just after Terk had arrived though, Clayton came to the tent, but what had happened afterwards, Jane could not remember. They all had a pretty good idea what that meant though, and Tarzan did not hesitate to accept the team's help when they offered it. That was his family that was in danger after all, and Tarzan was willing to do anything to help them, even if it meant he would be going against the wishes and desires of some of them to help them.

With their goal now firmly set for them, they all set off for the gorilla nesting grounds as quickly as they could, with Tarzan and Terk leading the way, and they did not let anything stand in their way, be it nature or the Heartless. They did stop every now and again when they found a gorilla surrounded by Powerwilds, another variety of monkey-like Heartless that they dubbed Bouncywilds, or even just simple Shadow Heartless, but for the most part, they were racing through the jungle nonstop until they finally reached a specific part of the jungle where the gorillas were all gathered around, many cowering in fear of the various Heartless that were invading their domain. From what they could see, it seemed that Kerchak had tried to fight them off, but he had been subdued at some point earlier, and was now at the mercy of the hunter that was leading the creatures of darkness.

"NO," Sora shouted as he ran into the area, right at the moment when Ventus tossed his Keyblade at the various Powerwilds that were holding Kerchak down, freeing the large leading gorilla, while Tarzan stopped Clayton from firing his rifle by tossing his spear into the hunter's path.

"What's the big idea," Donald demanded, but Clayton did not say anything. In fact, the only thing Clayton really did was stare at the group blankly, almost like he did not really care that they were there, or like he was under some sort of trance.

"Clayton," Sora questioned, wondering if the hunter had even heard Donald.

"Not Clayton," Tarzan exclaimed. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah! Not Clayton!"

"What does he mean by that," Goofy asked.

"I think it should be obvious," Ventus said, dropping into his battle stance, Keyblade in hand and gaze fixed on Clayton, even as the air suddenly began to distort a little behind him. A minute later, a large amount of the rock wall behind Clayton suddenly broke down like something had smashed through it from the other side, and something eventually began to phase into view behind Clayton as he seemed to lift into the air, revealing what was responsible. "He's been taken over by a Heartless, and a Heartless leader at that."

No one needed Ventus to tell them that this was a Heartless leader before them, since its size was enough of a clue for them, but its appearance was certainly something to note. It held the appearance of a bipedal lizard that resembled a chameleon, with a light green upper body covered in intricate black markings, while its underbody was tan. It had claws on each of its four toes, which were divided into two in the front and two in the back on each foot and hand, along with a prehensile tail that curled up into a spiral behind it, and a white horn that rested atop its snout. With the large, yellow and orange eyes with small black pupils, and short, pointed teeth that lined its mouth, it gave off a very intimidating appearance in everyone's opinion.

"Uh Jiminy, do you have any information on this one," Sora asked as he readied his Keyblade for battle, while Donald and Goofy did the same with their staff and shield, respectively.

The cricket was already flipping through his journal by the time the question was asked, and immediately found the entry he was looking for. "Yep, this fella's called the Stealth Sneak," Jiminy read aloud. "It attacks with kicks, lunges, and can fire energy blasts from its hands and lasers from its eyes. As you've already seen, it can also camouflage itself. It'll also occasionally take on a rider as a means of extra defense, like it's doing with Clayton right now, but a good Thunder spell should allow you to be able to hit it and its rider easily. Another thing that would help is if you were to bombard it with Fire spells."

"Other than that, we should definitely avoid getting hit by anything that Clayton throws at us, unless anyone here suddenly finds getting shot at to be comforting or a healthy habit in anyway," Ventus added with a slight joke at the end, and with this new information in hand, the group was ready for the battle to begin.

At least they thought they were, until Tarzan ended up getting slammed away by the Stealth Sneak after he lunged directly at it. There was no time to check to see if the ape man was unconscious though, as the team was forced to scatter before they were hit by either the Heartless leader of the hunter who was already starting to shoot at them. They continued to evade both the Stealth Sneak and Clayton's gunfire for as long as they could, firing off whatever long-ranged attacks they had when an opportunity presented itself, until finally, Ventus and Sora saw a chance to charge in for a full-on direct assault. The former placed most of his attention on the Heartless, while the latter focused on the hunter riding it, and for a brief moment, it seemed like the two of them would be able to defeat both in one fell swoop. That was not the case, as the Stealth Sneak suddenly clapped its hands together and fired an energy blast that hit Ventus directly while Sora was blown back by the shockwave. Right when the creature was preparing to lunge directly at the Keyblade Apprentice, Donald came to the rescue with a fast-paced fire barrage that had a Blizzard spell mixed in here and there, while Goofy quickly raced over to Ventus so that he could give the master a potion or two to heal his injuries.

"Leave my friends alone, ya big gecko," Donald roared as he raised his staff up to the sky and called down a powerful Thunder spell.

That very spell zapped both the Stealth Sneak and Clayton with several volts of electricity, right to the point where they were both paralyzed where they stood, and gave Sora the chance to jump back to his feet and charge in to finish the two off. The minute he was close enough, Sora jumped into the air and swung his Keyblade downwards on the Stealth Sneak, delivering a powerful blow that was strong enough to knock the Heartless leader out of the action while Clayton was knocked off of where he had been riding it. The two were sure that had been enough to finish off the dangerous Heartless, but they were both shocked to see that it was just knocked unconscious instead of instantly disappearing like the others that they had defeated did.

"Uh, shouldn't it be disappearing now," Sora finally asked as he kept his Keyblade ready, not needing Kingdom Key to tell him that there was still danger in the area.

"Yeah, what's the big idea," Donald asked, not noticing that Clayton was taking aim at him and preparing to fire.

Thankfully, Goofy jumped in just in time to deflect Clayton's shot, saving his friend, while Ventus charged the hunter and knocked him aside with his Keyblade. This did not seem to bother Clayton too much, as he simply stumbled for a minute before absently turning back around to prepare to shoot one of the four once again. "It's Clayton," Ventus shouted as he spun his Keyblade around to deflect the gunfire that said hunter was now sending towards him. "His heart's become tied to the Stealth Sneak. If we want to stop it for good, we need to take them both down."

"Right," the other three nodded, and they all immediately raced over to help Ventus fight the hunter, but Clayton was surprisingly quick in reloading and firing his rifle at them all, and thus they were all unable to get close enough to attack him. Conjuring up a spell to use against Clayton was no easy feat either, as he would always divert his fire to whoever was trying to cast said spell the minute they were about to try.

It seemed that they would ultimately be defeated, until a familiar yell drew everyone's attention away from the fight, just in time to see Tarzan leaping towards Clayton with his spear ready. The hunter was unable to react fast enough to this surprise, and thus, Tarzan was able to land a hard kick easily, knocking Clayton into a nearby rock wall. Tarzan did not stop there though, as he quickly used his spear to knock Clayton's gun out of his hand, which he swiped out of the air and then smashed against the ground before the hunter could start to reach for it again. A solid punch was all it took after that to knock Clayton out of the fight as well, and the hunter seemed to start coming back to his senses again. Sadly, it was too little, too late, because it was at that very same moment that the Stealth Sneak was starting to rise again, only to collapse once more, and right on top of Clayton before it disappeared into the usual dark smoke that all Heartless do when they were destroyed, releasing the heart that was inside of it when it did.

Seeing Clayton meet with such a fate drew sorrowful looks from the entire group, but all the same, they knew that there was nothing they could do to change what had happened to him. After taking a moment of silence for this recent loss of life, the group turned to look around them and realized that the gorillas that they had just saved were all now looking down at them curiously, but after a minute they all noticed that they were actually giving them looks of gratitude. All except for one: Kerchak. The leader of the gorillas was actually approaching the four with an even, neutral look on his face, and Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy were all a bit uneasy about what the large gorilla would do to them. After all, even if they did come to save Kerchak's family, they were still intruding on his territory, and that is something that many animals do not normally take kindly too. When Kerchak was standing directly in front of them, he stared down at the group for a minute or so before he grabbed Sora's shoulder, lifted him up, and tossed him over the ridge that the Stealth Sneak had crashed through just moments ago, followed by Ventus, Donald, and Goofy.

All four members of the team were met with a hard landing on top of the ridge, but they were greeted by a very incredible sight after they stood up and regained their bearings. Before them was a large lake with incredible waterfalls, surrounded by more forest and cliffs that gave off the feeling of being a completely safe haven for anything that was inside of it. Looking to their left, the team could also see a cave that lead into the nearby mountain, and even from where they were standing, they could just feel like the cave was somehow much more welcoming than a dark, damp cave normally felt.

"Tarzan, home," the ape man said as he came up from behind to join them in their admiration of the view. He then waved for them to follow, and began leading everyone into the nearby cave, indicating that what he wanted them to see was inside.

* * *

After navigating through the network of caves that Tarzan had lead them to as best as they could, the team found themselves standing before a large tree that seemed to reach out from the base of the cave, through its ceiling, and into the clouds above them, while a faint blue glow, covered by several butterflies emanated from its base directly in front of them. The entire area seemed to be covered in green moss or other forms of greenery that made it a perfect resting place for anyone, and the cool air that they all felt against their skin made it all the more soothing, right to the point that some of them felt like they could just find a nice part of the cave floor to curl up on for a quick nap. Right when Jane and Terk had joined up with them, Tarzan repeated the exact same gorilla word that he had been saying to Ventus and Sora ever since he met them.

"Wait, this is your home? But that means…" Sora started to say, only to pause when Tarzan raised a hand to him asking for quiet before he placed that same hand near his ear to listen better. When they all stopped to listen, they were all shocked to hear the sounds of rushing water that could only have come from one place that they were sure had now been left well behind.

"The waterfalls…They're echoing all the way here," Jane gasped in awe.

"Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah," Tarzan said once again. "Friends there. See friends."

"Oh, now I've got it," Jane exclaimed. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah means heart. Friends in our hearts."

Tarzan immediately grunted in confirmation of this before he repeated the word, glad that he finally knew how to say the word in English, but Sora on the other hand was not so happy about this. "Oh, so that's what it meant," the boy said sadly.

"Why are you getting so down, Sora? Tarzan's teaching you an important lesson that everyone needs reminding of every now and then," Ventus revealed to the boy, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Right Tarzan?"

Tarzan grunted in reply with a nod, and then explained, "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

Ven's three traveling companions seemed to get the basics of what Tarzan was saying, but the blonde could tell that they still needed a little more than that to truly understand. "What he means is that so long as our friends remain with us in our hearts, we'll never truly be apart from them, and we'll always find our way back to each other, even if it does take a long time."

That got the point through to them, and it also got Sora and Donald to finally say what they had been trying to say to each other for hours now. "Sorry about before, Donald," Sora said.

"I'm sorry too," Donald apologized in return.

"Yeah. All for one, huh," Goofy chuckled happily as he wrapped his two friends in a group hug.

"Definitely," Ventus nodded in agreement, and he then reached into his pocket to pull out a familiar star-shaped charm, which caught Sora's attention the minute he had it in view.

"What's that," the younger Keybearer asked.

"A Wayfinder," Ventus replied. "A special kind of good luck charm. One of a set that my friend, Aqua made for our little circle of friends. I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the legend of the star-shaped fruit, since your home is where it comes from, right Sora?"

Sora immediately nodded and then recited, "When two people share one, their destinies become intertwined, and they'll remain a part of each other's lives forever."

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "But there are other legends that are connected to that same fruit, one of which actually gave Aqua the idea to make this and the other Wayfinders my friends and I carry. It's said that so long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like the fruit, nothing could ever drive you apart, and you would always find your way back to each other. Technically, you're supposed to use seashells to make them, but Aqua did the best with what she had, and I think that these are much better."

"Yeah, it seems really pretty to me," Goofy admitted, with an agreeing nod from Donald.

"Hey, I think Kairi told me something about that the day when…" Sora started to say, but he immediately trailed off when he realized where that particular statement was going and dropped his head in sadness.

Seeing his friend become depressed like that prompted Donald to walk over and say, "Hey, don't worry, Sora. We'll find them and get you all back home before you know it, just like how we'll find the king sooner or later too."

Sora smiled in response to that, and then turned back to Ventus and asked, "So if you're supposed to make those things with seashells, does that mean yours isn't a real good luck charm?"

"Oh no. It's real all right," Ventus disputed. "Just because it wasn't made the same way a Wayfinder typically is, doesn't mean the magic in it isn't real. Besides that, Aqua did work a little magic into them of her own."

"Really? What's that," Goofy asked.

Ventus just smiled as he held his charm up to the sky above them, allowing the sunlight from the roof of the cave to shine through the green stained glass of the charm, giving the illusion that it had lit up with an incredible light, and replied, "An unbreakable connection. One that guarantees that I will see all of my closest friends again one day, no matter how long it takes, and even if I lose this charm, which I don't ever plan to let happen, I know that they'll always be right here with me in my heart."

Everyone instantly smiled in response to this, happy to hear Ventus' proclamation of his belief that one day he would be reunited with his closest friends, and all feeling more assured than ever that they too would find the ones that they were looking for someday soon, even if it took forever. Despite the circumstances of their arrival, the team of four were all very glad that they came to this world, because it had given them a reminder of something very important, and reassured them that they would succeed in their mission soon enough. This lesson was one that Donald and Sora were especially glad to have received, because if they had not, they knew that there was a good chance that they probably would have spent the rest of their journey at each other's throats like they had been since they had first come into range of this world, so to hear these lessons, or rather, to be reminded of them, was something that they were both incredibly grateful for.

A minute later, a familiar ringing reached the team's ears, and they all turned to see that the butterflies at the base of the tree were quickly fluttering away to reveal the shimmering blue Keyhole of the world they were currently on, much to their surprise. After looking to Ventus for confirmation and receiving a nod in response, Sora immediately stepped forward, summoned his Keyblade, and aimed the Kingdom Key right at the center of the Keyhole, releasing a blue beam into the Keyhole the minute the Keyblade's tip was pointed directly at it. After a few seconds of the beam being streamed into the Keyhole, they all heard the sound of something being locked, and the Keyhole vanished into thin air, signifying that the world's heart was now safe from any harm that the Heartless could bring to it. Shortly after the Keyhole had disappeared though, something fell out of it that each member of the team quickly recognized.

"A gummi," Donald exclaimed.

"But it's sure not the king's," Goofy sighed, sadly.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean it can't be of some help to us in the future," Ventus pointed out, and he quickly scooped the gummi up and pocketed it. Just when he had turned around to lead the team back to Jane's camp, he soon found himself doing his best to not laugh or even smile at the sight before him.

Curious as to why his teacher was suddenly acting like that, Sora turned to where Ven was looking, and soon found himself doing the same thing, along with Goofy, because what they saw was Terk trying give Donald a big hug, much to the sorcerer's surprise and confusion. "I think someone has a new admirer," Jane teased, while Tarzan smiled in a similar manner.

That clued Donald in as to what they were all finding so funny, and he immediately jumped back a little in an attempt to dissuade the gorilla from what she was doing, all the while protesting, "No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!"

The others did nothing to help poor Donald, but mostly because they were so busy laughing at his sudden misfortune, if you wanted to call it that. Donald probably would have been mad at his friends for this, but he knew full well that every once in a while, someone needed to laugh, and just let them have their fun. He would get them back later. Maybe.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, wow! Like I said, long chapter. I know that there weren't really that many battles this time around, and the final boss fights with Clayton and the Stealth Sneak were not quite as spectacular in comparison to the fight that Ventus had with Cloud last chapter, but really, there was not that much I could do about it. Besides, the Heartless did not actually show up until well after the team had arrived in Deep Jungle in the game, so what can ya do, right?_**

 ** _Anyways, my main reason for not zeroing at this chapter is because of the lesson it teaches, and the fact that it shows that not everything was all sunshine and roses for this little crew of heroes. I mean come on, like it was ever going to be so easy for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to really become such fast friends and work together without any problems, even if it is a Disney franchise. This was proven in the game, and it's proven once again here._** ** _Of course, there was also the fact that it allowed Ventus a chance to introduce Sora to the Wayfinder that Aqua had made for him, so there's also that._**

 ** _Speaking of Ventus, we've now had Ventus explain about all the tricks and skills that he used against Cloud to Sora, along with discovering a few other unique things about his apprentice, like what happened in his Dive to the Heart, and the dreams that he and Kairi had recently had. Btw, we won't be seeing Sora getting his armor anytime soon just yet. At best, I'd say the earliest we'll see Sora getting his suit would be in the sequel to this story, but mostly because that it would allow his appearance from Keyblades of Future Past to make a comeback at last, however, we will be seeing Sora getting his Shotlocks very soon. Honestly, I was originally planning to have the first of Sora's Shotlocks be revealed in this chapter, but I felt that it would've made it get to be a little too long, and so, I decided to leave it for a specific moment in the next world our heroes go to._**

 ** _Finally, the fact that Cloud gave Sora a summon charm as opposed to how he gave you the Sonic Blade in the game. Now don't go thinking that Sora won't have the ability, because I might just have him acquire it later on, or maybe show that he had actually picked it up from just watching Cloud in that battle, but I figured that receiving that particular summon charm was a bit more significant. No, it's not the one that summons one of the two Star Wars characters on the poll, the fact that it had the picture of an animal on it should be a big indication of that, but you will find out who it summons soon enough. I won't say when though, aside from saying that the chapter we find out the answer to that is much closer down the line._**

 ** _Well with that said, if you think we're heading straight back to Traverse Town now, you've got another thing coming, because next chapter is going to be having our heroes jamming to a different tune. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team's journey continues, and leads them into another jungle, only this time, they are met with no wild men or gorillas. That doesn't mean that they aren't at least a little freaked out by the fact that there's a man leading a talking lama somewhere. With secret plots, crazy magic potions, and "secret labs" awaiting them, can the team provide the emperor-turned-lama and his traveling companion with the assistance they need, or will this Kuzco's selfishness give them reason to just say forget it and focus more on finding the world's Keyhole? Be ready to really start grooving, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, we're going to see Kuzco and the world of The Emperor's New Groove next time! Pretty sweet huh? Anyhow, don't forget to vote on the poll, and aside from that..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	9. Getting a New Groove

**_AN: Hey guys, we're getting back into the adventures of Sora and his pals with another update to my second Kingdom Hearts story!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, yeah, exciting. I know. Any-who, we're doing the entire story of a world again with this chapter, just like we did last chapter, only this time...we're heading to a world that has NOT been in any of the Kingdom Hearts games so far (At least to the best of my knowledge, and that is quite extensive). In case it wasn't clear enough after the preview in the previous chapter, we're groovin' on down to the world of... The Emperor's New Groove! Yeah, you heard me, we're going to be seeing Kuzco, Pacha, Kronk...Oh you know the guys from that movie right?_**

 ** _Ventus: Hey, do you think we could answer some reviews before we start this? Some of the ones we got after the last chapter was posted seem pretty interesting._**

 ** _AN: Don't worry, I fully intend to do just that. Let's start off with "Nerdman3000" who asked about the story we learned about in the recently released Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, namely the story that was revealed in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage. First off, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed playing that. The visual graphics, the little sneak preview of what we can now safely assume will be the game mechanics for when Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out (And let me just say that I'm excited for that trailer that's going to be coming out next month (it is currently June where I am and when I originally posted this chapter, for those of you who are reading this after the fact)), the story we uncovered...Just wow! And uh, let me just say that Aqua was incredible in multiple different ways in said story, both in terms of her character development, her show of abilities, and of course, her overall appearance. Seriously, I thought she looked hot in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, but in this newest rendition..._**

 ** _Ventus &Terra: Ahem. [looking at AN pointedly]_**

 ** _AN: Sorry, I'm off track. (Doesn't change my opinion though, or that of several other fans). Anyways, to answer the main question that was posed, that story will actually factor into this story later on down the line. Even before it was unveiled and the game was released I had intended for it to play some small part in this story, so you don't have to worry about that. Things from the original KH story will be changing in many more ways beyond just adding Ventus into the first adventure and a few more worlds and summons. You'll see what I mean soon enough._**

 ** _Goofy: Hey, didn't someone ask if we were still gonna visit Agrabah soon?_**

 ** _AN: Yes they did, thank you for that reminder, Goofy. The question that was mentioned comes from "readingchameleon", and I can confirm that yes, Agrabah will be visited soon for two reasons. One, like you said, that world is important plot-wise (which incidentally confirms that all the Princesses of Heart will remain the same. I wasn't ever planning on changing that), and two...I just really love Genie! That guy is so much fun, be it in the game or in the movies when he was voiced by Robin Williams, God rest his soul. To ask me if I was not going to include Agrabah would be the same as asking me if Genie was not going to appear here, and there was no way I was going to allow that!_**

 ** _Riku: I'm surprised that no one's asking about that summon charm that Sora got from Cloud, or even about how your little poll regarding the Star Wars summon would affect the story of the sequel, considering that..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]_**

 ** _Riku: [suddenly gets ran over by a pack of roadrunners] ...Owwww._**

 ** _AN: Not to worry everyone, no KH characters or any other variety of characters have ever been harmed in the making of this or any other story, or these author's notes. I say this only for those of you joining in on my stories for the first time and are reading author's notes like this for the first time. Anyways, I've kept you all long enough. Let's get on with the story! Pull the lever, Kronk!_**

 ** _Kronk: Uh...this lever?_**

 ** _AN: Just pull the lever._**

 ** _Kronk: [pulls one of the levers, and music starts playing]_**

 ** _Ventus: Uh...is this the theme music to Power Rangers Samurai?_**

 ** _AN: Whoops...uh, not exactly..._**

* * *

 **[cue opening theme music of Power Rangers Samurai]**

 **[0:00-0:10]: Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus each appear one by one as they summon weapons before displaying a montage of clips from their battles**

 **[0:11-0:12]: "All for one and one for all!"**

 **[0:12-0:22]: Displays each of the main characters in order as they sound off in the following order:**

 **Sora slashing through Heartless "Sora."**

 **Ventus blazing across the Olympus Coliseum stadium "Ventus."**

 **Donald blasting off-screen enemy with magic "Donald Duck."**

 **Goofy jumps in with shield forward to block an attack "Goofy."**

 **Kairi glows with a bright aura, Keyblade in hand "Kairi."**

 **[The rest of the video is basically a montage of the heroes fighting while listing Riku, Mickey, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Aerith, and Maleficent as other characters. And cue lyrics]:**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!"**

 **Na-na, wa-na-ah-ah.**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!"**

 **Na-na, wa-na-ah-ah.**

 **"Masters forever! Dual Keys stand together!"**

 **(Repeat)**

 **[Displays story title and end song]**

* * *

 ** _Sora:...what the heck the was that?_**

 ** _AN: Sorry. I've kinda had little parodies of certain Power Rangers theme songs running through my mind for these Kingdom Hearts stories. See this is what happens when you watch too many fan-made videos that set such theme songs to other franchises. Anyway, what do you guys think?_**

 ** _Everyone else: [mutters incoherently among themselves voicing nothing that is heard, be it approval or otherwise]_**

 ** _AN: Ah, whatever. Not like it matters. It's not like this is going to be anything more than a mention/joke in this story. Anyways, Kronk, please pull the other lever._**

 ** _Kronk: You know, I don't think even Yzma's ever had something like this happen to her with this gag. [pulls the other lever]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, tell me something I don't know. Moving on, go easy on me for that, it was one of my first times writing an opening sequence like that, and enjoy the show everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter VIII**

Everyone on the team was happy that they were all friends again, or to be more accurate, they were all happy that Sora and Donald had made up and were no longer fighting each other instead of the Heartless, and while their spirits were diminished by the fact that they had not found any signs of the king, Riku, or Kairi, they were still uplifted by the fact that they had sealed another world's Keyhole, ensuring its safety from the Heartless. By the time that they had gotten back to Jane's campsite, they received more good news from Chip and Dale, who reported that they had finished all repairs on the ship, which meant that it was time for the four to head out to their next destination. Sure, it was a bit of a downer to say goodbye to Tarzan and Jane, but they still had a job to do. They were more thankful that they just accepted them saying that their ship was not too far away when Jane asked where it was.

Before they departed from the campsite, Tarzan looked to the two Keybearers and said, "Sora, Ven, Tarzan, friends."

Both Keyblade Master and Apprentice nodded to Tarzan in thanks for that, but what they did not expect, was for Tarzan to walk over and hand Sora a Keychain of all things. Ventus was honestly surprised that the ape man had such a thing on him, but when he remembered how a page from Ansem's reports on the Heartless was among Jane's research notes, he figured that he probably should not have been that surprised. That, and he also remembered how Eraqus had once told him and his friends that Keychains would often end up in the strangest of places with little to no explanation, other than the possibility that the corresponding Keyblade would likely resonate with the world it ended up on in some way. Ventus informed Sora of this later on when the boy asked him about the matter back on the ship, and that served to raise Sora's levels of excitement quite a bit at the possibility of finding even more Keychains.

Seeing the kid's excitement, Ven felt the need to caution Sora against hunting for other Keychains too much, since he needed to remember that despite whatever outward appearance it would take on, Sora's Keyblade would always remain the Kingdom Key, and Sora would need to rely on its power above all else in order to truly become a Keyblade Master. Sora assured his teacher that he would remember and that he was just excited about getting some Keychains that would make Kingdom Key stronger, and seeing the honest look in Sora's eyes, Ventus could not help but accept that. Even if he did not have the heart of a Princess of Heart inside of him at the moment, there was just something about the kid that made Ven want to believe him in this regard. More than that, he had a strong feeling that Sora's desire to find other Keychains was actually shared by Kingdom Key.

Whatever the case may have been, there was another more pressing mystery that the team needed to figure out. "The gummi block that came out of the Keyhole really isn't like any of the others we have. Wonder what it's used for," Sora commented as he came up to the bridge with Ventus, after having Chip and Dale analyze the gummi block in question.

"Couldn't tell you. Most of the time, Mickey and I would get to other worlds using my Keyblade Glider or some special magic that his master had taught him how to use. We really only used the Gummi Ship as sparingly as possible, or if we felt that it was absolutely necessary," Ventus shrugged. What he did not mention was that most of the times they used the Gummi Ship was to travel to Radiant Garden after Mickey started to regularly speak with Ansem the Wise about certain projects they had undertaken, but part of that was because he really only knew about one of those projects more than any other. It was everything else that he was not entirely knowledgeable on.

"Maybe Leon'll know," Goofy offered. "I mean, he does seem to know a lot about a bunch of different things."

"He might," Donald agreed. After getting more nods in agreement with this, Donald looked to his friends once again and then asked, "So we're going back to Traverse Town, then?"

"Yep, it sure looks like it, and I doubt we really have much time to lose. Let's put the pedal to the metal," Ventus said as he moved to one of the seats on the bridge.

"Oh! I wanna be pilot," Sora suddenly exclaimed as he tried to jump into said seat.

"Hey! Stop it," Donald snapped as he raced over to what he now come to consider his seat on the bridge.

"Oh, come on! I'm a Keyblade master," Sora whined as he struggled against the duck for the pilot's seat. When Ventus coughed and gave him a small look for that declaration, Sora quickly amended, "Or…I will be."

"I don't care who you are now or in the future! No," Donald snapped.

"Here we go again," Goofy playfully moaned.

"Oh, I don't think so," Ventus stated, and he immediately jumped right in between the two, splitting them apart. "Until we finally teach Sora how to fly this thing, and until you can learn to let him and be okay with it, Donald, I'll be flying the ship!"

"But don't you need to be training Sora," Goofy asked.

"Most of the stuff I can teach him on the ship is basically the textbook material and things that involve meditating, that is unless you want us to blow up the ship by letting him practice the Command Styles or Shotlocks on board," Ventus revealed. When he received rapidly shaking heads in negative response, Ven finished, "Then unless it is important enough for me to actually leave the flying to someone else, I'll be flying the ship. Now if there's no other objections…strap in, everyone. It's time to fly."

Everyone had instantly scrambled into their seats and buckled up just before Ven took the ship out of the orbit of the world that they had all come to call Deep Jungle. They were all sure that they were likely going to fly into another battle zone while the Keyblade Master was manning the flight controls. Oddly enough, the flight remained very peaceful. Not single Heartless ship came into their path or crosshairs, and the path that they had chosen for the flight back to the world they had all first met up on was relatively easy to navigate. Donald had even taken it upon himself to joke that this route was so easy to fly that even Goofy could have handled it, a fact that Goofy did not argue with, since he was well-aware of how bad his skills at piloting the ship were. That opinion quickly changed though when they suddenly found themselves facing a rather difficult problem.

The problem in question was not the Heartless, but a meteor shower that would've done severe damage to the ship when they initially came upon it had it not been for Ven's quick reflexes kicking in and allowing the ship to go to evasive action. Once they were sure that it was okay to do so, Sora had immediately moved over to the weapons controls while Donald checked in with Chip and Dale to make sure that they had not suffered any damage at all when they came upon the meteors. Goofy quickly checked the ship's maps to see just how bad the meteor storm was, and what he reported was far from good news. In fact, it would likely have been more appropriate to call this a meteor hurricane, because space rocks of various sizes and shapes were swarming all over the path forward, and it did not seem like it was going to pass over any time too soon. Looking at his own display of the map, which Goofy had sent over to his nearby terminal after he asked, Ventus had to bite back a curse when he saw that there was no way they were going to be able to get through this storm and back to Traverse Town in one piece, even with him at the helm controls and Sora's rather impressive abilities with the weapons controls. That meant that if they wanted to get through this and still have a ship that could fly afterwards, they only had two options.

One of those options was to turn around, go back to Deep Jungle, and find another route home. The only problem with that idea was that they would be putting the meteor hurricane at their backs, and there were many times when that would end up being far worse than flying into the storm. Ventus could still remember a few times when that had happened to him and Mickey when they were coming back from Radiant Garden, and he had no desire to repeat those experiences here when they were on such an important mission. With the first option sufficiently cast aside, Ventus instantly looked to Goofy and shouted, "Find us some place where we can wait out this storm! It doesn't matter if it's an immobile meteor we can set the ship down on or if it's a world we came go into orbit around!"

"But there's no telling how long we'll have to wait before this storm passes, and we can't afford to waste too much time if we want to find any of our friends," Donald protested after he heard that plan.

"Hey, it's either that or we turn around and find a different route, and that will more than likely take even more time," Ventus argued.

Goofy had ignored Donald's protest and instantly set to work finding what Ventus had requested, and as a result, he did find something that would work the minute that the blonde had finished giving his argument. "Ven, there's a world we can safely park the ship in orbit of just a few feet ahead," Goofy revealed.

Upon locking the ship's navigation systems on the coordinates, Ven was able to spot a small, peaceful point in the meteor hurricane that they could use to get to said world, and immediately gunned the ship forward, with Sora firing the ship's weapons at any and all meteors like crazy in an effort to keep up with the blonde. This was not so easily done, as Ventus was flying like crazy to get the ship to their new destination, and when you combined that with the fact that they were still flying through a dangerous meteor storm, no matter how peaceful it was in comparison to the rest of the hurricane it was a part of, they were having anything but a peaceful ride. Then again, what do you expect the ride to be like when you are trying to fly out of a dangerous area and to a safe haven, for it to be a cake-walk? Finally, the ship came into visual range of the world that Goofy had located, and not a minute too soon, because just seconds later, the storm had picked up once again, cutting the team off from any chance of turning back. Ventus was just glad that they were now able to catch their breaths and bring the ship into an area that did not have a chance of being pounded down on by meteors.

After seeing that they were safe for the moment and bringing the ship into a stable orbit, the team looked out of the ship to see what this world that they were parked at looked like. From a distance, it actually looked pretty similar to Tarzan's world, given that much of it appeared to be a jungle, though the trees were much thicker and denser, and there was no bamboo to speak of from what they could tell. They could also see a few mountain ranges as well, but the one that stood out the most was the one at the top of the world, which had a building that looked a bit like a person's head resting atop it. The building in question also possessed a gold color to it, and from what details they could see, it was definitely of the extravagant variety, which likely meant that it was either a palace or some other similar place of importance. The final thing that the team noted was that there were a couple of different hilltops that served as the location for small villages. It seemed a bit odd to the team that people build a village on a hill, but then again, every world had its own different set of rules, so they were not going to judge.

After studying the world below them for a few more minutes, everyone finally turned to Ventus to see if he knew what this world was. When the blonde just shrugged in admittance to not knowing, they then consulted the ship's computer to see if there was a record of it on there. After searching for a few minutes, Jiminy finally found it in the database. "According to the computer, this world is known as Llama Empire. Apparently, it's placed in a much earlier age than what most of us are used to, and is ruled by a young emperor named Kuzco," the cricket reported. He then hummed in thought for a minute and added, "Well that's interesting."

"What is it, Jiminy," Donald asked.

"From what I'm reading, it looks like this emperor thinks the whole world revolves around him," Jiminy informed them, the barest hints of disgust seeping into his voice. This did not surprise most of the team, given that Jiminy was an official conscience, but they did still want some context. "He basically lives in the lap of luxury and thinks only of himself while disregarding others completely. And according to this, he's planning on having an entire village destroyed just so he can make way for his own summer home."

"That's terrible," Sora exclaimed.

"I agree. If it weren't for the fact that we can't meddle too much in the affairs of other worlds, I'd be more than happy to give him a piece of my mind," Jiminy nodded.

The others nodded in agreement with the two, and Ventus then said, "Well, you might have to do just that. If someone like that is in charge here, the Heartless might have already been lead to this world. We should get down there, find the Keyhole, and if he we have the time, straighten this Emperor Kuzco out. You all with me?"

"Yeah," the rest of the team said, and with that, they all raced over to the transporter to head down, thinking they were ready for whatever they would find down there. They did pause to make sure Chip and Dale would be able to repair whatever damage the ship had suffered on the way there, but aside from that, they had little doubt that they would be caught off guard by what this world had to offer.

* * *

After landing on the world of Llama Empire, the team had immediately found themselves in the middle of the dense jungle that they had seen from the ship, and given the fact that it was currently night time, the whole place had a rather bone-chilling atmosphere to it that left some of them feeling a little jittery. "Gawrsh, this place sure is spooky," Goofy moaned in worry. "Do ya think there might be some kind of monsters somewhere around here?"

"Aw phooey. This place isn't that scary," Donald scoffed, but they could all tell that he was just trying to put on a brave front, considering how his legs were shaking.

"Yeah, I seem to remember you saying something very similar to that in Traverse Town before Aerith scared the feathers off of you," Ventus pointed out, earning a few small chuckles at the duck's expense, along with a soft bit of grumbling from said duck. He then focused his senses for a minute and added, "Still, it is strange that I'm not sensing any Heartless at the moment, but I'm not sensing anything else either. What about you, Sora?"

The boy did the same as his teacher, but it did take him a few more minutes to do so since he was still new to the matter of sensing other beings based on the light and darkness in their hearts. Eventually he finally reported, "No, I don't sense anything either. Maybe there just isn't anyone out here."

The sound of someone yelling quickly proved that theory wrong, and the four were immediately racing off in the direction that said cries had come from as fast as they could, all fears and concerns about what may have been hiding in the shadows forgotten. When they were getting closer to where they thought the screams had come from, they started to hear the sounds of rushing water, and instantly spotted a huge water fall that likely had sharp rocks at the bottom. The small riverbed it lead out into was soon becoming filled with pieces of broken wood, and they quickly spotted a man surfacing from the water a little while later, dragging a llama with black and reddish-brown fur onto the shore. The man in question was rather large, had black hair, and wore brown pants and what looked like a green poncho, while a brown cloth adorned his head like a hat. From what the group could tell, the man was trying desperately to save the lama, and it was not going well.

Seeing that there could be a problem, the four rushed over to offer their assistance, but the minute that the man laid eyes on Donald and Goofy, he immediately freaked out and started backing away. "Demon duck and demon dog," the man shouted.

"Where," the group exclaimed in equal panic, all readying their weapons for action. When they saw nothing anywhere around them, they quickly figured out he was referring to the two anthropomorphic animal members of the team and dismissed their respective weapons in an effort to calm the man down.

"Sir, please. Just relax. They may be a duck and a dog, but they are definitely not demons," Ventus reassured the man. "We're all friends here. My name's Ventus, and this is my apprentice Sora, and our friends Donald and Goofy."

"Um, Pacha," the man nervously said after a minute. He then remembered what he was doing before and scrambled back over to the llama. "Hey, he's not breathing! Please tell me you can help."

"I've got it," Donald replied as he brought his staff out again. With a simple wave of his staff, accompanied by the name of a healing spell, a green glow shone down over the llama, and it was soon coughing up water as he stirred back into consciousness.

"Hey, you okay, little guy," Sora asked as he brushed the llama's mane in an attempt to keep him calm. He was not prepared for the response that he received though.

"No touchy," the llama groaned, startling all four of the people who were not native to this world.

"He talks," Donald exclaimed.

"Again, you are aware of the irony behind you saying that, right," Ventus asked, only earning a blank look in response.

Like Pacha, the llama freaked out over both hearing Donald speak, and seeing both the sorcerer and the knight of Disney Castle. What came as a shock though, was that he tried to stand up on his hind legs and run away like he was a human being, only to fall over on his face and crash into a nearby tree. "Oh come on! I can't take much more of this," the lama groaned. "First I get turned into a llama, kidnapped from the palace, chased by jaguars, tied up to a long, sent careening down a river uncontrollably, thrown over a waterfall, and now this?! When is this nightmare going to stop?!"

The four looked at the llama in confusion for a minute, barely understanding most of what he was going on about, before they turned to Pacha, silently asking for answers. "He's had a hard day, which has also made it a hard day for me. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," Pacha explained.

"I don't know. We've seen some pretty unbelievable things and can do stuff that's equally hard to believe. So, try us," Ventus offered.

"Wait, hold up a minute. Who are these guys," the llama asked Pacha.

"They said their names are Donald, Goofy, Sora, and Ventus," Pacha replied, pointing to each member of the group as he repeated the earlier introductions for them, getting a nod from each person to show he had gotten it right.

"You can just call me Ven," the blonde of the group said.

"Good to know," the llama replied. "Anyway, if we're done, I need to get back to the palace so I can have Yzma change me back."

"Maybe you shouldn't go there. We heard that the emperor isn't very nice to other people," Goofy cautioned.

"And is really greedy," Donald added, earning some knowing smiles from Goofy and Ventus when he did.

Those looks earned the two a glare from Donald, but before he could retort, the llama suddenly said, "Hey, I'm nice! Besides, everyone in the kingdom is happy to cater to my every whim. Well, everyone but Pooka here."

"It's Pacha," the large man corrected, but the others were more hung up on what the lama had said.

"You're the emperor," the four exclaimed.

"Yeah. Of course I'm Emperor Kuzco. Who'd you think you were talking to," the now identified llama asked.

"A talking llama," Sora deadpanned.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, that's something of a long story that you can thank him for," Kuzco said, indicating Pacha with a small glare.

Pacha just sighed in defeat, clearly not wanting to put up with Kuzco's wild stories and attitude any longer, and looked back to the team as he explained. "See, Kuzco here was somehow turned into a llama and ended up on the back of my cart as I was returning home to my village. He doesn't remember how it happened, but he thinks that by getting back to the palace, he can have his advisor change him back to human with a snap of his fingers, which are now hooves."

"So why does he need your help getting back," Ventus asked.

"Because he doesn't know how to get there from where we are now," was the simple reply.

"I do so! I just want to make sure that my innate sense of direction is completely accurate, and that I'm going the quickest way," Kuzco argued. He was ignored though, something that clearly did not sit right with the emperor-turned-lama.

"Well why can't you show him how to get home? If that is the only way he can be changed back, it only seems fair that you help him out, even if he isn't the nicest person out there," Sora asked.

"Because I can't let him go back unless he agrees to build his summer home somewhere else," Pacha stated with his arms crossed.

"What does that have to do with anything," Donald questioned, voicing the entire team's confusion.

"Oh because I'm planning on building Kuzcotopia where his house is after I destroy both it and his village. It'll even have a waterslide," Kuzco answered like it was no big deal, though his tone did turn a little more excited at the end. "Pretty great, huh? It's my birthday gift to me!" When he actually looked at the team's expressions though, he did not see any that agreed with him. Instead, they were all just glaring at him disapprovingly. "What?"

"You really don't see the problem with forcing an entire village of people out of their homes just so you can have a summer house," Sora asked.

"Uh, maybe you weren't paying attention, but it's a summer house with a waterslide," Kuzco pointed out. "You know, you look like you spend a lot of time getting some sun or something. Can you really tell me that doesn't sound awesome?"

"I prefer going to the beach, and going to places that weren't made by forcing people out of their homes," Sora evenly replied.

Before anyone could go any further, Donald suddenly squawked in fright, drawing everyone's attention away from the llama, and right onto the shadowy forms of the Heartless springing up from the ground to surround them. No one needed any prompting to do anything, as Pacha and Kuzco already ran for cover, while the other four readied their weapons for battle. Thankfully, this particular swarm of Heartless was nothing too big to deal with; mostly just some Shadows and Soldiers, with some Powerwilds and a few, female versions of the monkey-like Heartless that Jiminy quickly dubbed as Bouncywilds popping up here and there. The former two that the group had long since gotten used to dealing with were not too difficult to handle, but the two monkey varieties were a bit more difficult, given that they were clearly more agile and powerful than the Shadows and Soldiers. Combine that with the fact that the Bouncywilds tended to fight at a distance, and it was a bit challenging to deal with them at times when Donald and the two Keybearers did not have enough energy to cast magic spells in order to destroy them.

At one point, the two monkey-like creatures of darkness got on his nerves so much that Ventus resorted to using a pair of Shotlocks in order to get rid of them. The first he unleashed was the Meteor Shotlock he had used against Cloud, and as a result, the entire area of the jungle was lit up by the lights of the star-like projectiles. There were still some monkey-like Heartless left afterwards, but Ventus still had a few tricks up his sleeve, which he proved by unleashing one of his personal Shotlocks. Upon leaping up into the air, Ven unleashed a wave of energy blasts from his Keyblade that quickly bombarded the Heartless with a series of small explosions. The thing that made the final blow was when Ventus unleashed one final Shotlock on the remaining Heartless. Instead of firing off any kind of blasts, Ventus this time used a Shotlock that allowed him to quickly rush forward and release a more up-close attack, one that allowed him to unleash a barrage of attacks utilizing blades of energy. When he finally came to a halt in the center of the remaining Heartless, he jumped into the air and began rapidly spinning around, conjuring up a powerful whirlwind that seemed to be filled with stars, which continued to bombard the remaining creatures of darkness until they had all burst into their usual plumes of dark smoke.

Seeing his teacher do all of this had left Sora in awe once again, as Ventus had proven just how great a warrior he really was. More than that, Ventus had also shown various displays of patience and wisdom along with his skill and power as a swordsman, and as such, Sora could not help but wish that the day when he became a Keyblade Master would hurry up and come soon. When that day came, he figured he would be just as awesome and powerful as his teacher, but that ended up becoming a much more sobering thought than he had expected it to be. Ventus had experienced so much in his time as a Keyblade wielder, even before he became a master, which the blonde had indicated many times before now, and even through all of that, he was able to acquire a great deal of abilities that were unlike anything Sora had ever imagined were possible for anyone to obtain. Realizing this, Sora could not help but wonder if it was even possible for him to become just like Ventus, especially with his current rate of progress. He was still learning how to master the basic Command Styles, after all, and when you added in the fact that he still had not discovered any of his Shotlocks or his Unique Tier One Command Style, you could see why Sora was currently lacking some self-confidence in his abilities at the moment.

He put that aside for now though, as he noticed that the battle was over, and Ventus was approaching him as he dismissed his Keyblade. "So Sora, what did you think of my personal Shotlocks, Pulse Bomb and Multivortex? Just as cool as the first one you saw me use, or better," the blonde asked, clearly expecting Sora to start geeking out like he had after the first time he had seen Ventus use said ability.

"Yeah, they're definitely just as cool. Better since they're your own," Sora nodded, simply, though his smile did not quite make it all the way to his entire face.

It was definitely apparent to Ventus, and the response that his apprentice gave him was a far cry from what he had expected. If anything, he had expected Sora to start off by acting like an excited kid who had just woken up on Christmas morning, and then go on to whine a little about how he wished he could hurry up and learn his own Shotlocks so that he could do stuff that was just as cool. This much more subdued response was definitely not that at all. Taking a quick study of his apprentice's face and posture, Ventus was also able to see that there were a few other things about Sora that seemed a bit out of character for the kid. He was not really carrying himself as confidently as he normally did at the moment, and his usual child-like levels of excitement had apparently dimmed a little bit, even if they were still there. Aside from that, Sora seemed somewhat like his usual self, but that did not mean that Ventus was any less concerned about this sudden shift in mood his apprentice had taken on.

He was just about to call the boy out on it when Kuzco and Pacha came back over from where they had been hiding, and the llama asked, "What were those things? How'd you guys do all of that? Are you like some kind of sorcerers or something?"

"Well Donald is," Goofy admitted.

"The rest of us are really just uniquely gifted fighters with special abilities," Ventus finished for the rest of the team.

"Well then why am I sticking with Pacha in an attempt to get back to the palace? You and your little pals could get me back easily without any problems at all, Ben," Kuzco stated.

"First off, it's Ven. Second, we're not helping you either, Kuzco," the blonde replied.

"What? Why not," Kuzco asked.

"Because we know that once you get back, you'll just destroy Pacha's home for your summer house," Sora reminded the emperor.

"Besides, maybe if you really looked, you could find a better place to build it and leave Pacha's home alone," Goofy offered.

"And why would I do that," Kuzco asked, earning a few barely suppressed groans of irritation from the others.

"Because deep down, you must realize that doing that would mean that you're forcing people out of their homes just so you can build a place that'll be filled with stuff for you," Jiminy said, hopping out of Sora's pocket so that he could make himself known. Thankfully, Pacha and Kuzco did not freak out over the cricket's appearance. They were now starting to find that very little about these strangers was going to be what they were used to.

Still, that did not stop them from asking the obvious question. "Who're you," Pacha asked.

"Oh, sorry. Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service. Royal Chronicler for Disney Castle, and official conscience. Back to what I was saying though, you do realize what doing all of what you're planning to do to Pacha's village is, right?"

"It's…bad," Kuzco asked, as if the idea was completely foreign to him.

"Well, yeah. I mean, nobody's that heartless," Pacha laughed in good humor.

"I'd beg to differ," Ventus quietly murmured as his mind wandered back to a certain, disgraced Keyblade Master, along with a particular evil fairy that he had once encountered a long time ago.

Kuzco was silent for a minute, and everyone was thinking that meant he was mulling their words over. That hope was dashed when the emperor-turned-lama just shrugged and said, "Now take me back."

"We're not taking you back," Sora and Ven both repeated. The latter of the two then added, "Besides, we're new in the area, so we don't even know how to get there."

Kuzco deflated a little, but only after he heard that second part, and Jiminy saw this as an opportunity to step up again. "There, you see what all that selfishness gets you? Even when you don't do anything, every action and every choice has a consequence to it, and when it comes to the bad choices, the consequences that follow are always going to come back to bite to you. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole mess you're in was the result of something that you did to someone else earlier."

"Hey, I never did anything! I'm the victim here," Kuzco protested.

"You know what? Someday you're going to end up all alone, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself," Pacha tried to warn Kuzco.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Jiminy nodded. "Well, I would have added that it would be because of that attitude of his, but the point remains the same."

Kuzco seemed to think about this for a second or so, running the two's words through his mind, but it in the end, he just brushed it off as nothing important. "Thanks for that. Like I'm really going to take advice from a whiny peasant and a cricket," the lama scoffed. "Now for the final time, I order you all to help me get back to the palace."

The others just stood there, staring at him in silent disbelief that the guy was actually ignoring everything they just said, until Pacha finally said, "Looks like you're stuck out here, because unless you change your mind, I'm not taking you back."

"And we're not really going to be of any help to you even if we wanted to be, because again, we're new to the area and we don't know how to get to the palace," Ventus added. He then turned away from Kuzco, who simply trotted off to the side so he could get some sleep, and faced his friends as he said, "All right, there might still be some Heartless in the area, and since it is late, we should expect them to be out in droves. After all, creatures of darkness are drawn to dark places, and there are plenty of those at night."

"So we should do some patrols to make sure that Kuzco and Pacha stay safe, right," Goofy asked.

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "Goofy, you and Donald head over that way and keep an eye on things there. Call out if you find anything. Sora and I will take the opposite side of this impromptu camp. I'll check in with Chip and Dale to see if that meteor hurricane has passed yet while we're looking."

Everyone but Sora nodded in agreement with this. "Actually Ven, could I work with Goofy instead," the boy asked, surprising everyone on the team.

Ventus just looked at Sora for a minute before he said, "Normally I would say yes, but this would also serve as a great time to work on your training. We have to take advantage of every moment we have, Sora. You know that."

"Oh. Right," Sora nodded in remembrance, and with that, the two groups split up to carry out their separate objectives. Though the other three did so while they let their concerns for Sora filter into their minds, Donald and Goofy were both sure that Ventus would be able to either get to the bottom of the mystery, or help take Sora's mind off it by helping the kid to learn something special with their impromptu training session.

* * *

Ventus and Sora had gone a pretty decent way out from where Kuzco and Pacha had set up camp, and they did not have to guess to know that Goofy and Donald were much farther from them by now since they had gone in the opposite direction, so naturally, Ventus was able to focus on effectively training Sora without worrying about someone overhearing anything they would say every two minutes. Then again, training Sora was not really going that easily even without that concern on his mind. The boy's mind was completely occupied on whatever was bothering him, and it was causing him to slip up in several different areas of his training, some of which he had already pretty much mastered, or at least come close to mastering. Most of the time it was not too noticeable, but when the latter of those two things did occur, one would have to have been blind or not known about Sora's training at all to not realize something was really wrong with the kid. It did not affect how he fought when the two Keybearers encountered some Heartless to any great degree, but Ventus did find himself having to jump in and save Sora on more than one occasion. More than that, he could tell that somehow, whatever was bothering Sora was also affecting the Kingdom Key, because there were also a few times when the Keyblade should have been able to save Sora without Ven's intervention, and yet it did not. That added detail only made Ventus's concern rise even more than already had, and made it clear that he needed to deal with whatever Sora's problem was as quickly as possible.

It was not until they found a break from fighting Heartless that Ven finally got the chance to address the matter. To be more accurate though, it was during such a break that Ventus decided to get to the bottom of things, because they had used that time to go over the basic stances and fighting forms that were associated with the Keyblade and Sora had not been executing any of them effectively. To make matters worse, it did not seem like he was even able to use any of the forms that would have been associated with his own, personally developed fighting style, and that was what finally did it for the blonde. "All right, Sora. What's going on with you," Ventus asked after Sora fumbled one last practice swing with his Keyblade.

"What do you mean," Sora asked, trying to play it off like he did not know what Ven was talking about.

Ventus was not going to have any of that though. "Sora, I can tell that something's been bothering you for a while now, and it's starting to affect your training a bit. You know you can tell me whatever's wrong, right? After all, I'm not just your teacher, I'm your friend too."

He did not seem too reassured by Ven's words, because Sora was still hesitant to open up and say what was wrong. That prompted a few added words of wisdom from the cricket who had taken to riding in his jacket's hood or pocket. "Sora, we all want to make sure that you're okay and safe. You really should tell us if something's on your mind that's making you upset," Jiminy advised.

That got Sora to finally cave in and admit what was bothering him. "It's just…after that last fight, and all the other fights we've been in lately, I've started wonder if I really could be a Keyblade Master. I mean, you've got all of these amazing abilities and talents, and I'm still struggling to master using the general Command Styles at will instead of just in the heat of a moment, never mind the fact that I haven't even figured out what my own Unique style is or what my Shotlocks are."

"Hey, you shouldn't let that get you down. To quote an old proverb I once heard back in Disney Town, no castle was ever built in a day. You'll get there in time. You just need to be patient and not lose confidence, and always believe that you will," Ventus reassured him.

"Do you really think so? I mean, what if I'm never able to be as great as you are," Sora asked, his true concerns starting to shine through.

Now Ventus was confused. "What do you mean? Why should it matter whether or not you're as good as I am?"

"Well…you've got plenty of experience and power behind everything you do, and you've also done so much in your time as a Keyblade Wielder. You even admitted to doing a lot of cool things before you became a master, so what chance do I have of being that good if I couldn't even save my home or my friends," Sora explained, questioningly.

Ventus just stared at Sora for a minute, letting that run through his mind. Eventually, he asked, "You mean to tell me that you're worried about your progress…because you don't think you're ever going to be like me?" When Sora slowly nodded in reply, Ventus found he could not say anything for a minute. After that minute had passed though, Ven could not help but start laughing a little, startling Sora and Jiminy. "Sora, I may be good, but I'm certainly not the greatest. To be honest, there are days when wish I was more like Aqua, King Mickey, or even…someone who is actually a lot like you," Ventus admitted.

"What? Why," Sora asked.

"Everyone has a role model they wish to be like, and that's a good thing to have, but at the same time, if we start to compare ourselves to them too much, we start to lose sight of something really simple: that we are _not_ them. You can't ever be exactly as strong or as good as I am, and you shouldn't try to be. At the end of the day, you're not me. You're you, Sora, and you should never let anyone tell you that you're someone else, be it in comparison or otherwise. Don't train to become a Keyblade Master like me, or the king, or anyone else. You just become a Keyblade Master like Sora."

The two fell into silence, letting this bit of wisdom sit in the air for a moment while Sora let it sink in. Of course, Ven had a hard time telling whether or not the kid was actually going to take to his words to heart right now, but then again, he remembered having to learn a similar lesson not that long ago as well. Even now, he was still having to remind himself of this same lesson. Everyone always had an easy time asking themselves what someone else would do, especially when the person in question was someone they held in some form of high regards, so trying to figure out how they themselves would handle things would be very hard, and that was especially so in Ventus's case since he spent the longest time asking himself what his friends would do in his position. That was why there were still times he struggled to remember this lesson, especially before he began one of Sora's lessons. He could only hope that Sora would be able to learn this little piece of wisdom better than he had ever managed to.

In the end, they never really managed to get a firm idea on whether or not the matter had sunk in for Sora, because they soon heard what sounded like Donald and Goofy screaming out for them about a huge problem. That got them to table everything for the moment and race back to camp, where they saw Goofy waving them over while Donald was trying to rouse an unconscious Pacha. Seeing their newest friend knocked out while Kuzco was nowhere to be found instantly set off warning bells for the three, and it was only natural that Ventus ask the obvious question first.

"What happened here," the blonde requested.

"Kuzco knocked out Pacha and took off right after he told us how to get back to the palace," Donald exclaimed as Pacha started to come around.

"What? Why would he do that," Sora asked, though it was hard to really know if he was referring to Pacha telling Kuzco how to get home, or Kuzco knocking out Pacha.

Whatever the case, Goofy answered both questions easily. "Because me and Donald found out that Kuzco's advisor and her assistant are trying to kill him!"

While that did answer Sora's question, it also left the other three of the team feeling very lost. Naturally, that meant that they needed to ask Goofy to back up and explain what happened from the beginning, and the captain of Disney Castle's royal knights was happy to do just that. "Me and Donald had been fighting a few Heartless every now and then without any problems, when we happened upon someone's campsite. We didn't think it was a big deal, until we heard them say something about a talking lama, and we decided to ears-drop."

"Eavesdrop," Donald corrected.

"Yeah, that, and we didn't hear anything good…"

* * *

 _While Donald and Goofy were crouched in the bushes, they watched as a rather old, scary-looking woman glared at a man was clearly larger than her in both height and muscle mass while she scolded him out, indicating who was in charge of whom as she did. "Honestly, how hard is it to track down one_ talking _llama? We've been going around in circles for hours. That's the last time we take directions from a squirrel," the woman griped._

 _"Well hey, Bucky did his best to point us in the right direction. You can't really fault him for not knowing exactly where he would end up, Yzma," the big guy calmly defended, almost as though he was completely ignorant of the how upset the woman was._

 _Yzma only growled in irritation in response before she said, "This whole mess is all your fault, Kronk!"_

 _"What did I do," Kronk questioned in confusion._

 _"If you hadn't mixed up those poisons, Kuzco would be dead now, and I wouldn't be worrying about keeping my hold as empress. There will be no more distractions until we track that llama down and kill him," Yzma stated, making Donald and Goofy both let out shocked gasps in response. Of course, they did forgot to keep said gasps quiet, but quickly ducked out of sight as the two turned to look in their direction and every other which way for the source of the sound. "What was that?"_

 _"I think it might've been an animal or something. It sounded a lot like a duck and a dog," Kronk shrugged._

 _"Eh, whatever. Back on track, Kuzco must be eliminated. The empire will finally be rid of that useless brat," Yzma snarled, and she then turned to move along down the path._

 _"Well you've got a point. Nobody seems to care that he's gone, do they," Kronk shrugged as he followed after Yzma, neither of them ever noticing Donald and Goofy racing back to where Kuzco and Pacha had set up camp._

 _"Kuzco! Pacha! We've got a big problem," Goofy hollered, drawing the two's attention._

 _"Well can it wait until morning," Kuzco yawned._

 _"No it can't! There are a couple of bad people looking for you, Kuzco," Donald stated._

 _"Yeah, a big guy and a skinny old lady," Goofy added._

 _"Wait. Was this woman scary beyond all reason," Kuzco asked._

 _"Oh yeah," Donald moaned._

 _"That's Yzma and Kronk! I'm saved," Kuzco exclaimed. "They'll take me back to the palace and change me back!"_

 _"No they won't! We heard them say that they wanted to kill you," Donald warned._

 _"Why would they want to do that? Their whole world revolves around me," Kuzco scoffed._

 _"I don't know. We heard Yzma say something about Kronk mixing up potions and that you woulda been dead now if he hadn't," Goofy informed the emperor._

 _"Maybe it would be a good idea to avoid them, and if they are after Kuzco, then we should head back to the palace now while they aren't there," Pacha admitted._

 _Kuzco just looked at Pacha in disbelief, wondering why he was suggesting that, until realization seemed to dawn on his face, but it was not the realization that the other three were hoping for. "Oh I get it. You made it clear you don't want to take me back, and you're just saying you're going to now so you can make sure that I stay stranded out here forever."_

 _"Will you just listen to us," Pacha growled._

 _"No, you listen to me. All you care about is your…your stupid hilltop. You don't care about me, so just get out of here," Kuzco growled in response._

 _Pacha seemed a little hurt by that at first, but he shook it aside and said, "No. If those two are trying to kill you, then I'm not leaving you out here by yourself where they could find you." He then looked to the other two and said, "Now the palace is just down that pathway there and across a bridge. If we leave now, we can be back to the palace before sunrise, find the lab, and turn Kuzco back into a human."_

 _"Maybe we oughta wait for Sora and Ven, first. They'll need to know about this too, and they're the only ones who can really deal with the Heartless," Goofy pointed out._

 _Apparently, Donald agreed with this, because he immediately started shouting out the two Keybearers' names, while Kuzco just looked at the three in surprise. Despite what he had just said, they were still staying to help him. After a minute or so, Kuzco looked over at the path that Pacha indicated earlier, then back to the three, and finally asked, "So we just have to go down that path and across a bridge to get to the palace?"_

 _"Yeah. That's the quickest way there, and it's a straight shot the entire way," Pacha nodded. "Don't worry, we'll get you back there and reveal what Yzma's done to everyone in the kingdom before you know it."_

 _Kuzco nodded in response to that, and then slammed a hoof into Pacha's stomach, followed by one to his head, knocking the big man out, and startling Donald and Goofy once they realized what had happened. They would have said something to Kuzco, but he had already run off down the path as fast as he could, leaving them to tend to Pacha while they continued shouting out for Sora and Ven. Though as he kept calling out for his other friends, Goofy could have sworn that he saw Kuzco looking back at them with a sad look in his eyes._

* * *

When Goofy finished recounting the tale, Sora and Ventus were not sure what to think. On one hand, it really seemed like Kuzco did not believe them at all, and was now heading back to the palace to do as he had originally planned, but on the other hand, if Goofy really had seen Kuzco looking back at them in the way that he was said to have, then maybe there was something else going on behind the emperor's last actions before his departure. Whatever the case may have been, it did not matter right then, because they had bigger problems at the moment. "We need to hurry back to the palace before Yzma and Kronk turn around and find Kuzco when they get there. If they are after Kuzco, then there's no telling what might happen if they find him in the palace," Ventus stated.

"Yeah, and besides, what if someone in the palace sees Kuzco and makes the same mistake that we did about him just being a lama, never mind being a talking llama? They might end up hurting him without realizing who he is," Sora added.

"Well we'd better hurry. There's no telling how far behind us or Kuzco those other two might be," Pacha grunted as he stood up.

"Are you sure you're okay to travel, Pacha," Goofy asked in concern.

"I'll be fine. I've taken harder hits than that tending to some of the actual llamas in the empire," Pacha waved off.

"Then let's get going," Ventus nodded, and he immediately led the group off down the path that Kuzco had previously gone down, hoping that they would be able to get there before Yzma and Kronk did, or before something happened to Kuzco.

* * *

Kuzco had not been running for very long after he left Pacha and the others, mostly because he had managed to get back to the city in almost no time at all, just like Pacha said he would be able to, but right now, a part of him almost wished he had not. Just seconds after getting into the city, Kuzco found out that Yzma and Kronk had in fact told everyone he was dead, practically proving that Donald and Goofy were telling the truth about how Yzma wanted to kill him. I mean, it might have been a little strange to think that was proof of the fact, but then again, considering that he had barely been gone for more than a day or two at best and no one had sent out a search party, it was the only thing that made sense. Despite how disheartening this was, that was not what left him feeling the most upset though.

Everywhere he went, he saw absolutely no sign of anyone who seemed to care about whether or not he was so much as missing, let alone dead, and instead, they were all busy redesigning the place so that it was more themed towards Yzma's likeness instead of his (A scary concept alone to be certain, never mind the actual sight of it). Not one person was crying about how much they missed Emperor Kuzco, or even changed something about their daily lives just to show some form of passing respect to the "late" emperor. It was almost like they did not care. At least, that would be the case if he had not heard a few people talking about how they were actually _glad_ to be rid of the "spoiled brat who was previously running the kingdom." Kuzco could hardly believe it, and that was when he realized that maybe the others were right in calling him selfish before. He was actually prepared to leave the city so that he could live out the rest of his days as a llama forever, when he saw something he did not expect.

There, running up the path towards him, was Pacha, Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy, and they all had worried expressions on their faces. Those worried looks practically evaporated in seconds when they spotted him, and became replaced with ones of smiling relief that never faded, even after they came to a stop in front of him. "Glad to see you're okay, Kuzco," Ven told the rightful emperor.

Even though he shared his master's sentiment, Sora could not help but notice that Kuzco seemed a little down about something, despite Ven's words. "Hey, _are_ you okay? You look kind of upset about something," the Keyblade apprentice asked.

Kuzco sighed as he found a patch of grass on the side of the road to plop down on, and explained, "No, not really. You guys were right. I wasn't the victim here. I let my status as emperor consume me and led others to practically despise me because of my attitude. Now that I'm gone, nobody cares about me at all."

"Maybe if you were a little less greedy, that wouldn't have been the case," Donald scolded, only to receive reproachful looks from his friends in response. Each of which silently said that now was not the time for that.

"Well, don't you have any friends who are worried about you," Sora asked.

Kuzco just scoffed in reply. "I figured my only friends besides me were the people in the palace, and they're all busily redesigning the place to Empress Yzma's desires. I guess the only friend I ever really had was me. No one ever really cared about me for me before. Well, until I met you guys."

"That must be why you knocked out Pacha earlier," Goofy exclaimed, excitedly. "You thought that if what me and Donald were saying was true, then you wouldn't want any of us to get hurt because we're the first real friends you've ever had, right?"

Kuzco was silent for a minute, wondering if that was the case. True, Pacha would only have taken him back to the palace if he agreed to build his summer home somewhere else, but the fact that Pacha was actually standing up to him like that was something that Kuzco had never really had dealt with before. Add in the fact that Pacha had tried to warn him to not go into the jungle by himself, and then saved him from both the jaguars that had been chasing him and from drowning without expecting any kind of reward in return, and Kuzco could see why Goofy would be thinking that. To be honest, while Kuzco mainly thought Pacha had only did that because he was the emperor, a small part of him was hoping that the big villager had done all of that because he really did care about Kuzco's wellbeing.

Looking to Pacha, Kuzco was not really sure what to say now, even though Pacha was smiling at him, but he felt that he had to say something to him. Just as he was starting to stutter it out though, Pacha just raised a hand for silence, and then asked, "So, you tired of being a llama?"

Kuzco could only sniffle for a minute before he burst out crying and sobbed, "Yes!"

"Then let's get you to the palace so we can change you back," Ventus offered.

Kuzco's sobbing came to an abrupt halt at that, and he asked, "Wait. You mean, you guys are going to help me, even after everything I've said and done?"

"Well of course we are," Jiminy said as he jumped up onto Sora's shoulder. "After all, that's what real friends do. They help each other out when they need it, even if it's just by being there for one another. Besides, I think that maybe this will end up being a big help to you later on, right?"

Kuzco looked down in thought for a minute before he finally said, "Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right about that."

"Then let's hurry up and get to the palace before Yzma and Kronk turn around start coming back," Sora exclaimed, and with that, the group was immediately making a beeline towards the palace, at least until Kuzco shouted for them to stop.

"There's no way we're going to get in through the front entrance, but we can get in through the door that Yzma and a lot of the servants use," Kuzco offered, and the team all agreed to that idea and started following after him as he lead the way to said entrance.

* * *

A few hours later, the team had made it into the chamber where they would find the entrance to Yzma's secret lab, and they quickly began looking around for said entrance, as well as a way to open it. They did not look for long though, as Kuzco already knew where it was, and he proved this by pointing out the gargoyle with two large teeth and saying that the entrance was behind that, and that said teeth were actually levers to open the entrance. The only catch was that they would have to go in two at a time, and that he did not remember which tooth it was that they needed to pull so, Ventus and Sora volunteered to go first just in case the thing was rigged with any traps. When they were all set, Sora at the tooth he believed to be the lever and Ventus next to him, Ven looked to his apprentice and said, "Pull the lever, Sora." The boy then pulled down on the tooth, and while it was a lever, it ended up not being the right one as a trap door opened up underneath Ven's feet, leading the blonde to drop down as he shouted, "WRONG LEVER!"

"Whoops," Sora muttered, while everyone else looked down the trap door in a futile attempt to see if Ven was all right, even after they heard a faint splash.

"Do you think Ven's okay," Donald asked, worriedly.

"Give it a minute," Kuzco advised, and much to their surprise, a door slid open a few feet away, admitting a drenched Ventus and a crocodile whose mouth was latched onto the back of his jacket. Everyone stared at this odd sight for a minute before glancing back to Kuzco to silently ask the obvious question, to which the llama emperor just sheepishly shrugged and said, "Sorry, but I guess I forgot that there actually were two levers. One that leads to the secret lab, and one that…well, you know."

"Okay, why does she even _have_ that lever," Ventus grumbled as he knocked the crocodile off with his Keyblade, causing it to yelp in surprise and then scamper away.

"Sorry Ven," Sora apologized, looking a lot more down now than he had a little while before.

Ventus knew that this recent mistake was likely making Sora think back to what he was feeling earlier, and he was not about to have him beat himself up over a simple mistake. "Hey, it wasn't your fault, Sora. It's Yzma's for making the thing like this," Ventus reassured the kid with a pat on the shoulder. "Just forget about it and pull the other lever this time."

Sora nodded in response and did as asked, and the next thing they knew, they were catapulted into a car that looked a lot like something that was in a theme park attraction. When they were in, the bar in front of them snapped down, and they then heard an electronic voice asking them to remain seated and keep their arms and legs in at all times just seconds before they started moving forward and down a steep drop at high speeds, proving that they were indeed on a roller coaster. The minute that their unexpected ride started, they did the one thing you would always expect someone to do when they end up on a roller coaster: they screamed in both fright and excitement, even going so far as to throw their hands up in the air as they went down. When the ride came to an abrupt halt, they were then sent flying out of their seat and down to solid ground, not noticing that they had somehow been thrown into lab outfits somewhere in between until after they touched down.

"Well…that was unexpected," Ventus admitted.

"And kind of fun too," Sora nodded with a grin, all signs of doubt and depression now gone after that bit of fun. His smile was soon gone again though, but mostly because of the fact that Donald and Goofy came down next, and landed right on top of both him and Ventus. After groaning in pain for a minute, Sora noticed that Donald's feathers were a bit damp and could not help but ask, "Uh Donald, why are you all wet?"

"Goofy pulled the wrong lever when he tripped going over to the gargoyle," Donald grumbled.

"Uh fellas, maybe we should move before Pacha and Kuzco come down," Goofy suggested, and no one needed to voice an agreement before they scrambled to move out of the way, casting off their unexpected wardrobe change as they went. A minute later, the last two landed in the lab with them, but in lab outfits that were clearly the wrong size for both of them, and after Pacha and Kuzco removed said outfits, they all set to work searching the lab for the potion that they needed to change Kuzco back to normal. There was just one problem: they had no idea what said potion looked like, and a good majority of the ones they did find all looked the same, except for the sloppy labels. Kuzco was not that much help in finding it either since he did not know what their objective looked like either, so they could do nothing more than just keep looking through the ones that were present on the lab tables as fast as they could. After a while, it started to get irritating, as evidenced after Sora had set down yet another potion that was not the one they were looking for with a tired sigh, but after doing so, something else caught his eye. Something that he was not expecting to see at all.

There, standing a little ways across the room from him was Kairi! There was no mistaking it this time, and Sora was absolutely sure that there was nothing in the room that could play any tricks on his eyes, at least as far as he could tell. The girl had the exact same dark red hair, the same violet-blue eyes, and even the exact same outfit she was wearing when the islands were swallowed by darkness that he knew could only belong to Kairi, and when the girl in question noticed him looking at her, she turned to face him and let out the bright smile that always made Sora's heart skip a beat or two when he saw it. Seeing her here, Sora was ready to try calling out to her, but before he could, Kairi started silently waving at him and gesturing to a cabinet that was standing next to her, like she was trying to tell him something but could not for some reason. Sora looked between the cabinet and Kairi in confusion for a minute, wondering what she was trying to say, until he eventually asked, "Is there something you want me to see in there?"

While Kairi happily nodded in reply, Ventus just glanced at Sora, wondering who he had been talking to, only to notice that the kid was already moving over to the cabinet. He looked around the room for a minute, hoping to find the person that Sora could have been speaking to on his own, but in the end he saw no one else in the lab but themselves, Donald, Goofy, Kuzco, and Pacha. Looking back to Sora, he saw the kid study the cabinet for a minute before he turned and stared off into space like he was looking at something, but from the way his eyes were so focused, Ven could tell that Sora honestly believed someone was standing right next to him at the cabinet, and that he was talking to said person at that very moment. Another person would probably be a little more worried about their student suddenly talking to someone who was not actually there, but given the circumstances, Ven had to wonder if the kid was somehow sensing something that the rest of them had missed, and that he was being directed to that thing through a person that he had imagined about in his mind. He decided to think about it later and called out, "Sora, did you find something?"

Everyone's attention was quickly turned to the younger Keybearer, who was instantly startled out of his sudden trance before he turned back to Ventus and replied, "Yeah, I think it might be in here somewhere."

Everyone instantly scrambled over as Sora opened the cabinet, revealing multiple different potions inside, each of which was labeled perfectly with both a label on the vial and on a small area of the shelf they were resting on. The others were all quick to give Sora a quick voice of praise, but Sora barely paid them much mind, as his attention had quickly returned to where Kairi was standing, only to discover that she was gone again. This was starting to worry Sora a little bit, seeing as this was now the second time he was sure that Kairi had been in the room with him and his friends, and he was sure it was not a dream, because it felt so real. He wanted to ask his friends about this, but changing Kuzco back to human came first.

"It definitely has to be one of these," Pacha stated as his eyes scanned the cabinet. "Lions…"

"Tigers…" Donald noted.

"Bears…" Goofy continued.

"Dragons…" Ventus announced with a touch of confusion. He honestly had to wonder why and even how Yzma would have a potion for that.

Eventually, they all found their eyes resting on the spot where the human potion would be, only to find that it was not there. They were now just about at the point of panicking, when a voice that was not any of theirs creepily said, "Oh my. Looking for this?"

They all instantly spun around and gasped in shock, because there, standing before them with the potion they had been searching for in her hand and a devious grin on her face, was Yzma. "No! It can't be," Kuzco exclaimed.

"How'd you get back here before us," Donald asked as he pulled out his staff.

"Yeah, we saw you headed in the opposite direction," Goofy pointed out, his shield already out in front of him, while Ventus and Sora readied their Keyblades.

Yzma opened her mouth to respond, only to pause in thought for a minute. When she found herself unable to come up with an answer, she turned to her loyal, if not slightly dimwitted minion and asked, "How did we, Kronk?"

"Well ya got me," Kronk admitted as he shrugged off the mobile tent he had been using to transport Yzma around him and then pulled down a map, seemingly from out of nowhere that somehow was able to highlight the exact routes that both groups had taken, along with the amount of time that both routes should have taken to travel. "By all accounts it doesn't make any sense."

"I've got a hunch that the Heartless have something to do with this," Ventus muttered to Sora, who could only nod in agreement.

"The Heartless," Yzma asked, having overheard them. Her face then lit up in recognition as she exclaimed, "Ah, so that's what those lovely creatures are called." She then snapped her bony fingers, and a moment later, several Shadow, Soldier, and Large Body Heartless appeared around them. "Now then, if we're done with guessing about the logic behind mine and Kronk's speedy return, it's time to get back to business."

The four heroes from other worlds were ready to charge when Kuzco stepped forward and said, "Look, I admit it, I wasn't as nice as I should have been, to put it mildly."

"Very mildly," Jiminy muttered from inside Sora's hood.

If Kuzco heard him, he did not let it stop him from making his point, as he simply pressed on and asked, "But Yzma, do you really want to kill me?"

Yzma's only response to grin evilly as she replied, "Just think of it as…you're being let go. That your life's going in a different direction. That your body's part of a permanent outplacement."

"Hey that's kind of like what he said to you when you got fired," Kronk pointed out, far more excited about the whole thing than he probably should have been, and completely killing the moment for Yzma and everyone else.

"I know. It's called a cruel irony, like my dependence on you," Yzma frowned.

"Wait a minute, if she was fired, then how is she empress now," Sora asked.

Kuzco gained a sheepish look and replied, "Because this whole mess started on the exact same day that I fired her, so the only ones who knew about that were me, her, and Kronk."

"Say, if everyone else knew about this, then how _would_ a new ruler have been chosen," Goofy then questioned.

"That's actually a good question," Ventus admitted. "I mean, would there have been some kind of voting process or…"

"Can we just get back on track, please," Yzma hollered, reminding everyone of the current situation. She then pulled out a knife, tossed it to Kronk, and then commanded, "Help the Heartless finish them off."

Kronk caught the knife, but hesitated to do anything more than that. He just glanced between Yzma and the group of heroes for a minute until a voice suddenly echoed, "Hey, you're not backing down now are you, big guy?"

An instant later, a smaller version of him dressed up like the devil appeared on his shoulder, with a trident in hand. This did not surprise Kronk at all, considering it was his Shoulder Devil, but he was confused by something else. "Uh where's the other guy," Kronk asked, referring to the lighter side of his conscience. A minute later, the Shoulder Angel appeared, sitting back in a comfy chair with his head in a hair dryer while reading a book title _Kingdom Keepers_. "Yo," Kronk called out, getting his attention.

The minute that the shoulder angel realized what was going on, he quickly cast aside everything he did not need and slipped on his hat and halo, while replacing the book with a harp, as he said, "Sorry I'm late. What'd I miss?"

Kronk then went into a quick summary of what had just happened for the sake of his Shoulder Angel, not realizing how ridiculous he looked from the perspective of everyone else, since as far as they could tell, he was talking to himself while looking at his shoulder. Even Yzma was perplexed by the sight unfolding in front of her, and she immediately looked to the others to see if they knew what was going on here. The six heroes could only shrug in response; they were just as confused about what Kronk was doing as she was. After another minute of watching this unfold, Yzma angrily looked back at Kronk and snarled, "Kronk! Why did I think you could do this? This one, simple thing. It's like I'm talking to a monkey."

"Whoa now," Ventus cautioned, not knowing that Kronk's Shoulder Angel had said the exact same thing.

"A really, really big, stupid monkey named Kronk," Yzma continued.

"Ouch," Sora said, mirroring his master's actions with the only difference being that he spoke at the same time as Kronk's Shoulder Devil. Yzma still wasn't done though.

"And do you want to know something else? I've never liked your spinach puffs! Never!"

That drew shocked gasps from all three versions of Kronk before the actual one started to cry, completely hurt by that, the Shoulder Angel patting his cheek in an attempt to comfort him. The Shoulder Devil on the other hand had a different idea on how to make Kronk feel better as he readied his trident like a shotgun. "That's it! She's going down," the dark side of Kronk's conscience promised.

"Now, now, remember guys. From above, the wicked shall receive their just reward," the Shoulder Angel told the other two. All three Kronks' gazes were soon drawn to the ceiling, namely the chandelier directly above Yzma, and then commented, "That'll work." Kronk then turned and sliced through the rope holding the chandelier up with one swipe, and Yzma only had time to look up in shock as it fell. When it came crashing down, everyone looked on in horror, hardly believing what had just happened. The mere idea that this had happened was horrifying to them all. The moment that the chandelier had hit the ground was what ended up cementing the fact for them all, because Yzma…was still okay. She turned out to be skinny enough to slip through the hole in the center of the chandelier without incurring any injury at all.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Donald deadpanned with others only nodding in agreement.

"Strange….That usually works," Kronk mused.

"And so does this," Yzma stated, pulling on a bottle that was resting on the nearby lab table, and revealing it to be a lever that opened the trap door directly beneath Kronk's feet.

"Ah, should've seen that coming," Kronk admitted, and he then dropped down with a yelp with the trapdoor closing behind him.

That turned out to be the final straw for the heroes, as Goofy instantly tossed his shield at Yzma, forcing her to release her grip on the potion as she fell, and sending it flying into the air. Pacha immediately dived for the vial, catching it before it hit the ground, but Yzma was quick to start trying to get it back. Kuzco came to the rescue by head butting Yzma away from his friend, earning a snarl from Yzma before she turned to the Heartless and commanded, "Get them! And retrieve the vial at once!"

When the Heartless immediately jumped into action, Sora, Donald, Ven, and Goofy took that as their cue to join the fight, and immediately charged to meet the Heartless head on. What they did not expect was that Yzma would still be joining in the fight by throwing various different vials at them, forcing them to keep their distance from both her and the Heartless they were fighting. In the case of the latter, it was mostly because every time they would stop to knock away or block a potion that Yzma was throwing at them, the Heartless would immediately use the distraction to pounce at them, but in the case of the former, it was mostly so that she could use a potion on herself in order to make herself stronger, or to heal any injuries that she may have incurred the few times that the four were able to slip past her little offensive. The effects of the potions never had the exact same effects too, because sometimes they would find themselves moving slower or feeling really drowsy, and other times they would be changed into a different animal at various times. Thankfully, they did not stay as said animals for very long, proving that the magic of those potions was only temporary, but that did not make it any easier for them to knock out Yzma or any of the Heartless that they were trying to destroy.

It was after he had just narrowly avoided being hit by one of Yzma's potions that Sora finally felt himself getting fed up with the skinny old lady, and before he could even think about what he was doing, he just turned and pointed his Keyblade at her like he was about to fire off a spell, but for some reason, he never once uttered a single syllable of what he wanted such magic to do. Instead, he just waved it around in Yzma's direction along with whatever Heartless were closest to her for some reason. What he found even stranger was the fact that everything around him suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion, and that was when something clicked in his head. _'Didn't Ven say that I would suddenly start aiming my Keyblade like this while the world seemed to slow down around me when Kingdom Key decided I was ready to use a Shotlock,'_ Sora thought to himself in awe, and when he felt like something was telling him that he was remembering right, he instantly grinned in excitement at what was likely going to come next.

Letting the Keyblade guide his actions, Sora continued aiming Kingdom Key at any all villains he could before he leapt up into the air, much to everyone's surprise, and started glowing with a faint, light bluish-white energy. Seconds later, he swung his Keyblade around and released what looked like a pair of energy projectiles at a couple of different Heartless, as well as Yzma. What came as a shock though was that when the projectiles hit, they released a small whirlwind that blew away anything and everything that was close to them, at least in regards to everything that was not on the same side as Sora, including Yzma's potions. Sora swung his Keyblade around again, and released another pair of projectiles, and the process repeated itself, throwing Heartless into the air and within the others' striking ranges, while simultaneously sending Yzma's potions far away from their intended marks. He repeated this action three more times, until finally, he seemed to jump back from where he was currently floating in the air, and began spinning around rapidly like he was in the center of a hurricane while releasing magic beams of light from the tip of his Keyblade, all of which instantly destroyed every Heartless that was unfortunate enough to fall into the line of fire, and if they were not hit by the blasts, they were blown away in a powerful gust of wind. Not even Yzma was safe from this new development, as she too was blown back by Sora's barrage of wind and magic blasts, and as a result, she ended up landing on one of the lab tables, right on top of one of her potions, which instantly took effect when she landed.

Smoke filled the area afterwards, even as Sora touched back down, slightly dizzy but still okay regardless of that, and everyone braced themselves for whatever horror Yzma had turned been turned into. The possibilities of what it would be raced through their minds rapidly, ranging from everything that they had seen in the cabinet earlier, to even some form of massive Heartless, and the fact that they heard a deep, foreboding laugh was not helping their levels of confidence either. When the smoke finally cleared, they were all both relieved and a bit disappointed, because it turned out that Yzma had been turned into a small, silver-furred cat. Ventus could not help but gripe over the fact that once again, they were dealing with an evil cat, even though she had not started out that way, but he was ignored for the most part, as Cat-Yzma was still not willing to go down so easily. Thankfully, Donald reacted quickly enough and knocked her out with a simple bonk on the head using his staff.

Seeing that they were finally finished with the fight, Goofy finally asked the question that they were all wondering. "Hey, Sora, what'd you do just now? I mean, you were spinning around and firing magic blasts that turned into tornados once they hit something, and then turned the whole fight around in our favor. It sure was impressive."

"He used a Shotlock," Ventus answered for everyone. "And not just any Shotlock, but one that is most likely his own personal one!"

"It was," Sora nodded with a small smile. "I call it…Typhoon Barrage."

Hearing his apprentice confirm what he suspected, Ventus could not help but laugh and cheer in excitement even as he slapped Sora on the back in congratulations, much to everyone's surprise. They were not expecting such an excited outburst from the blonde, but it certainly was not unwelcome. Realizing that everyone was looking at him oddly, if not a little amused, Ven's excited cheering turned a bit sheepish as he explained, "Sorry, but you guys have no idea how amazing this is. Seriously, words cannot describe just how amazing."

"How come," Donald asked, voicing the question that Sora was silently asking with the bewildered look on his face.

Ventus directed most of his attention onto Sora and explained, "Sora, _no_ _one_ has ever learned a personal Shotlock so early into their training as a Keyblade Wielder, at least as far as I know. Even Aqua had been working hard for a few _months_ before she even came close to figuring out what one of her personal Shotlocks were, and she was the best at learning all of the magic abilities relating to the Keyblade or just magic in general in our little trio of friends. Not even Mickey had learned any of his Shotlocks before at least a year had passed in his own training. You've just achieved something that has taken some of the best Keyblade Masters months to accomplish in mere days!"

Hearing that all that quickly drew a smile onto Sora's face that only grew wider and larger with each passing word in Ven's praise, and the minute that Ven had finally finished, he started joining his master in his excited cheers and celebration. Donald and Goofy were soon following along as well, and all the while, Sora could not help but think back to what Ven was trying to tell him earlier, smiling as he realized that the blonde was right. It was not really fair or smart to compare himself to his teacher, because doing so was only going to hold him back. He just needed to remember that he could only become a Keyblade Master and save his friends by being the best him, and not by trying to be someone else, because in the end, all that mattered, was that he was going to be the one that found Riku and Kairi, and who became a Keyblade Master, maybe even one that would surpass Ventus in terms of ability and power. It certainly seemed like he was well on his way right now.

Thinking of his friends caused Sora to think back to earlier when he found the potion cabinet, or to be more accurate, when he saw Kairi lead him to it. The question that really bothered him though was whether or not he actually did see Kairi, and if so, where did she go after he had turned away? Had she really been there, or was it just his imagination. Then again, he could have sworn that he saw her back in Deep Jungle as well just seconds before she disappeared. Could that be somehow related to something regarding his abilities as a Keyblade Wielder as well, or was he just missing Kairi so much that he was starting to imagine that he was seeing her everywhere he went? He figured that the latter of those two was not _that_ likely, because if so, then why was he not seeing Riku as well? After all, the older boy was his best friend, and sure, Kairi was special to him, but that should not mean that he would not have seen Riku in these…daydreams, for lack of a better word, at least once, right?

Sora shook it off and put it aside when he noticed Pacha and Kuzco coming over to retrieve the human potion from where it had fallen earlier, ready to turn the emperor back into his rightful state, and decided he would try to talk to the others about it later. Sora was not the only one who wanted to talk about what was going on with him though, as Ventus had cast his apprentice a concerned look after he noticed how his excited expression suddenly turned bewildered. He figured that Sora was probably thinking about what had happened earlier when he had wandered over to the potion cabinet, and after seeing his apprentice gaze off into space like that twice now served as reason enough for him to decide he would be talking with Sora about later. Right now, they had an emperor to restore to his throne.

* * *

A few hours later, Kuzco was human again, decked out in his red emperor's garb and gold crown, and already setting to work on making up for his mistakes, starting with apologizing to an old man he had once thrown out the window. What came as a shock was that said old man was so quick to forgive the young emperor, but it was even more shocking to learn that the old guy had been thrown out the window before. None of the four from other worlds were sure what to make of that, so they just took the old "smile and nod" route and waved it off as the old guy headed home, leaving smiles on both his and Kuzco's faces. Kuzco was about to leave the room so he could call the next person in, or at least the next person that he had most recently done wrong, when he noticed one such person sitting by the model of a hilltop village, with a model of Kuzco's summer home sitting at the top of the hill. Seeing Pacha sitting there and looking so depressed reminded Kuzco of what he had promised that he would do regardless of whether or not Pacha helped him, and after all they had been through, he knew that he owed the older man a great deal more than he had ever owed anyone before. After all, Pacha was his first real friend, at least in his eyes, so it was only right that he do something to show it.

Making his way over to Pacha, Kuzco cleared his throat and declared, "So…you lied to me."

Pacha perked up when he heard Kuzco approach, only to glance from side to side in confusion, not entirely sure what the young emperor was talking about. "I did," he finally asked.

"Yeah. You said when the sun hits this ridge just right, these hills sing. Well pal, I may have been unconscious for who knows how long until you found me, but I'm sure that it was long enough to be dragged all over those hills, and not once did I hear any singing," Kuzco informed Pacha. Hearing that drew smiles onto everyone's faces, as they realized what Kuzco was doing. Despite the fact that he was doing something nice for Pacha, Kuzco did not want anyone to think that he was only doing this because he had made a deal with a peasant.

That did not mean that no one was going to call him out on it. "Oh come on, Kuzco. Why don't you just admit that you're doing something nice for Pacha because you think of him as a friend," Goofy teased.

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that, even if you are an emperor," Sora added, his teasing tone matching Goofy's.

"Now, come on guys. Give him a break. This is a whole new experience for Kuzco, after all," Ventus warned them, though it was clear by his smile that it was not a very serious warning.

"Hey, there's nothing to admit beyond what I've already said," Kuzco assured them, a little too quickly one might add. "I just intend to build my summer home on a more magical hilltop, thank you very much."

Seeing Kuzco remove the model of said summer home from where it stood, waterslide included pretty much cemented it all for Pacha, and he could not help but let out a small chuckle as he handed the model of his house over to Kuzco, playing along with the act as he did. "Couldn't pull the wool over your eyes, huh?"

"No, no. I'm sharp. I'm on it," Kuzco confirmed, still keeping up the act. "Looks like you and your family are stuck on top of a tuneless hilltop forever, pal."

At that point, Pacha could no longer keep up the act, and gave Kuzco a huge, grateful smile, to which Kuzco returned in kind. Seeing this little moment between the newly-formed friends honestly made the hearts of the other four warm quite a bit, as it reminded them all of when they shared similarly touching moments with all of their friends as well. Sure, it reminded them that they still had yet to find some of those friends, but that mattered little, since it was so nice to see Kuzco really was starting to change for the better. Feeling a bit lousy for having to interrupt the moment, Ventus stepped up and said, "Well, I guess we'd better get going. Our friends back on our vessel have just said the storm's cleared up so we can carry on to our destination."

That caused Kuzco to look over at the four with a small frown on his face as he asked, "Do you really have to go so soon? I mean, I'd like it if you guys stayed for at least a little while longer. I can even ask Kronk to make you guys a quick dinner to tie you over."

Hearing about the big guy reminded them all of how they found Kronk lying in a river just a little ways down from the palace, drenched but otherwise unharmed, and since he was not so eager to help Yzma with her plans, he was quickly forgiven. Kuzco even offered him a job as the new palace chef, but Kronk had declined, saying that he had already found work as a cook at a nearby restaurant. Though he did promise that he would stop by to make a special dinner for Kuzco and Pacha and his family whenever they asked. As tempting as Kuzco's offer was, the four had to decline, with Sora explaining, "Sorry, but we have to go. We're searching for some missing friends of ours."

"Oh, okay," Kuzco sighed in defeat, sad to see some of his new friends go.

"Don't worry, Kuzco. We'll come back and visit some time," Goofy reassured him. "And besides, your real friends are always with you no matter what, even if they're not right there."

Kuzco smiled in thanks to Goofy for that piece of wisdom, and with that, the four departed, waving to Kuzco and Pacha in farewell as they headed somewhere that they would be able to teleport up to the ship without anyone noticing them. Of course, they did not leave right away, as Ven had sensed Keyhole hidden inside of Kuzco's throne, and he and Sora quickly sealed it without either of the two noticing. They were not too eager to explain just how important it was to them and what it would mean if the Heartless found a way into it, so they made sure to keep as quiet as possible as they locked it tight. The last bit of exchange they heard from Kuzco and Pacha was the latter informing the emperor about some singing on the hill next to his, in case Kuzco was interested.

* * *

What none of our heroes knew was that somewhere far away, Maleficent was watching the two Keyblade Wielders and their friends as they departed from the world they had just secured from the Heartless. While Maleficent was looking on with a sinister smirk, the others were watching with intrigue about a certain matter. "What drew the Heartless to those worlds? The Deep Jungle and this Llama Empire," asked the regally dressed man.

"The hunter lured them to Deep Jungle," Maleficent replied. "It was his lust for power that was the bait, but it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

The large, living sack just laughed at this before he added, "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

The regal sounding man just hummed in thought before he finally stepped into the light to reveal a man who was dressed as a vizier with a snake staff in his hand and asked, "What about the Llama Empire?"

"It was the chemist and her lust for the throne of that world. Though she was able to control the Heartless for a time, she too suffered the same fate as the hunter," Maleficent explained. "Still, it is impressive that she was able to manage for as long as she did."

That drew another hum from the vizier as he commented, "Impressive or not, she could not hold control for long, and proved to be just as much a weak-hearted fool as the hunter, and as we all know, weak-hearted fools stand no chance against the Heartless, but the Keyblade Master and the boy are a problem. They've now found three of the Keyholes."

Hearing this news drew some looks of concern from the other villains who were assembled around the table as an image of Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy appeared in the center of it, all walking along as they continued onward. Maleficent on the other hand just scoffed and said, "Fear not. It will take them ages to find the rest. Though he may be a master, Ventus could not possibly know the location of the Keyholes for each and every world. No one does. Besides, they both remain blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"Yes, the princesses," the half octopus woman grinned.

Maleficent nodded in confirmation, her evil smirk never once faltering as she informed the other villains, "They are falling into our hands, one by one." She then glanced off to the side when she caught notice of some new movement in the shadows that did not come from her current cohorts, and added, "Speaking of which…"

That served as the cue for an unseen person to shove forward none other than Alice, and the blonde girl could not help but glance around her fearfully, wondering just where she was and what these strange people intended to do with her. It was very clear that whatever it was, she doubted that they intended anything as simple as what that so-called queen had intended to do to her, but all the same, she was still not entirely sure which one would have been worse. Glancing back to the shadows, she could not help but shiver a little when she caught a glimpse of the one who had brought her here. Even though she could not see him, she could still pick up on the dark, terrible feeling that he was giving off, and somehow, she just knew that it was a bad omen of what was soon to come for her and anyone else that crossed paths with him.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 3**

 **It honestly surprised me a little when Mickey said that we would be having today's training on another world. Sure, Master Eraqus would sometimes take Aqua, Terra, and me to Mirage Arena for training, but considering the kind of things that can be done there I don't really count it that much. If anything, going there was really just like going to a gym to work out or something, so the chance to actually train on a different world is definitely exciting. Turned out that part of that training involved learning how to handle the newest method of traveling between the worlds: the Gummi Ship. I figured it wouldn't be so bad; the thing looked like a spaceship that someone had made out of building blocks, even if the material it's made of is really incredible in various different ways. Boy was I wrong. Flying that thing was like when I first started training to use my Keyblade Glider, only worse because there was so much more to it. Unlike the Keyblade Glider, this thing had a vast array of weapons, and the Gummi Ship also did not have a connection to me like my Keyblade did, so learning its controls took a lot more trial and error. I'm still surprised that I didn't accidentally make the ship blow up before we reached our destination.**

 **Despite whatever troubles we had, we somehow managed to reach our destination in one piece. It turned out that we had actually been heading to Radiant Garden to speak with Ansem the Wise. Mickey didn't really go into specifics about why we had gone there beyond saying that there was recently a meteor shower here that dropped Gummi Blocks on the world and he wanted to speak with Ansem about both that and another matter as well. When I learned what that matter was, you would have to be crazy to think that I wasn't shocked.**

 **Mickey actually wanted Ansem to help him find a way to bring Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness or at least a way to get into said realm so that he could help Aqua find a way out from that side. Being a scientist, Ansem was more than up for the challenge, having revealed that he and some of his apprentices were already doing some research on the creatures who lived in that realm after some of them somehow found a way into Radiant Garden. Both Mickey and I cautioned Ansem to be careful when dealing with these things, but he just smiled and assured us both that he was making sure that every safety measure was being taken while these "Heartless" as he was calling them were being studied, and that they would be while he helped us find the answers we seek in regards to the one thing I have wanted to find for years: a chance to somehow bring Aqua home, or at least see her again. Even with his reassurances, I still have a really bad feeling about what may come from researching the Heartless.**

* * *

 ** _AN: So there's all of that. Yeah who else here expected Jiminy to lay into Kuzco like that? Like I've said before, I'm giving our favorite cricket and honorary conscience a little more of a role in this story than he had before. I mean, aside from Chain of Memories, a brief moment in Dream Drop Distance, and Coded, we never really saw Jiminy for very long or even all that much in the KH Games, and he's been with Sora, Donald, and Goofy right from the start. I get that he's supposed to just be in the background taking notes about everything that's unfolded in the adventure, but that doesn't mean he can't be doing something more significant. I think a lot of us tend to forget about that all too often, even when we write fanfictions like this one, and Jiminy's a really big deal ever since he first appeared in Pinocchio. I mean, considering what that little puppet who wanted to be a real boy would get into, it takes a special kind of determination and steal to stick with him, and Jiminy had that and more._**

 ** _Goofy: Say, how come this iteration of Kuzco's story is different from the movie's?_**

 ** _AN: Well let me answer that with another question. When was the last time you remember Kingdom Hearts doing the exact story of a world's movie aside from adding in Sora and the gang? Obviously I'm going to change a few things around both for the sake of the story, and for the sake of time._**

 ** _Sora: But why make me suddenly have doubts like I did earlier on in the chapter?_**

 ** _AN: Well, they say that many great heroes will feel like they're at their lowest before they do something great, and I felt that having Sora doubt himself a little was the perfect thing to set him up for a greater level of excitement when he unlocked his personal Shotlock: Typhoon Barrage. Just for future reference, much like the Command Styles I came up with for Sora and Kairi in Keyblades of Future Past, Typhoon Barrage is an original move that I came up with. I wanted that ability to reflect Sora's status as an Islander, ya know, since he's from Destiny Islands, while also being a mid to long-range ability. The hard part was coming up with something that didn't sound like it was meant to be a rush ability and that worked effectively with its name._**

 ** _Ventus: Well, you're certainly not failing on living up to your claim about putting a lot of focus into the development of Sora's Shotlocks if this chapter's anything to go by, but what about that vision Sora had of Kairi?_**

 ** _AN: Ah yes, you see, most of the time when Sora had those visions in the first KH game, they were at random times and were seemingly...I don't want to say unimportant because they were alluding to the fact that Kairi was a lot closer than Sora thought, but they also did not really carry that much weight for most of the time beyond seeming to distract Sora. This time around, I wanted that to actually serve something of a more helpful or noticeable purpose. This was only the first chapter in which one of those things could happen, or rather, my first chance to do so. Don't worry, Kairi won't just be doing stuff like that for long, and we will be hearing more from her soon enough._**

 ** _Now, I think that's everything I wanted to cover..._**

 ** _Donald: Wait! What about that whole Meteor Hurricane thing?_**

 ** _AN: That one should be obvious. I needed a reason for you guys to stop at Kuzco's world on your way to Traverse Town other than the fact that it was a world that was along the way. As for the name of said world, well, I just went with one the first things that popped into my head and it stuck, hence Llama Empire._**

 ** _Oh, and let's not forget about that recent entry into Ven's journal. That was more of a look at how some of Mickey's meetings with Ansem the Wise unfolded from Ven's viewpoint, and one of the projects that they had asked for Ansem's help with before he was betrayed by his apprentices. I figured that if Mickey found out about what Ansem's research was focused on, and since Ven is still around in this timeline, he would probably ask Ansem to lend them a hand in getting Aqua back somehow. Plus, other than Yen Sid, who else would Mickey go to in order to find out about how to get into the Realm of Darkness? Not only that, but we also heard about Ven's feeling regarding Ansem's research of the Heartless, and how it gave him a foreboding feeling of the events that were to come. Guess he should've listened to his gut on that, huh?_**

 ** _Okay, now I think I've covered everything, so let's get Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team returns to Traverse Town to meet with both Leon and Cid about their mystery gummi, and somehow end up running an errand for Cid at the same time. Encounters with new faces soon follow, all leading up to a brief reunion that gets cut short by the Heartless. Even with his old friend fighting by his side, Sora finds that they'll need an extra set of hands if they want to defeat the Heartless that had ambushed them, as well as the returning Guard Armor, which quickly reveals its second form to them shortly afterwards. Mysteries will be solved, friends will be reunited, and revelations are all abound, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	10. Back to Traverse Town

**_AN: Well look at that. A week later and we are back for another chapter of one of my stories! Man, how long has it been since I've updated something this quickly? Hmm...yep, it's been too long if I have to stop and think about it for a minute. Then again, considering some of the things that are happening in this chapter, I was really excited to write it so that I could post it and show you all what would unfold here._**

 ** _Ven: It actually is a pretty interesting spin on a variety of different things in comparison to the original story of the first Kingdom Hearts game. Of course, some of it has me even more excited for some of the things that will happen later on in the story, and in its sequel as well._**

 ** _Riku: I'm not sure what I'm more excited for. When I get to make my big moments later on, or when we get to the sequel when we learn how I played a huge role in helping..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]_**

 ** _Riku: Whoops. [Numerous Large Body Heartless suddenly roll over him like bowling balls into bowling pins]_**

 ** _Sora: Ouch._**

 ** _Kairi: You can say that again._**

 ** _AN: Ah, he'll be fine. In the meantime, let's answer some reviews!_**

 ** _Donald: But there's only two reviews that we can really answer._**

 ** _AN: I know, but I still wanna answer them. First off, in response to the reviewer, "Dragon Rider 66", I might have a few more of those little parodies, but you'll just have to wait and see if any of them find their way in here. Especially since some of them are for stories that I haven't written yet, and I don't want to give away any spoilers, unlike some people. [throws pointed look at Riku]_**

 ** _Riku: [groans in pain]_**

 ** _AN: As for your question regarding the additional worlds, you'll get something of a partial answer to that question in this chapter, but as for whether or not we'll see the world of Code Lyoko in this story, I'm going to have to say no. We're sticking with stuff that's strictly Disney, Disney & Pixar, or places that have been in other Kingdom Hearts games. Though I will say that we'll get something of a small look at something from the world of Code Lyoko in the sequel, but I won't say what it is. You'll just have to wait and see for now. I will say this though about the additional worlds: there are TWO other new worlds that will be appearing in this story. What they will be shall be revealed in due time. Finally, in regards to your question about Sora not using the Keychain that Tarzan gave him. My answer is simply this: just because you got a Keychain, doesn't necessarily mean you have to use it. Lots of folks do actually get through much if not all of a Kingdom Hearts game using just the default Keyblade. I myself do not usually change Keyblades in the first game until Atlantica at the earliest, and Hollow Bastion at the latest, namely the second fight against Dark Riku._**

 ** _Next up is an answer to the reviewer "Luchux", who asked if Ventus ever met Terranort during the latter's time as Ansem's apprentice. I actually can't answer that just yet, mostly because answers to things like that will be revealed in Ven's Journal entries, so you'll just have to wait for the next one of those to find out for yourself._**

 ** _Now, I think that answers everything we wanted to talk about before starting the show, so let's get on with the action! Donald, do NOT let Goofy pull the lever._**

 ** _Goofy: Ya mean this one here? [indicates one of two levers and reaches to pull it before Donald can reach him]_**

 ** _Donald: No Goofy! Wait! That's the..._**

 ** _Goofy: [pulls the lever]_**

 ** _AN: [gets drenched in buckets upon buckets of sports drinks] Pah. Not even a flavor I like._**

 ** _Donald:...Wrong lever._**

 ** _Goofy: Sorry._**

 ** _AN: [sighs] Just pull the other lever while I get cleaned off._**

 ** _Goofy: Okay. [pulls the correct lever] Enjoy the show everybody!_**

 _ **lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter IX**

Words could not describe how grateful everyone on the team was over the fact that the journey from Llama Empire back to Traverse Town was met with absolutely no trouble at all. There were no meteor storms of any kind, no Heartless waiting to ambush them, and not even any kind of disagreements or fights on the bridge that would have slowed them down in the least bit. Maybe it was because they were starting to prove that they could handle anything that the Heartless could throw at them, or maybe it was because the path they were taking was so familiar that they knew all the different routes to take so that they could avoid trouble. Whatever the case might have been, they were not complaining at all. Since everything was so peaceful for the return trip, Donald and Goofy decided to take the time to get some well deserved shut eye while Ven started teaching Sora some of the basics in piloting the Gummi Ship, much to the kid's excited pleasure. It still amazed Ventus how Sora was able to take in everything that he was teaching the kid so quickly, even when it was not related to Keyblade Wielder training, but then again, learning how to fly the ship was actually somewhat easier to learn for Sora than a few aspects that went into becoming a Keyblade Master. Then again, considering that Sora had just learned and unleashed his first Shotlock not too long ago, the kid's confidence and eagerness to learn might have had something to do with it. Either way, it did not matter, because Sora was able to get the hang of everything involved with basic Gummi Ship piloting right before they had came to a landing at the gates of Traverse Town.

When they all stepped through the gates and into the familiar surroundings of the First District, they could not help but let out tired sighs of relief, both because they had made it back in one piece, and because they were glad to see a place where they knew for a fact they would not get hounded by Heartless. A minute later, they all had to smile when they spotted Yuffie just hanging out by the steps up to the shop that Cid had been running and ran over to greet her. The self-proclaimed Great Ninja Master was ecstatic to see her friends were back again for a visit, and was more than ready to talk their ears off with whatever subject crossed her mind, but she put it on hold when Ventus jumped right down to business and asked her if she knew where Leon was at the moment. Her response was that he was down in his usual training spot with Aerith at the moment, and after thanking Yuffie for her help, they all made a beeline for that very location, with Ven leading the way, since he was the only one who actually knew where it was.

It turned out that Leon's training spot was beneath Traverse Town, in an area that was known only as the Secret Waterway, and the minute that he and Aerith saw them coming over, Leon quickly ceased the practice swings he was in the middle of doing and turned his attention to them so that he could hear what the four had to tell them. It took a little while, since the group decided it was best to tell the two about the main highlights of everything they had been through since leaving Traverse Town, but thankfully, Leon and Aerith were able to get the gist of it, including one point in particular. "So you found two of the Keyholes," Leon noted.

"Yep, and locked them both up tight. There's no way the Heartless are going to get into them any time soon," Sora confirmed with a proud grin.

Leon could not help but let a small smile creep up onto his face at Sora's enthusiasm, and was about to get into an explanation of the Keyholes for the boy's sake, as well as Donald and Goofy's, but Ven quickly stepped in and said, "I already told them everything about the Keyholes and why it was important that we seal them." Leon immediately became silent at this news, but still nodded in thanks to the blonde after a moment. It saved him some trouble down the line after all. Seeing that they had effectively dealt with that matter for the moment, Ven decided to address the matter that had brought them back in the first place, and pulled out the gummi block they had found on Deep Jungle. "Say Leon, we found this gummi block on one of the worlds we had visited, but it's different from the others that we already have and we can't figure out what it's even for. Don't suppose you have any clue, do you?"

After taking a closer look at the object in question, Leon raised a hand to his chin to think for a minute, but ultimately could not come up with an answer for the team. When she realized this, Aerith was quick to offer a suggestion to them. "Ask Cid. He should know. After all, gummi blocks are something of a specialty of his."

"Got it. Thanks you guys," Sora nodded while Ven pocketed the mystery gummi block. They were just about to leave when Leon asked them to wait for a moment.

"Ven, take this with you," Leon said as he had the blonde an odd looking, stone charm with the faded image of an animal on it. "That stone holds some mysterious power. I've been carrying it for luck. I want you to hold onto it."

"Thanks, and if you don't mind, I can tell you what I think that mysterious power might actually be," Ventus offered. When Leon nodded in response, Ventus revealed, "This is actually a summon charm, or at least, I'm fairly certain it is. Sora received one like it from a man named Cloud back at Olympus Coliseum, but both that one and this one here seem like it isn't at the usual level of strength it should be. Like I told Sora earlier, it's almost like its asleep or something."

"So that's what it was," Leon muttered to himself, but his current companion had latched on to something else that Ven had mentioned in his explanation.

"You've seen Cloud? Is he all right," Aerith asked.

That came as a surprise to the four, as evidenced by the shock in his voice when Sora asked, "Do you know him?"

Aerith immediately nodded in reply as she said, "He and I are old friends, and he's also from the same world as Leon, Cid, Yuffie, and me. None of us could ever figure out why he didn't end up here with us after our world fell, so I'm glad to hear that he's okay."

"Gawrsh, it almost sounds like he's a lot more than a friend to you," Goofy teased, while Donald let out a small laugh in agreement.

A small blush appeared on Aerith's face in response to the two's teasing, but she quickly managed to push it down as she replied, "No, Cloud and I are just good friends, but we do have something of a special connection. Though that may be due in part to the fact that his best friend was also the man I loved." Her face then fell a little bit as she quietly added, "Besides…his heart belongs to someone else."

"Wait, you mean you not only knew but also fell in love with Zack," Ventus asked, now even more surprised than before, and wondering how he had never found out about this before.

"Don't tell me you saw Zack at Olympus Coliseum too," Leon stated.

Ventus's face immediately fell a little, wondering if he should tell the two about what he had learned from Cloud in regards to his old friend. If Aerith really was as close to Zack as she claimed to be, then hearing that he was apparently dead would break her heart. Still, they had a right to know about his connection to Zack at the very least, so he took a deep breath to gather his courage and revealed, "Zack and I met years ago, back when I was on my very first journey through the worlds with my friends. When I asked Cloud about Zack, he told me that…that Zack's…"

"Dead, right," Leon asked, surprising Ven a little. What he found even more surprised was the fact that he and Aerith were both still so well composed.

"We've known about what happened to him for a while now. It may not have been all that long ago, but we still found out about it eventually from one of Cloud's other friends when she stopped by once," Aerith revealed.

"Still, I am sorry for your loss," Ventus apologized. "Part of me still can't help but wonder if there was something I could have done to help save him."

"Don't worry about it too much, Ven. Zack wouldn't have wanted you to feel depressed about what happened to him. He always preferred that his friends be happy no matter what, and he once told me that if anything ever happened to him, that he would like for his friends to remember him with a smile on their faces no matter what," Aerith informed the blonde.

Ventus smiled a bit at that, and commented, "Yeah, that does sound a lot like him." He then shook it off and said, "Well thanks again for your help, and the summon charm. We're going to head over to Cid's and ask him about the gummi block now."

"See ya later then," Leon nodded, and he immediately went right back to his training, while Aerith returned to what she had been doing before. What exactly that was, none of the four could really tell, but they figured she was mainly there to make sure that Leon did not hurt himself or something. They could see her doing that, given her very caring nature and the fact that Leon definitely seemed like the type to overdo things when it came to his training. No matter what the case was, they had more important things to worry about at the moment.

* * *

When they walked into the Accessory Shop, Sora could not help but feel a bit nostalgic and slightly depressed at the same time. This was the first place he had visited in Traverse Town after his home was lost and after he had gotten separated from his friends after all, but he knew that now was not the time to be feeling down, so he shook it off so that he could focus on the conversation with Cid. As the gruff store owner looked over the gummi block, one could not help but notice how excited he seemed to get over seeing it. That excitement quickly turned to incredulity when Goofy finally asked him what the strange gummi block was used for, much to all of their surprise. "You're kiddin' me," Cid had practically shouted. "You're flyin' a gummi ship and you don't know nothin' about navigation gummis?" When he received nothing other than blank looks in response, he went on to grumble, "Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground."

"There's a lot we don't know. So what," Sora snapped back, but Ven was quick to wave him off in an attempt to keep him calm. The last thing they needed right now was for Cid to get offended needlessly.

"To be fair, Cid, we do need the Gummi Ship to get around to other worlds. Besides, all I ever learned about the things was how to fly them, work the weapons, and do simple repair jobs like hull breaches and such. The more technical stuff either went over my head or just weren't mentioned," Ventus pointed out to the older man.

"All right, all right. Sorry about that," Cid sighed in defeat, showing that he did not know any of this beforehand. "Well, I guess I could lend y'all a hand, then." He then cleared his throat and went into an explanation of the gummi in question. "Basically, with navigation gummis, you can go to new places. I'm sure you've noticed that some of the worlds out there aren't exactly reachable with your ship's current systems, right?"

"Yeah, actually I did," Ven nodded in confirmation along with Goofy. The latter of the two was normally manning the navigational systems so he was well aware of how there were other worlds out there that for some reason he could not set as a destination. The only reason Ventus knew about this was because he normally flew on a gummi ship that was much more advanced than the _Kingdom_ , and because he had been to quite a few more than the ones they had already visited before, so he knew that it must have had something to do with the ship's abilities. Sora and Donald knew there were other worlds out there, but they had no idea it was not possible to reach them with their ship's current capabilities.

"Well then I'm guessing you guys will want one on your ship, right," Cid asked, gaining unanimous nods in reply. "All right. I'll install it for you, but I got this thing I gotta go deliver first."

"What is it," Sora asked.

"Just this book," Cid replied, showing said book to the four after he pulled it out from under the counter. "It's real old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat it up to restore it to the way it was, but overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together."

Ventus looked the book over for a few seconds before he finally said, "Hey, I've seen this book before."

"What," Sora and Cid both gasped.

"A few years ago, I saw this book on another world. It belonged to a wizard by the name of Merlin, and apparently it was able to unlock someone's hidden powers. I always kind of wondered what happened to it afterwards," Ventus admitted.

"Well in that case, would you mind delverin' it for me," Cid asked. "I can fix up your ship while your doin' that, and it'll save us all some time."

"Sure thing," Ven nodded, and he then placed the book in one of his magic pockets that somehow managed to store everything for him after accepting it from Cid.

"But where are we delivering it to," Donald asked.

"It's the old house past the Third District. Look for a big fire sign," Cid informed them. Just seconds after he said that, they all felt the ground shake beneath their feet, followed by what sounded like bells ringing. "Sounds like the bell at the gizmo shop is ringing again," Cid muttered.

"Has that been happening a lot lately," Ventus asked, not once remembering that happening from his time here before.

"Yeah actually. No one really knows what the reason is."

"Maybe we oughta check it out," Goofy suggested.

"Agreed, but it'll have to wait until after we deliver this book," Ventus insisted.

"Great. When you're done with all of that, stop by the house in the Third District. I'll be there with Leon and the others," Cid informed them. "We've kinda set it up as our new base of operations after the hotel was compromised."

"Wait, you mean that one that Yuffie was always staking out for some reason," Ventus asked.

"Yep, that's the place," Cid nodded.

"Huh. And here I thought she was seeing whether or not we could use it for some really small haunted house prank," Ven muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Let's go you guys," Ven quickly said, and the four were all quickly rushed out of the shop before Cid could further question the blonde on what he had said just seconds ago.

After that little exchange, the three had found themselves racing through the Second District so that they could reach the Third District to find the wall that Cid had mentioned. They probably would have not had to search if they had actually had time to really look around the area the last time they had been there, but considering that they ended up having to fight a dangerous Heartless the last time they were in Third District, it was understandable that they did not know the area too well. Along the way though, they did still run into some Heartless, but it was only a few Soldiers and Shadows, and they were not even as powerful as the ones that they had encountered since leaving for the other worlds, so getting through them was no problem at all. As it turned out, finding the door they were looking for also proved to be little trouble. The actual hard part was getting it opened, because the door had been magically sealed by something or someone. Thankfully, Ven was able to figure out how to get it open, and swiftly cast a quick Fire spell at the door. When the large door slid upwards, Sora and the others could not help but gain neutral looks of disbelief at how simple that turned out to be, but they shook it off in favor of completing their delivery.

The location that they needed to bring it to was actually an old, run-down looking house on the middle of a small island, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy all had to wonder if anyone really did live there. Ven reminded them that appearances can be deceiving when he saw their looks of doubt on the matter, but when they saw that the front entrance was boarded up even he was starting to doubt the idea. Still, Cid said that this was the place that the book was to be delivered to, so he quickly knocked on the boarded up door, and even shouted out why they were there in case someone was inside. When they received no reply, the other three started to look around the small tower for another way in, before Ven could even turn around and tell them to do so. He was really getting annoyed with them running off on him like that, but he was not complaining about it this time, seeing as they were doing just what he was going to suggest they do anyway. Eventually, Sora found their way in, which turned out to be a hole in the wall that was covered up by a large cloth, almost as though it had been remade into a makeshift entrance, and the four slowly proceeded inside, ready for anything that might jump out at them.

They were met with mild disappointment when they found nothing but a dusty, empty room on the other side of the blanket, and while they could have just set the book down somewhere and left, Ventus cast that idea off when he pointed out how important and special the book actually was, and then lead the team in searching around for any sign of someone being there now or later on. As he was looking though, Sora was startled a bit when he heard a familiar voice speak up from behind him, mostly because it was not the voice of his teacher or two newest friends, but of one of the people he was currently searching for.

"There's something about this musty place," said the voice of Kairi as Sora turned to see the girl herself walking into the room, and then proceeding to stroll about with a fond smile on her face. "It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?"

Sora did not need the reminder, since he was just in said location not that long ago, even if it did feel like an eternity after all that had happened to him, but he could not say any of that since he was suddenly having trouble finding his voice. You could not blame him though. Kairi was here before him once again on a different world from the last one that he had been on, only this time she was actually speaking to him in that same melodic voice he knew so well, and in the tone that he knew she would always take on when she had something very important to say or when she was remembering something that she considered important. There was no way he was just seeing things this time. After all, illusions and daydreams like that do not actually speak to you in such crystal clarity, so this had to be the real Kairi. He then slowly reached out towards her, softly calling her name as he did, only to pause when he heard Goofy calling out to him. He immediately turned around to see the other three giving him an odd look, but he paid it little mind as he turned back to his friend, only to gasp in shock when he saw that she was gone once again, like she had been nothing more than a ghost.

Concerned about what had gotten the kid so worked up, and wanting to find out why he was spacing out like this so much at last, Ventus immediately walked over and asked, "What's the matter, Sora? You've been spacing out a lot ever since we landed in Deep Jungle and first met Tarzan. Is something going on?"

Sora debated whether or not it would have been smart to tell Ventus about how he kept seeing Kairi when she apparently was not even there. Sure, on one hand, it would probably confirm that he was just getting visions that came with being a Keyblade Wielder, but on the other hand, it could also lead the others to think that he was crazy. Deciding that the risk was worth it, Sora finally said, "I could've sworn that I saw Kairi just now, and it wasn't for the first time, either. I first saw her in the tree house after we met Tarzan, and then again in Yzma's secret lab. That's how I knew to look in that cabinet, because I could've sworn that Kairi was telling me to look there, even though she wasn't saying anything, but she was definitely trying to tell me something. If anything, it seemed more like she couldn't talk to me, then."

"What about just now," Donald asked, admittedly curious about all of this, even though he was thinking that Sora might have been imagining things.

"She was definitely talking to me, saying that this place reminded her somewhere back home that we used to play together at," Sora admitted. "And I was so sure that it was her. Everything about her was just as I remember it being and more. I was sure that I wasn't dreaming until I turned away and then looked back to see she was gone again."

"But Sora, there was nobody here except us," Goofy pointed out. "Maybe you really are just tired, and miss your friends a lot more than you realize."

Ventus was not so sure that was the case. If it were anybody else, he would have agreed with Goofy, but since this was Sora, and since he knew what the boy was carrying in his heart at the moment, Ven was sure that it was something else. He had a feeling that Kairi's heart was stirring inside of Sora, and perhaps the girl was even trying to let Sora know that she was there. Even if that was not the case, if this kept up, he knew that he would not be able to keep the fact that Sora literally had Kairi's heart inside of him for much longer, so maybe it was high time that he told him what he knew, or at least suspected to be true. He was actually just about to carry out this decision when a new voice cut him off, startling all four of them when they heard it.

"Well, well. You've arrived sooner than I expected," the newcomer had commented, drawing the four's attention to the doorway they had just come through. When they did, they were greeted with the sight of a rather skinny looking man with a long white beard, and decked out in robes, a tall conical hat, and pointed slippers that were all sky blue, and circular spectacles. In one hand, he held a long, featureless brown rod that one could only assume was a wand, given the fact that his overall wardrobe made him look like a wizard, and in his other hand, he carried a large traveling bag. While Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all instantly wary of this man who had just indicated he was expecting them to show up, Ventus could only smile in both nostalgia and friendly familiarity at the sight of this particular individual.

Seeing the wariness that was forming on his friends' faces, Ventus took the initiative on casting it out and exclaimed, "Merlin! How've you been?"

"Ventus, my boy! It's good to see again after so long, and all grown up at that," Merlin replied in kind as he set his bag down and shook hands with Ven.

"Do you know him, Ven," Goofy asked.

"We met a few years back when I first visited another world with my friends. Merlin's a very powerful sorcerer, and has been around for quite some time. You can always count on him to know a thing or two about a thing or two, especially when it comes to magic," Ventus explained.

"Oh you flatter me my boy," Merlin chuckled, and he then turned his attention to the group as a whole. "I spend much of time traveling these days, but it's always good to be home. More importantly though, your king has requested my help."

"King Mickey," Goofy asked in surprise.

"Yes indeed," Merlin confirmed. "Now, as has already been proven, I know of Ventus, and I also know of Donald and Goofy, but who might you be, young man?"

"I'm Sora," the young Keyblade wielder replied, seeing that the sorcerer was referring to him.

"So what did the king ask you to do," Donald asked.

"Just a moment," Merlin requested, moving over to the raised floor that was situated in the middle of the room, and setting his bag down by the stairs leading up onto it. With a wave of his wand, and a quick magic word, the bag opened, and the four were treated to the sight of several pieces of furniture jumping up out of the bag and dancing around the room until they came into a suitable resting place. Moments later, the once bare, musty room was lit up with a much more suitable atmosphere, look, and feel that seemed like the type of thing you would expect from a wizard like Merlin.

"There now," Merlin sighed in relief once everything was done. He then cleared his throat and said, "Your king asked me to help train Sora in the art of magic. Apparently, he thinks that you could use some assistance in that department, Ventus."

If it were anyone else, or even another point in time, Ventus would probably have been a little offended by that piece of news, but since it was not that point in time, and who it was saying this, he was able to shrug it off very easily. "I could actually use some help with training Sora in getting a handle on some areas of magic," Ventus admitted. "Do you think you could also help me with teaching about Shotlocks and Command Styles, or rather, helping him getting a better handle on using them?"

"Well I don't know how much help I can be in those exact departments, but I can certainly help provide you with a place where you can practice without worry or distraction. Just ask any time you have a moment to spare," Merlin replied.

Ventus nodded in thanks for that, while Sora smiled in a similar manner, just before the blonde remembered what they were doing here in the first place. "Oh yeah, Cid asked us to bring your book over to you," Ventus informed Merlin, pulling out the mysterious book from his magic pocket.

"My book," Merlin asked, confused as to what Ven was talking about until he saw the book in question. "Oh that book! Thank you for bringing this to me, but the truth is it's not actually mine. Somehow it found its way into my bag one day. I didn't even know it was there until after your friend, Terra found it outside my old home and then brought it to me thinking it was mine. It was such a curious book that I couldn't help but keep it for him, and that's part of the reason why I asked Cid to repair it for me."

"So that's how Terra learned about this book," Ventus muttered to himself. He then remembered something else that he had learned about this particular book. "Didn't you once say that it had a great power in it or something?"

"Yes, indeed it does, though I'm afraid after it fell into such a damaged state, it's not quite the same kind of power as it once was when you and your friends last read it, Ven," Merlin unveiled.

"What kind of power does it have then," Sora finally asked, having become even more curious about the book ever since hearing that it was not actually Merlin's.

"Well, it's hard to say exactly just what it is, but what I can tell you is that this book actually holds an entire world inside of it," Merlin replied as he opened and looked through the book. "Though after it became damaged, that world fell apart, divided into the pages that were once within it, and it would seem that some of those pages are still missing."

"Why don't we go and look for those pages that are still missing," Goofy offered.

"Now that would be just splendid, but do hurry back as soon as you find them all. I'd hate to think of what would happen to the world in this book if those pages are not returned posthaste," Merlin beamed. While the other three were happy to help, part of them could not help but internally groan over how there was now something else that they had to find on their journey. Still, they were not going to say no. Just as they were about to move on to another matter, Merlin added one last thing, "By the way, about those stones you and Sora are carrying, Ven. I think my friend over there might be able to help you out with them."

Looking to where Merlin had waved, the four saw what looked like a small carriage that was shaped like a pumpkin, only to see a faint, blue sparkling mist seep out of it, and then solidify into a woman in a sky blue robe with a long, silver wand in one hand, and a bright smile on her face. Seeing this woman startled the group of course, but Ventus's surprise was soon replaced, once again, by recognition. "You're Cinderella's Fairy Godmother," the blonde exclaimed.

"Indeed I am. It's so good to see you again, Ven," Fairy Godmother beamed in reply. "The king had asked me to help you and your friends throughout your journey as well."

"That's great," Sora beamed. "So, can you tell us anything about these stones? Ven said that he thinks they're Summon Charms."

"It would be nice to get a little confirmation, though," Ventus added on as he and Sora both pulled out the charms that they had received from Leon and Cloud so that Fairy Godmother could have a look at them.

Fairy Godmother looked over the stones for just a few seconds before she cooed, "Oh the poor things! You were right to suspect that these are Summon Charms, Ventus, but they are ones of people whose worlds have been consumed by darkness. As you know, when a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants, but these two had such strong hearts, they became summon gems instead of vanishing with their worlds."

"So is there anything we can do to return them to normal," Ventus asked.

"Yes, but only their spirits," Fairy Godmother replied. "I can restore these gems to their proper form as Summon Charms, but that will only allow the people they summon to enter a kind of limbo until you summon them. Aside from that, they will remain as spirits, and the only way to truly restore them will be to return their worlds from darkness."

Sora and Ventus exchanged a look between themselves, and they both instantly knew what the other was thinking in this regard. They then returned their gazes to Fairy Godmother and nodded in approval, showing that they wanted her to do as she had suggested, and with a wave of her wand, Fairy Godmother restored the two Summon Charms to their proper states, and full power. After the spell had been cast on the two gems, they both underwent some small changes, but they were still noticeable all the same. Both charms had instantly become much brighter, and the two Keybearers could feel a spark of life resonating from the small things, but those were the only things that were the same between the two charms. In the case of Ven's charm, his had turned a bright orange-reddish color that was almost reminiscent of a sunrise, while the image of a lion with golden fur and a red mane stood out, emblazoned on the center. Sora's on the other hand, had turned a bright red, with silver webs running all across it, and in the center, the animal symbol that was once unrecognizable was now clearly shown to be that of a black spider. Despite these differences, the two could both still feel a great deal of strength and power coming from both charms, and they could tell that they had just gained a pair of very powerful allies for the battles that were still to come.

With their Summon Charms now properly restored, Ventus then turned to Merlin and asked if he could lead them to the area where he could help teach Sora more about his magic so that they could continue the boy's training. After all, they did still have some time to kill until Cid had finished working on their ship, and since Merlin had already said that his services had been requested by the king, they might as well take advantage of this new blessing and do some training before they left. Besides, given his current progress with mastering Command Styles, and the fact that Ventus himself was not the most inept spellcaster out there, they were going to need all the help they could get in this regard.

* * *

Training with Merlin definitely proved to be a very welcome help. Between the fact that they were able to use magic furniture that was able to instantly repair itself, and the fact that they were using a special room in which they would be able to practice without worry about surroundings, they all felt that they had found a perfect place to train Sora in the future without having to worry about others. In essence, they now had another reason to come back to Traverse Town besides stocking up on potions, ethers, and other items, as well as visiting their friends. It certainly beat just practicing on whatever world they happened to come across, but Ven insisted that they would still practice things on other worlds. After all, different worlds had different effects on certain fighting abilities, and it was always better to learn things from real life experiences than just by learning in a classroom, as Ven well knew from his own experiences.

Thankfully, training with Merlin did help Sora develop his reserves of magical energy, and it also had other added benefits. Ventus was so sure that after how things had developed with his Command Style abilities, his Shotlock skills would end up following a similar path, but as it turned out, Sora proved to be even better with Shotlocks than he was with the Command Styles. The kid was able to summon forth the Shotlock he had discovered with ease on his first attempt at doing so in a situation that was not so serious that you would think he had been using Shotlocks for years. In addition to that, Sora also managed to discover that he was able to use the Ragnarok and Photon Charge Shotlocks as well, proving this to be even more of a surprise to Ventus. You see, Shotlocks require a great deal of focus in order to use them, even after discovering how to use them that first time, and Sora did not really come off as the most focused type of person, as evidenced by how he would sometimes end up napping when he was supposed to be meditating. So the fact that he managed to use an ability like this so well as opposed to the Command Styles came as quite the shock to everyone. Maybe it had something to do with how they were easier to use in comparison to the Command Styles, which utilized a certain sense of timing in order to properly use them, or maybe it was how one just needed to point the Keyblade at a target and think about it, but whatever the case was, they were all glad that something was coming so easily to Sora in his training.

After practicing for a few hours, despite how the excitement made it seemed like mere minutes, the four finally bid Merlin and Fairy Godmother goodbye and left to let Cid know that they had finished the delivery and then investigate the gizmo shop's bell. At least that was the plan, but as they were arriving back into the Third District, they found themselves getting ambushed by the Heartless. At least they would have been, had someone not jumped in and destroyed them all in one blow. Someone that Sora instantly recognized.

"There you are! What's going on," asked Sora's best friend as he waved his odd-looking sword in show. While Sora was excited, there was just something about the demonic-wing-shaped sword with a familiar-looking blue eye with a cat-like iris that made Ventus feel a little nervous.

"Riku," Sora asked as he reached up and started pulling on Riku's face, much to his surprise.

"Hey, hey, cut it out," Riku exclaimed as he pushed Sora off, but Sora was too excited to really care if he was weirding his friend out.

"I'm not dreaming this time, right," Sora asked, practically begging someone to confirm that this was actually real beyond his own tests.

"I hope not. Took forever to find you," Riku chuckled, swiping a hand through his hair to prove how exhausting it was to find Sora.

That earned a laugh from Sora in response; there was no doubting it now, because only Riku could joke around like that. Seeing his friend was so happy to see him, Riku could only smirk happily, and that prompted a small smile from Ventus, Donald, and Goofy as well. That is until Sora thought of something else important. "Wait a second, where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you," Riku asked. Sora bowing his head sadly served as all the answer that Riku needed, and he knew that he needed to alleviate any worries that Sora was likely starting to develop after hearing about this. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this…"

As he was talking, Riku never once noticed that another pair of Heartless was starting to manifest behind him, but he definitely noticed after hearing someone cut it down, seeing as it happened right when he was in the middle of his last sentence. What he did not expect was to turn around and see Sora and Ventus standing there, Keyblades in hand and holding stances to indicate that they had just sliced an opponent down. After standing down from their battle stances, Sora turned to his friend with a small smirk of his own, shouldered his Keyblade, and said, "Leave it to who?"

"Sora, w-what did you…?" Riku stuttered, hardly able to say anything. His best friend on the other hand still had some things to tell him.

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help," Sora revealed, indicating Donald, Goofy, and Ventus.

Riku looked the three over for a minute, and Ven could not help but think that he was looking at them with a hint of jealousy. "Who are they," Riku finally asked.

"My name is Master Ventus. I'm Sora's Keyblade Master," the blonde introduced, holding a hand out for Riku to shake. Riku seemed to study the man for a minute before finally accepting the handshake, though Ven could not help but notice how tightly the kid's grip was. "Sora's been searching for you and Kairi like crazy. It really shows that you two are definitely his best friends."

Riku nodded in response to this after relinquishing his grip on Ven's hand, and then muttered, "So you're a Keyblade Master, huh? Not quite like the last one I met."

That perked Ven's interest a bit, but before he could question Riku on it, Sora cut in once again, cutting off Donald's own introduction at the same time. "We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you."

"Really? Well, what do you know? I never would've guessed," Riku commented.

"Oh, and guess what? Sora's the newest Keyblade Wielder, and he's really doing great under Ven's instruction, especially with things like Shotlocks," Goofy revealed.

"Who would've thought," Donald teased a little cross about Sora's interruption earlier.

"What's that mean," Sora demanded.

"So this is a Keyblade," Riku asked as he did something none of them were expecting. He actually took the Kingdom Key in his hand and held it, and not once did it even glimmer like it was going to vanish and return to Sora's hand.

While Sora quickly scrambled to take back his Keyblade, Ventus could only look on in shock. The minute that Riku had taken Kingdom Key from Sora, it should have instantly returned to the kid's hand, and yet it just remained with Riku. Even now, it was not vanishing from Riku's grasp and returning to Sora's like it should have, and it made the young master wonder just what was going on right now. Why was Kingdom Key not returning to its rightful wielder like it should have by now? Was there something going on that he might have missed, or was there just some sort of problem regarding Sora in relation to the Keyblade? Throughout his musings, he missed nearly all of Sora's struggles to take back the Keyblade, save for how Riku just casually threw it back into Sora's hand, but he most certainly did not miss the fact that another swarm of Heartless were suddenly jumping out at them now.

One would have managed to land a hit on Riku had Ventus not blasted it away with a quick Aero spell, and in that one moment, the five were once again jumping into action to fight the Heartless. Having another person fight with them had proven to be a big help in the past, but having someone like Riku definitely proved to be an even bigger help. The silver-haired kid certainly knew how to fight, and if you were to watch as he fought alongside Sora, you would see just how their bond as best friends translated into their fighting style. Sora's new skills definitely brought some improvement, but aside from that, it almost looked like they were in complete sync like they had always been. Riku's finesse dealt with enemies that Sora's brawler style missed and Sora's powerful strikes allowed him to take out stronger foes that Riku missed before they could hit him. The fact that Sora was now able to use an impressive range of magic definitely helped in their fighting style, but what came as even more of a shock was that Riku was able to cast some magic of his own. The type of magic he was using though left Ventus a little concerned though.

The minute that Riku fired off his first spell, the blonde immediately sensed the familiar taint of darkness in it that told him the boy was using dark magic. It may have been just one spell, one that he recognized as Dark Firaga, but that one was more than enough to tell him that Riku was messing with dark magic, and since he knew just how dangerous that type of magic was, he made it a point to talk with Riku about it as soon as possible. His moment of pause to make said note ended up costing him though, as a Large Body managed to body slam him from behind, knocking him off his feet and underneath a dog-pile of Shadows. Glancing around, Ven could see that Donald and Goofy were not much better off, as a squadron of Soldiers had them both backed against the wall, literally and figuratively, while Riku and Sora had ended up back-to-back in the center of a circle formed by all three types of Heartless. It was at that moment that Ven realized that they would need some extra help, and he could only think of one way to get it.

"Sora! Use the summon charm," Ventus shouted.

While Riku was confused as to what the blonde was talking about, Sora knew in an instant what he meant, and he quickly reached into his pocket to pull out the object in question, right after parrying a blow from a Soldier that had spun a kick at him. Raising the charm into the air, the object glowed brightly as Sora shouted summon, and after said glow had died down…nothing seemed to happen. There was no fancy show, no warrior or creature of any kind appearing, and not even some sort of random attack from out of nowhere. Everyone was confused about why the summon charm seemed to fail, right to the point where Riku ended up asking, "Isn't something supposed to be happening?"

"Just give it a minute or something," Ventus reassured his apprentice's best friend. "Sometimes they like to make a really dramatic entrance."

Sora would have asked how long they would have to wait, until suddenly, a Shadow that had leapt at him was suddenly snagged by what looked like a spider web. The Shadow in question was then pulled up into the air, along with a few soldiers that were also snagged by webbing, and then thrown down onto the ground by a figure who had spun through the air as he landed before Sora and Riku, destroying all of the Heartless he had captured the minute they collided with the ground. The two boys just looked on in awe, both due to how this mystery man had just saved them, and his appearance. The man in question was clad in a red and blue suit with web patterns running all across the red portions of the outfit. On the center of his chest, they could see a small, black spider emblem, and if they were able to see his back, they would have also seen a larger red spider emblem that was circular and had six legs on the sides as opposed to the four that the one on the front had. When the figure raised his head up, they were able to see that his mask covered his entire face, while the large, white eyes on it seemed to narrow a little to show that he was ready for a serious confrontation at a moment's notice. After a minute though, the eyes widened again as the man glanced stood up straight and started glancing around at his surroundings, like he was confused as to what was going on. It certainly would have made sense if that was the case, considering he had just been summoned from who-knew-where, so Ven knew they would have to be ready to quickly answer any questions this guy had for them.

"Hey, uh does someone mind telling me where the heck I am, 'cause this doesn't look like any part of New York to me," the red and blue clad stranger commented.

"You're in a place called Traverse Town," Sora immediately answered. "I summoned you here so you could help us fight these Heartless."

The man then glanced at the creatures of darkness that Sora had waved to and gasped, "Hey, those are the monsters I was fighting with some other heroes just before I blacked out! Guess they just don't know when to quit."

"You've got that right," Sora nodded. "Anyways, can you give us a hand? We're kinda getting overrun."

"You don't even have to ask. I mean, this does look like a job for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, after all," the masked man nodded, and he was soon spinning and swinging into action a second later. Everyone then watched as this Spider-Man, as he called himself wove his way across the battlefield, destroying Heartless left and right, until Ven and the others were finally freed up enough to pitch in and lend a hand. At one point, Sora even jumped in to fight side by side with Spider-Man, and they showed a fighting strength that was almost on the same level as a combined effort between Sora and Riku, or even Sora and Ventus. Eventually, Spider-Man fired off a large amount of webbing that pinned every single Heartless where they stood, giving Sora, Ven, and Riku the chance to rush in and take them all out in an instant, while Donald and Goofy helped the masked man to finish off any remaining stragglers.

With Spider-Man's help, the tide had definitely turned in the team's favor, and before they knew it, the fight was completely over. Seeing that there were no more enemies around, Spider-Man then looked to the five before him and asked, "Now can someone please tell me what is going on here? One minute I'm fighting monsters in New York along with guys like the Avengers, and the next thing I know, I'm blacking out only to wake up here in this crazy looking town fighting the same monsters, but this time, it's alongside a couple of guys with key-shaped swords, a kid with white hair and a sword shaped like a bat wing, and…" He could not help but pause when his gaze found Donald and Goofy and then whispered, "You guys see the two cartoon characters that have somehow come to life too, right?"

"Yeah. They're friends of ours," Ventus nodded.

"Nice to meet you. My name is…" Goofy started to say with a wave.

"You're Goofy and that's Donald Duck, right," Spider-Man cut in.

"Yeah, but how did you know that," Donald questioned.

"You guys are really famous where I come from," Spider-Man shrugged. "Wait, does this mean that Mickey Mouse is somewhere around here too?"

"We're actually trying to find him along with some other friends of ours," Sora explained. "My name's Sora by the way and this is my best friend Riku, and my master, Ventus."

"Call me Ven," the blonde quickly added. "So you're Spider-Man, right?"

"Yep, but you can just call me Spidey," Spider-Man nodded. Before he could say anything else, Spidey suddenly started glowing and then fading away. "Hey, what's going on?! I'm starting to see through myself like I'm some kind of ghost!"

"Sorry, but the magic we used to bring you here only works temporarily. Still, I hope we can call you again should we need the help," Ventus informed him.

"Hey, I'm always happy to help out. I'm not called your _friendly_ neighborhood Spider-Man for nothing," Spidey nodded. "If you guys ever need anything, just give me a shout."

"You've got it Spidey," Sora grinned. "I'll make sure to summon you back again real soon. Maybe next time we can really hang out and have some fun."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind taking some of you guys web-swinging, so until then," Spider-Man replied with a lazy salute, and with that, the marvelous hero disappeared from view.

Seeing everything that had just unfolded, Riku could not help but stare around at Sora and his new friends in surprise before he finally said, "Well, you seem to have gotten yourself mixed up into some really crazy adventures, Sora."

Sora just had to nod with a bright grin on his face, and then asked, "So, you're coming with us, right Riku? We've got this awesome rocket, and Ven can probably teach you some cool sword skills too. Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, he can't come," Donald squawked in protest.

"What?"

"Forget it!"

"Oh, come on! He's my friend!"

"I don't care," Donald huffed as he crossed his arms.

"Well you might want to start, because I think he should come with us," Ventus interrupted, earning a smile from Sora while Donald looked at him in disbelief. "Like he said, the guy's Sora's friend, and besides, I'm sure he wants to find Kairi just as much as Sora does…well, maybe not _just_ as much as Sora does, but pretty close to it. Besides, if this was Mickey, wouldn't you rather he stick with us?"

What Ventus was not saying was that he wanted to further question Riku on where he had gotten his sword and learned dark magic from, mostly because he did not want to worry Sora. After all, he had told Sora how dangerous dark magic was, so it only made sense that the kid would be worried like crazy if he heard that his best friend was using it. He also did not want to mention the matter of Kairi's heart being inside of Sora out in the open like this, and since he knew that he had to address the matter as soon as possible, he wanted to put an end to this argument as quickly as possible so that they could get off the streets and somewhere that they could have that discussion without any prying eyes and ears learning about said information. What he did not expect was for the argument to be settled in a different way than any of them were expecting.

Goofy had been glancing between his friends as they all argued about whether or not they should bring Riku along, until he finally looked back in Riku's direction and gasped, "He's gone!"

All arguments came to a halt as they quickly started looking around for any sign of where Riku had disappeared to, only to come up empty in the end. "Nice going," Sora angrily muttered to Donald.

"Look on the bright side, Sora, at least now you know he's okay," Ventus pointed out.

"Yeah, and who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too," Sora cheered excitedly, his sour mood practically evaporating in seconds, reminding Ventus of just how much Sora was like him when he was younger, and even now at times.

Hearing Sora mention Kairi again reminded Ventus of just how important it was he tell Sora what he knew about his other friend, and that reminder almost caused him to blurt it out right then and there. Thankfully, his self control prevented that from happening, along with how the whole town seemed to shake when the gizmo shop's bell suddenly rang out again, reminding them all of the other matter that they had to take care of right now. With their goals now firmly set in their minds, the team instantly raced off to the Second District, ready to solve the mystery that lay before them.

* * *

Getting over to the gizmo shop lead the four into a few more fights with the Heartless, but thankfully, they were more than able to handle the dark creatures that got in their way, no matter how many there were against them. Sure, it got a little tough when they were faced with a large number of monsters like the Large Bodies, but those normally only appeared in groups of three at most. The real tricky part was actually getting up to the rough of the gizmo shop so that they could take a look at the bell. In order to do that, they ended up having to go through the shop itself so that they could find a way to climb up there, and that involved battling a swarm of Heartless that kept coming at them in several different waves. Most of the time they were easy to deal with, but in other instances, there were Heartless that were hard to hit without magic, and others that were just immune to magic, meaning that they were often limited in what they could do to effectively end a fight quickly.

Somehow, they finally made it up to the roof, and after a brief scuffle with some Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies, Yellow Operas, and even a couple of Green Requiems, they managed to get enough peace to work bash into the boarded up bell tower of the gizmo shop. Looking around, they saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary; even the bell itself or the rope one would pull to ring it seemed completely normal. Still, there was no denying that something about this bell had been strange since sometime after they had all first left Traverse Town, so there was only one thing they could do to further investigate: ring the bell. Taking it upon himself, Sora instantly reached up and pulled on the rope, ringing the bell, while the other three kept their eyes open for anything in the area that might have changed.

In the end, it was Donald who first spotted something changing, as he shouted, "Hey, there's something going on with the fountain!"

Looking towards the object that the duck had indicated, they all just saw as a large block in the center of the fountain finished turning to show an image of various fish in the water, while some special effects in the fountain's base made it seem like a fire had been lit in the water. Interested in what had just happened, Sora pulled the rope again, and everyone watched as the fountain's incredible lights came to life in a brilliant show of colors, while the central block turned once again, showing a different picture than the last one, this one being of a pair of trees. Wanting to see what happened if he rang the bell a third time, Sora eagerly pulled the rope again, but this time, not only did something impressive happen to the fountain, namely water spouts going off, but something unexpected happened as well. When the block turned again, it not only showed an impressive picture, it also revealed something that none of them were expecting to see: the Keyhole of Traverse Town!

"We've gotta get down there and seal that Keyhole fast," Donald exclaimed. "Traverse Town can't fall to the Heartless too, not since it's become a home for so many people who've already lost their world!"

"And it won't. Not on our watch," Ventus stated in hard confidence, while an equally hardened look settled itself on his and Sora's faces.

The four then leapt down from the roof of the gizmo shop, Ventus using some wind magic to cushion their fall, and raced over to the fountain, Sora and Ventus already readying their Keyblades so that they could seal the Keyhole the minute that one of them got close enough to it. Just as they were getting close to the mystical passage to the world's heart, a massive Heartless dropped down in their path with a loud crash. Not just any Heartless though, it was none other than the Guard Armor, or rather, another version of the Guard Armor, because unlike the previous one, this one was different colors and even had a few additional colors as well. The violet sections were silver, the torso had gained red, yellow, and blue stripes, its head was now red with yellow spikes, its fingers were grey, its feet red, and the additives on its top and upper rims were now blue and yellow, respectively. Even with this color change, it was still the exact same monster that they had beaten before, and they were all sure that they could beat it again.

With that confidence in their hearts, the four charged into battle against their old, previously defeated foe. Just like last time, Donald and Goofy focused on the legs while Sora and Ventus directed their attention on the arms and torso, but this time, they would occasionally trade things around so that they were all evenly fighting each section of the massive Heartless. Of course, they were not really going all out just yet, but that was mostly because they believed that they did not really need to. Then again, there was no reason to think that they needed to since this was an opponent that they had defeated before, but Ventus knew that they could not drop their guard completely, since there was always a chance that any kind of surprise could be sprung on them at any moment. Add in the fact that they needed to seal the Keyhole as quickly as possible before this Heartless could lead others into it, and you could see why they all wanted to beat this monster as quickly as possible. Sadly, it was not quick enough to avoid any of the surprises that Ventus was worried about.

Just as they were about to deal the finishing blow, the Guard Armor suddenly froze where it stood before leaning forward. It did not stop until its hands were firmly planted flat on the ground, while the rest of it continued leaning forward until it would have been standing on its head, had its head remained where it previously was. The legs then rotated around, while the feet folded down, forming pincers and turning the legs into arms, while the head floated up to what had previously been the bottom half of the torso before opening the face mask up to reveal a pair of beady yellow eyes. Even after this transformation was complete, the various parts of the Guard Armor continued floating about in the air, still detached from each other, but now giving a much more menacing presence, especially with how what were previously the arms spun around beneath the torso. While the transformation was not that significant, there was no denying that it did not bode any good tidings for our heroes.

Ventus and Goofy were quick to take defensive positions in front of Donald and Sora, who were already preparing to use some variety of magic on this new beast, while Sora whispered a request to Jiminy about this new development with their opponent. Thankfully, the little cricket was able to provide some information easily, but he wished that he did not want to share some of it. "This fella is known as the Opposite Armor; a modified version of the Guard Armor. I know that was probably obvious from the color change, but it's not just that. The Opposite Armor is also a lot stronger than the Guard Armor, and even has a few different attacks, too. It's most dangerous attack would be when it rearranges itself so that it looks like a cannon and shoots energy blasts from its torso. Another thing you should be aware of is that it'll throw all four limbs at you at once, and that it'll use two different formations to attack us: Hammerleg-Head and Gauntlet-Torso. Both are dangerous, so watch out for them. Thankfully, you can still destroy each limbs piece by piece, just like the Guard Armor, so destroy each piece should limit what it can do afterwards."

The four nodded in response to Jiminy's information, and then prepared to engage the Heartless again. Just as Jiminy had said, the Opposite Armor did indeed throw its four limbs at them, but Donald and Ven were both able to throw up some protective spells to keep them safe. Those spells only lasted long enough to block that one attack though, and as a result, they were all quickly scrambling to avoid the energy blast that came from its torso a minute later. The Opposite Armor did not give them long to recover though, as its Gauntlets spun around in front of the torso, homing in on Sora as they did. Goofy was able to come to the rescue, blocking its attack with his shield, but sadly, the poor knight was not quite strong enough to push it back for very long. Luckily he did not have to, because Sora used the opening to unleash his Typhoon Barrage Shotlock on the Heartless, sending both the Gauntlets and the Armored Torso flying away, and crashing into the head and Hammerlegs, which were in process of attacking Ven and Donald. Ven and Donald used this chance to unleash a magic barrage of their own, but nothing they threw out seemed to do much damage, or at least not any more damage than Sora and Goofy's efforts had managed to make.

When the Opposite Armor rotated around into its cannon form again, the four scattered again, only to end up in the line of fire of its other attack formations again, only this time Ventus was on his own, while Sora was forced to fend off the Hammerleg-Head attack, while Donald and Goofy had to fend off the Gauntlet-Torso. Seeing this, Ventus knew there was only one option open to them at this point, and it was the same option that they used earlier to fend off a Heartless ambush. He was especially glad that Sora was not the only one with a Summon Charm, a fact he reminded everyone of when he pulled it out and unleashed its magic by shouting out, "Summon!"

A moment later, a faint cloud cover started to roll in around the area, and out from the center of the clouds, stepped a large lion with gold fur and a red mane, and the minute he stood directly in front of Ventus, he let out a powerful roar that echoed across the stars. The lion then glared directly at the Opposite Armor parts that were attacking Sora, and lunged forward, knocking it away from the boy. After swatting the monster aside, he then did the same to the section that was attacking Donald and Goofy, only to leave himself open to an attack from behind by the part he had just batted away. Thankfully, Ventus was able to come to the rescue, and parried the blow from the Hammerleg-Head, and when the lion turned to Ventus in shock at this, the blonde told him, "You and I should focus on one section of this thing while the others handle the rest."

Surprisingly, the lion seemed to understand him, because he nodded in reply and pounced at the Gauntlets and Armored Torso once again, with Ventus right behind him, Keyblade in hand. The other three were able to catch on easily enough, and Sora was able to take charge on their assault by unleashing the Ragnarok Shotlock on the Hammerlegs, giving Donald and Goofy cover so that they could charge in and attack it head on. Shockingly, Goofy leapt up and landed the first blow with some hard bashes and slashes of his shield, followed by Donald unleashing a barrage of Thunder and Fire spells. Sora then leapt in to slash at the legs with his Keyblade, and then glanced over to see how Ventus and his newest friend were doing. He was surprised to see that Ven was now _riding_ on the lion's back as they charge in to attack the Gauntlets and Armored Torso. Once they were close enough, Ventus leapt up into the air and brought Guardian Wind down on the Armored Torso in a powerful slash, while the lion pounced on the Gauntlets, pinning them down as he roared loudly at them.

What came as a surprise was that the Gauntlets were actually blasted into dust by the lion's roar, destroying them in an instant, and given how the Armored Torso and Hammerlegs reverberated a bit from the echoing sound of the roar, it looked like every other part of the Opposite Armor was damaged as well. Seeing this sparked a new surge of fighting spirit in the others, and they all charged in to attack together, slashing, bashing, blasting, and roaring like crazy on the remaining pieces of the Opposite Armor, and barely giving it any time to retaliate. They did not even let it get a break to assume its cannon form again, which was especially easy with the lion backing them up, until finally, all that remained was the Armored Torso, and they were laying into it with everything they had. Ventus started things off by unleashing his Wingblade Command Style, which Donald easily followed up with a powerful storm of magic spells. Goofy then spun around several times over as he bashed his shield into the Armored Torso, and when he came to a stop, he used his shield to boost Sora into the air so that he could fire off the Photon Charge Shotlock from above the Armored Torso. The lion then pounced once again with a loud roar and with that, the last piece of the Opposite Armor was vanquished.

With their enemy now defeated, the group then gathered around the lion that Ventus had summoned, curious about the mighty creature, but also a bit nervous since there was no telling how the lion would react to them after seeing how it quickly attacked the Heartless. Ventus on the other hand was of another opinion though, as shown by how he slowly moved closer to the beast than the others did. "Can you…understand me," Ventus asked.

The lion stared at Ventus for a minute, confusion written across its face, until it did something that surprised them all and spoke, asking, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Wak! He talks," Donald exclaimed, drawing a tired sigh from Ventus. He was honestly just not going to bother anymore with pointing out the irony behind Donald getting shocked over something that did not normally talk being able to.

"Who are you people," the lion asked.

"My name's Ventus, but you can just call me Ven," the blonde replied with a smile. "This is Sora, Donald, and Goofy. So what's your name?"

"I'm Simba of the Pride Lands," the lion answered with a smile. "Though, I'm pretty sure this isn't my home."

"It's not," Ventus replied. "The truth is, you're an entire world away from home, and…I'm sorry to say that your world has likely fallen to a powerful darkness. We're doing everything we can to help both your home and the other worlds out there, but we need all the help we can get."

Simba was of course upset by the news about his home, but the minute that Ventus mentioned that he and his friends were trying to save both it and all the other worlds, he immediately perked up with a determined expression on his face and said, "Well then, if I can do anything to help, I'll gladly do it. I may not be home right now, but I'll gladly do what I can to save it, even if I can't do much."

"Thanks Simba," Ventus nodded, and the lion returned the courtesy with a nod of his own before he vanished like Spider-Man had not too long before.

The four just stood there staring at where Simba had just been before they all grinned at one another, glad to see that they had gained such powerful allies, and they then turned to the Keyhole. With a single nod exchanged between them, Ventus and Sora both raised their Keyblades, and sealed the Keyhole shut, watching as it vanished the minute that it was sealed. A minute later though, they were surprised to see another strange gummi block fall out of where it the Keyhole had previously been, and since they were already planning on going to see him, they quickly scooped it up so that they could show it to Cid the next time they saw him, and then took off for where he said they could meet him.

* * *

When they arrived at the small house, the four were surprised to see the whole gang of their Traverse Town friends had gathered in the small room, and they were all eager to share the good news with them until they realized that they all had pensive looks on their faces that bordered on being vengeful in each of their own ways. A bit disturbed by such a tense atmosphere, especially considering that even Yuffie and Aerith were adding shares to it, neither Sora nor Ventus could help but ask what was wrong. It took a moment for any of them to answer, but eventually, Cid did with a question of his own. "You guys ever hear of Maleficent?" While the other three shook their heads in the negative, Ventus stiffly nodded with an expression of grim remembrance on his face, knowing who they were talking about all too well. "I hear she's in town," the engineer finished.

"Who is she," Sora asked, wondering just why this person was putting everyone in such a foul mood, including his teacher.

"A witch, man, she's a witch," Cid replied.

"Actually, she's a fairy," Ventus corrected, drawing slightly surprised looks from the others when he did. He looked about the room for a minute as he explained, "She's an evil fairy from the world of Enchanted Domain." When he only received more odd looks in response he added, "Yeah, I had the same reaction when I first learned she was a fairy too. What I don't know is how you guys know about her."

"She's the reason this town is full of Heartless," Leon explained, surprising Ventus a little. Last he checked Maleficent was not able to command creatures like the Heartless.

"She's been using the Heartless for years," Aerith revealed, answering the blonde's unasked question.

"We lost our world, thanks to her," Leon then finished.

"One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world! I got out of that mess and came here with these guys," Cid explained.

"That was nine years ago," Leon finally finished. "Our ruler, a wise man named Ansem, had dedicated his life to studying the Heartless, so some of us can't help but think at times that maybe his research drew her and the Heartless to our world. Still, his report should also tell us how to get rid of the Heartless and take back our home."

"Wait…your ruler…are you guys saying that you're all from Radiant Garden," Ventus asked in surprise, having never once suspected that.

That drew confused looks from the defenders of Traverse Town, until Cid finally said, "We're actually from a world called Hollow Bastion, to be honest. What made you think we were from this Radiant Garden place?"

Now Ventus was lost. The last time he had checked, there was only one Ansem out in the worlds who had ruled over any world, and that was the ruler of Radiant Garden. After all, it was hard to forget about someone he and Mickey had visited so many times in the past, or even the place where he and his friends had shared so many memories, both good and bad. Still, there was also something else to consider. Radiant Garden's star had first gone dim around the same time that Leon had said that he and the others had lost their world, and Ansem the Wise had disappeared shortly before that. Was it possible that this Hollow Bastion and Radiant Garden were one and the same? Ven truly had no way of knowing until they actually traveled to that world.

"I guess now we've got even more of a reason to find those reports of Ansem's then," Sora then remarked, reminding Ventus of something that had happened before they had returned.

"Good thing I've already found at least one of them," Ventus revealed, pulling the page out so that everyone could see it. "It's not really much help though. All it mentions is some of the early research and guess work about the darkness in people's hearts. Nothing about the Heartless themselves."

"Still, it's better than nothing," Yuffie pointed out.

"And I'm sure that Maleficent's got most of the other pages," Cid added, provoking even more dismay among everyone.

Not wanting his friends to fall too far into depression like this, Ventus quickly plastered on an easy-going smile and said, "Relax guys. Even if Maleficent is in town, there's no way their getting this world to fall to darkness. Sora and I just sealed the town's Keyhole, so things should quiet down a lot more now. Besides, there's one other thing you guys should know about Maleficent."

"And what's that," Leon asked.

Ventus could not help but smirk, even as he placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner and said, "I beat her when I was just a kid. Even if she wasn't going at full power then, I was mostly fighting her on my own. Now that I'm a master, and now that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are likely going to be helping me, she shouldn't be any trouble at all."

What the blonde did not mention was that he had help from three good fairies when he first fought Maleficent, but they did not need to know that, especially given how most of them seemed to cheer up a little at the information he had just given them. Though most of it was probably due to learning that Traverse Town's Keyhole had been sealed, but their spirits only continued to rise when Sora added on to his teacher's words of confidence with some of his own. "Yeah, we can handle her. We're not going to go looking to fight her right now, but if or when we do, we'll be ready for anything she can throw at us."

Now Ventus was a bit worried. While he did appreciate Sora's show of confidence, if it was actually as real as it seemed, that would mean that he could end up doing something careless, and with what he was carrying, there was no way that the blonde could allow that. Before the kid did anything reckless, he had to tell him now or never. "Sora, there's something that you need to know before you go off doing anything reckless," the blonde said.

"What is it," Sora asked, easily picking up on how serious the matter was just from Ven's tone, never mind his expression.

Seeing the intrigued yet concerned expression on his apprentice's face made Ventus all the more worried and concerned about telling Sora what he was about to say, but it had to be done, so he steeled his resolve and pushed onward. "It's about your friend Kairi," Ventus started, and he immediately wished that he did not start that way, because Sora's expression quickly became panicked. "It's nothing too serious, but it's still something that you need to know, especially since it relates to the fact that you're having visions of her."

"But I thought that was just because I was tired," Sora pointed out.

"That could be, but I think that there's another, much more likely reason," Ventus revealed. "Sora, when we first met I was able to sense a powerful light within you. That's normal, seeing as you had just gained a Keyblade, but there was more to it than that. There was another light in your heart; one that was far too powerful to only be from your own, and it didn't have a trace of darkness in it. The light that can only come from the heart of a Princess of Heart."

"Are you saying that Sora has a Princess of Heart's heart inside of him," Donald asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Ventus confirmed. "I wasn't really sure who it could have been though, but after hearing about his friend from him, I figured that there was a chance that it could be Kairi. You remember what I told you about the personality qualities that all Princesses of Heart posses, right?" Sora only nodded in reply, so the blonde continued, "Would you say that Kairi's personality has those qualities?"

"Well…yeah, I guess she does," Sora nodded in thought. "What does that…?"

"Sora, it has everything to do with this," Ventus interrupted, preempting the obvious question. "And the fact that you've been having visions of her recently confirms it. Your friend Kairi is not only a Princess of Heart, she's also inside of your heart, or at least her heart is."

One could easily tell from Sora's expression that he had been shocked to his core at this news, right to the point that the boy could not even speak properly for several minutes. When he finally did find his voice again, all he could do was stutter, "Her heart…is…Kairi's inside of me? But…how…when…why?"

"I only know the answer to that first question, Sora, but only because it's the obvious one," Ventus tried to lightly joke, but his face became serious once again. "I think that, when your islands fell to darkness, her heart somehow found its way inside of you so that it could take shelter. However it was possible though, I couldn't guess. It normally would require a very powerful or special spell in order for it to happen, or maybe even something as simple as a strong bond. I'll admit that the latter clearly exists between you and Kairi, but there's just no way of really knowing for sure at this point. Either way, it just means one very important thing: you can't be too careless in this journey."

"What do you mean by that," Sora asked, practically demanding an explanation.

"Sora, do you remember what I told you about what it would mean if something bad happened to all seven Princesses of Heart," Ventus asked. When the boy said nothing in reply, but gained a thoughtful, serious expression on his face, he took that to mean that he did, he continued on with what he was saying. "What you don't know is that the worlds of four of them have all fallen to darkness now. That's four Princesses of Heart who have already been taken by darkness, and with the addition of Alice being captured by the Heartless, that makes five, which means that counting Kairi, there's only two Princesses of Heart left. If anything were to happen to the other one, that would leave Kairi's heart as the only one that was safe, so what do you think that would mean?"

Sora did not even have to think for very long. "I would have to protect her with everything I have and more."

"Exactly. More than that, we also have no idea about what would happen to her heart if you were ever beaten or overwhelmed by the Heartless, especially since we don't know where her body is," Ventus said.

"Why would that matter," Goofy asked.

"If Kairi's heart is in Sora, what do you think that means in regards to her body," Ventus asked. He did not wait for an answer this time. "Her body is out there somewhere, and from an outside perspective, one would think that she was in a sleep-like comatose state. That means she's vulnerable to anything and everything, and if we want to even _attempt_ to restore her heart to her body, we need to find it first."

"And after we do that, we'd still need to keep her safe after putting her heart back where it belongs," Sora finished.

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. He then hesitated for a minute before saying, "There's just one problem: I actually…don't know how to put her heart back into her body."

"WHAT," the other three gasped.

"Hey, in my defense, the last time I encountered a Princess of Heart whose heart had been taken, it was easy to restore it to her body because it was just hanging out in the open, and all I had to do to was give it a little tap. This is completely different from that just by the fact that Kairi's heart is inside of another vessel," Ventus quickly defended. "I'm not saying that I don't have an idea on how to do it, but what I'm saying is that I don't know how to do it without putting Sora at risk. If we don't extract Kairi's heart from his body just right, Sora could end up losing his heart in the process."

That did not inspire a lot of confidence in everyone, but somehow, Sora managed to shrug it off and smiled as he said, "Well, we'll just cross that bridge when we get there. After all, we've got to find Kairi's body first, right? So until then, I'll keep her heart safe."

Everyone smiled in response to this, happy to see that Sora was still so confident despite knowing just how much danger he was going to be in if their enemies found out what was being kept safe inside of his heart, but they quickly became concerned when Sora suddenly jumped in shock. To be fair though, he did have a good reason, because just seconds after he said that, he heard someone speaking in his head. Namely the very same girl they were just talking about. _"Thank you, Sora."_

"Kairi," Sora gasped, looking around to see if he could see her somewhere in the room again.

Ventus immediately realized what was happening and brought Sora's searching to a halt by grabbing Sora's shoulders, drawing his apprentice's attention directly onto him. "Sora, Kairi's trying to communicate with you through your mind. Don't look for her; just think what you want to say to her." Sora nodded and fell silent, trying to do as Ventus said, but all he received was silence in response. When he told Ven this, the blonde was quick to come up with an answer on what the problem was. "You're only trying to think about her, but you need to connect with her through your heart. It shouldn't be too hard, and not just because her heart is inside you. She's also one of your closest friends, and someone you care a great deal about. Just open yourself up to that feeling, and focus your thoughts through that."

Sora did not entirely understand what Ventus meant by that, but he did get the basic gist of it and did as instructed. After a couple of minutes, Sora could feel a warm feeling in his chest, one that he had started having a long time ago whenever Kairi was around, and after focusing on that feeling for another minute, he thought, _"Kairi, can you hear me?"_

 _"Of course I can,"_ Kairi immediately responded. _"I'm just glad that you can finally hear me. I've been trying to reach you for what feels like ages, but I wasn't able to get through. I'm pretty sure it was something on your end though, considering what a lazy bum you are."_

Sora could not stop himself from chuckling out loud in response to Kairi's teasing, but he was quick to focus on their conversation and asked, _"Do you know where you are?"_

 _"Yeah, I heard what Ven told you, but I'm having a hard time believing it. From where I'm standing, it looks like I'm on top of some strange tower with a stain glass floor. It looks like it has a picture of you sleeping with your Keyblade in one hand, while smaller images of me, Riku, and your newest friends are next to yours. It's actually really pretty, but it also feels a little strange knowing that this is the inside of your heart."_

 _"Well, I just hope you don't mind being there for too long. After all, I'm going to do everything I can to find your body so you can get back to it,"_ Sora reassured her.

Kairi's tone became much more gentle as she replied, _"Thanks Sora, and don't worry. I don't mind being in your heart at all. I never have."_

Sora suddenly started hoping that Kairi could not pick up on his blushing in response to that, but he still smiled all the same knowing that she was okay, and when he informed the others of this, they all had smiles on their faces, glad to see that their friend and the girl he cared about were going to be okay for the foreseeable future.

* * *

What none of them realized was that right at the same time they were all exchanging this information, someone was watching it all unfold from right outside the window, and despite the fact he could not hear anything, it did not stop him from drawing up conclusions. Even if most of those conclusions were being influenced by the evil fairy standing next to him as she whispered those very dark thoughts that were filtering through his mind into his ear. "You see? It's just as I told you," Maleficent commented with a barely hidden, sinister smile as she and her newest ally looked on at the group inside the small apartment. "While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidently, now he values them far more than he does you. Not only that, but he's even found someone to help him gain a strength that you could never dream of giving him. I can't say that I blame him for wanting strength, but you really must wonder if he's really gaining that strength for the right reasons. After all, he doesn't seem too concerned about you and your other friend when faced with the prospect of what he will gain from training under Ventus."

Maleficent paused in her monologue for a moment to glance over, and her smirk grew a little more when she saw how Riku's eyes narrowed into an even more intense glare than they had been before. She knew that she had him firmly baited just by that look on his face, so now, all she had to do was reel him in. "You're better off without that wretched boy. Now, think no more of him, and come with me. I'll help you find what you are searching for."

Riku said nothing in response for a moment, opting to continue glaring through the window in both anger and a bit of hurt, most of it being directed at Sora, who appeared to be happily laughing away with his new friends as he assumed his usual relaxed pose, before he finally turned his attention to the other Keybearer that was in the room with Sora and the others. "About that other guy: Ventus. Do you think he really is a Keyblade Master," Riku finally asked after another minute of staring at the blonde.

Maleficent considered this question for a moment before she replied, "I have encountered him once before many years ago, and given the time that has passed since then, I would say that it would be safe to assume that would indeed be true. Why do you ask?"

"…No reason," Riku said, though that was mainly because he did not want to reveal his true reasons to Maleficent. He still had his doubts about the blonde's claims to being a Keyblade Master, but at the very least, if it was true, he could at least rest easier knowing that Sora would be safe with him. Even if the lazy bastard was just playing around and thinking he was too cool for him now that he had a Keyblade, it was good to know that he would be safe while Riku continued with what was now his mission and his alone. That did not mean he was not intending to make sure that Sora pay for abandoning him like this, and that he showed he was honestly grateful for what Riku was doing when he finally succeeded.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well there you have it. Ven gets the Summon Charm for Simba, we meet up with Merlin and the Fairy Godmother, learn a little about the history behind Pooh's storybook at least in relation to Merlin, Ven, and his pals, along with a few other reminders of Ven's past exploits, there was the final face-off with the Guard/Opposite Armor, reuniting with Riku, and...hm, let's see, what else was there? Oh that's right! Sora's mystery summon is none other than our web-swinging wonder of a hero who's newest movie Spider-Man: Homecoming comes out next month, the amazing, the sensational, the spectacular, friendly neighborhood SPIDER-MAN!_**

 ** _[audience applause...correction roaring applause while Amazing Spider-Man 2 theme music plays]_**

 ** _So yeah, I suppose this tells you whether or not we're going to see the Marvel universe in this story, because as was previously mentioned, most of the summon charms that Sora and his pals gain are going to be those of people who have lost their worlds to darkness. I really wanted a Marvel character to appear as a summon here, and even after considering all of the other Avengers, I just couldn't find someone who was better suited for this than Spidey. As many people have often said in the past, Spider-Man is the greatest hero there ever lived simply because he's always stayed true to who he is, and even when he goes off to fight big bads like the Phoenix, Thanos, Dormammu, and others like that, he always comes right back down to the street-level crimefighting and helping out the little guy because that's where he started and it's where he feels like he belongs._** ** _Ventus getting the Summon Charm for Simba was easy to decide. You see, I wanted to split the Summon Charms as evenly as possible between Ventus and Sora, at least in regards to the ones that we would be seeing the most of, or rather, the ones that have the most impact on the larger story. That's why the next time we see an original summon, namely the one featuring a Star Wars character, it will be called upon by Ventus._**

 ** _Speaking of Simba, of course I made it so that he would be able to talk with Sora and the gang. Without the obvious reasons that you would give if this were part of the game, how else would our heroes learn his name and vice-versa?_**

 ** _Moving onto the topic of the Guard/Opposite Armor. If you'll notice, I gave it its Final Mix rendition this time around. That's because I wanted to really drive home the fact that this was a more powerful version of the original Guard Armor that the team had already defeated, and while the transformation into the Opposite Armor already does that quite well, giving it its color change just seemed like it would have more of an impact. I mean, it certainly works for characters in various different Transformers series, so why not here, right?_**

 ** _Now, the reunion with Riku. I'll admit, most of it went as it did before, but I wanted to really emphasize that something had really changed about him since he was last seen by Sora, and while I think that his reactions and interactions with Ven, Donald, and Goofy really helped drive that point in, I feel like the fight that introduced Spidey to the story as a summon really helped to drive the point home. Not only that, but it also served as a chance to give Maleficent more ammunition to use to pull Riku into her fold. After all, just hearing about how Sora's improving without him is one thing, but actually seeing it first-hand is another entirely._**

 ** _Another thing I want to note is how Ventus revealed the fact that Maleficent is actually an evil fairy to everyone as opposed to a witch. I know that they're probably just saying that as an insult to her, which she would likely take as a compliment in some twisted way, but that insult has often been taken as fact as opposed to what she actually is. I mean, how often have you encountered someone who would describe Maleficent as a witch as opposed to a fairy before or even after her movie came out?_**

 ** _One more thing to note is how I made it so that the Shotlocks came naturally to Sora. Yes, I mentioned how they require a certain degree of focus, which Sora does not normally display, but since Command Styles have proven to involve a great deal of timing and precision, it just made sense that this ability, which is basically just a point-and-shoot-skill in this story, would come a little more easily to Sora. Besides, I do believe that I mentioned that the Shotlocks would have a larger role in this story in comparison to my last Kingdom Hearts story, and this is really just one other reason as to why that would be the case._**

 ** _Finally, Sora learning that Kairi's heart is inside of him much earlier than before. I'll admit that I wanted Ventus to reveal this information to Sora by this point in the story from the start, and while I will admit that I do like how Kairi will be interacting with Sora now that he knows she's there and can form the connection, I must confess that his being able to speak with her like that at the moment was actually inspired by another story that follows a similar plot-line to this one. It's just one of those stories where Aqua somehow ends up in Sora's time around the beginning of the first Kingdom Hearts games and becomes his teacher as opposed to what I'm going for here. It's called Awaken By Time, written by "UknownHero." I recommend checking it out if you haven't already, because it is really good, even though it hasn't gotten too far into the adventure yet. So there's my little shout to ya, "UknownHero" if you're reading this._**

 ** _Oh, and let's not forget about the new information that Ven's learned, namely about how his friends came from the world of Hollow Bastion when he was originally thinking they were from Radiant Garden. Really starting to help him put some pieces together in at least some regards wouldn't you say?  
_**

 ** _Sora: Hey, what about Pooh's storybook? Are we going to see any of that world?_**

 ** _AN: Honestly, no I don't think so. There wasn't really too much of consequence happening there aside from Sora meeting Pooh and his friends, as well as sealing that world's Keyhole. That visit and the collecting of the missing pages will be mentioned later on, but that's about as far as we'll go with things involving that world. Otherwise, we just have an unnecessary filler, and I hate writing chapters like that unless I feel its necessary for some reason._**

 ** _Well that's a wrap for now, and next chapter, we're continuing on with the adventure, starting off with another round of farewells to friends in Traverse Town and then heading on to the next world of the team's adventures. Just where are they going, you might be asking? Well find out by moving Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _It's back out into the worlds again after a short rest break in Traverse Town, and with the new navigation gummi installed, the team sets out for a whole new set of worlds, starting with one filled with magic, mischief, and vast deserts. In the process, they find themselves tangling with a selfish vizier while fighting to save the last remaining Princess of Heart besides Kairi. Of course, it's going to take more than just the power of a Keyblade to stop this sorcerer and his pet parrot. It's going to take a diamond in the rough. See what kind of friends will be made in the hot sun of the desert sands, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, you read right. In case it wasn't already obvious, next time we will...Come on down, stop on by. Hop a carpet, and fly, to another Arabian night~!...Until then though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	11. Arabian Nights

**_AN: Hello all, and welcome back once again, after a very long absence to the tale that re-imagines that of the first Kingdom Hearts game in a whole new way, while also acts as a spin-off to my first Kingdom Hearts story, Keyblades of Future Past!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Riku: Couldn't you just say welcome back to Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys?_**

 ** _AN: Well I could, but that feels a little boring. Anyways, this chapter's a long one because a lot of stuff is being unveiled here, so I'll try to keep this as short as possible. Thankfully, we're not having to use manual controls to start this time, so that will be a big help. No lever-pulling here today. Anyways, let's kick things off by answering a few reviews. The real question is where do we start on that?_**

 ** _Sora: Hey, how about with this one? It looks like a regular reviewer for both this story and some of your other ones._**

 ** _AN: [looks at the name Sora's pointing at] Hey, "Monkey D. Conan"! How ya doing? Glad to see you reviewing another epic! Anyways, I'll get right down to it, and answer all the questions you're last review posed to me. If I tried answering them all, I'd probably just be reminding you of things you already know now. Anyways, first off, we're going with the Clone Wars version of Ahsoka for this story, but just to be clear, I'm talking about Ahsoka as she appeared near the middle/end of the series, you know, when she got that new look and a second lightsaber. And speaking of which, I'm actually going to end up closing that poll a bit sooner than I expected, because the votes are all swinging more in one direction than any other from what I can tell. So, with that being said, as of this chapter, that particular poll, the one on which Star Wars character you all would like to see appear in this story as a summon, is now closed. If you haven't been looking at the results that people have been sending in before, then you'll just have to wait until we reach that chapter to see who it is that gets to jump into the fun._**

 ** _Kairi: Why can't you just tell them now? It's not like it'll be a big spoiler._**

 ** _AN: I know, but I feel like being a little dramatic so that it would still come as a big surprise when we reach that point. Anyways, Mickey's help for Riku at this point in the story will not be possible, since he's already off on his own, but Mickey and Riku will be teaming up for something else later on down the line, and it will be beyond what they did together in the first game too. You'll just have to wait and see what that is, but I'm sure some of you can probably guess what that thing is already. Oh, and yeah, that whole idea you had about Sora trying to tell Riku about Kairi but Riku won't listen? Yeah, that's going to happen. And I like the idea you suggested regarding Sora's unique Command Styles. I just might go with that._**

 ** _Next up, let's address a reviewer by the name of "Guest", namely the one from Jun 26. I didn't say we wouldn't go to Pooh's world at all, it will get mentioned, but we won't actually see it happening, at least not as it happens. I can't really see it being that of that much importance as anything more than filler right now, but that might change later on._**

 ** _Ventus: Hey, there's a guest review addressing me about the fear I displayed when I talked with Aqua and Terra about the x-blade. Can I answer that?_**

 ** _AN: Go for it._**

 ** _Ventus: Well, let me just say now that I'm not entirely sure how they plan to handle that in canon, but as for the me in this story, it was more due to learning a little more about it with help from Yen Sid, so I knew just how dangerous it would be in the hands of someone like Vanitas and Xehanort._**

 ** _AN: Well said. Now for our final review answer for today, I'll be addressing the reviewer "ronin warriors fanatic". Namely, the non-generic review, and let me just say, wow man. You really know how to show some love to a story like this. Glad to see you're enjoying it so much. And more than that, you've actually got a pretty good guess or two about things that may or may not happen later on in this story at a certain point. Don't worry, I don't plan on abandoning this story, and I really do try my best to not abandon any of my stories if I can help it, especially when it comes to the ones I put so much hard work into like this one here. As for the meeting with King Triton, I think you might find how that meeting as a whole goes quite surprising and satisfying._**

 ** _Well, I'd say that just about covers everything I wanted to talk about here. Shall we enjoy the show now? What am I talking about? Of course we can!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter X**

The gang did not want to leave Traverse Town again too soon, and that was proven due to how they spent a few more minutes there hanging out with Leon and the others, even after Cid had informed them that he had finished installing the navigation gummi on their ship, and added a few other upgrades just because he was "feeling generous." Still, the four knew that they had to get back out there again, especially knowing how much was at stake, so after spending a few more minutes exchanging stories with Leon and the others, and doing a little bit more magic training with Merlin, Ventus started leading the team back to First District, and to the world's departure hangar. They would have gone straight there after their meeting at the small house, but Sora was still training, and Merlin's place did offer an excellent training area that you just could not find while you were out in the middle of a mission on another world, so it was only natural that they held off on leaving right away. Of course, there were a few other reasons as well.

The first of those reasons was that Cid had insisted on showing them what his real job here in Traverse Town was before they left, and since it did not look like he was going to take no for an answer, the quartet figured they might as well hear him out. It was not like they did not need to go by the area anyway. They had to stop at the item shop so that they could restock on things like potions and ethers before heading out. Ventus was a little worried that they would have to deal with a Moogle running the shop, mostly because while the little guys were cute, they could haggle like pros, and Keyblade wielders were no exception to their businessman rules, so he was very relieved to see that it was not a Moogle running the shop, but three young boys that he, Donald, and Goofy were all very familiar with. Those boys being none other than Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Ventus knew that the three had taken off at some point a few years back after they had raised enough money to set out on their own adventure, much to their Unca Donald's displeasure, but the boys were definitely proving their mettle as both adventurers and businessmen now, seeing as they had started up the shop all on their own and had been running it with very little help ever since. Donald had to admit, he was proud of his nephews for following their hearts in becoming adventurers like him and his rich uncle, but that did not mean he was not still upset that his boys were still charging them full price for everything.

"Sorry Unca Donald. No family discounts," Huey had said.

"And there's no discounts for good friends or Keyblade Masters either, so don't even bother asking, Ven," Dewey added in warning to the blonde.

Ventus just smiled as he put his hands behind his head, showing that he had been at least thinking about it before the blue clad duck had said anything. Louie then stated, "It's nothing personal, but we're never going to be great adventurers like Unca Donald and Unca Scrooge if we're just giving handouts to people all the time, right?"

Donald just sighed when his third nephew said that, mentally blaming himself and Scrooge for teaching his boys things like that, but he was still proud of them all the same. So, after paying for the items that they needed, they headed out to see Cid and find out what his real job actually was. What they did not expect was to run into someone else that they knew along the way. Or to be more accurate, someone that _one_ of them knew, and he still could not believe that they were actually here even after one of them had called out to him. "Hey, I'd know that head of spiky hair anywhere! Sora! How're ya doin', man," rang the familiar tones of a certain Islander that Sora knew too well to not recognize it right away.

"Wakka," Sora gasped when he spun to face the speaker. Sure enough, there was the tanned, red-haired boy from Sora's home, just as he remembered the guy being, right to the point where Sora could see his lucky Blitzball in one hand, and Sora could not help but run over excitedly, glad to see another friend of his was okay.

"Hey, don't forget about me. What am I, a bad paopu fruit," another familiar voice asked, and Sora immediately turned to see Selphie standing just a few feet away, and he was soon wrapping her in a huge hug as well, his happiness at seeing friends from his home sky-rocketing even more.

"How'd you guys get here? More importantly, when did you get here," Sora asked once he had calmed down a little as Ventus, Donald, and Goofy approached.

"Just a couple days ago, actually," Wakka revealed. "I'm not sure what happened, but one minute I was hanging out at Tidus' place planning for a friendly little Blitzball game with some of the other islanders, and then the next thing I know, some weird storm rolls in, and after I blacked out, I woke up in one of the rooms at the hotel in Second District."

"Wish I could say the same. I ended up in the middle of the street over in Third District, and I was almost jumped by some of those crazy monsters had it not been for Yuffie," Selphie huffed. Clearly she was jealous that Wakka got to wake up in a much more calm and comfortable setting than she had when they arrived here. "What about you? When did you get here?"

"Umm…" Sora had to pause and think for a minute. To be honest, with everything that he had been doing during his travels with the others, he had lost all track of time, so he was not sure how long it had been since he landed in Traverse Town the first time.

"It was about over a week ago, now," Ventus filled in for Sora, alerting the other two of his and the others' presence. When he noticed their curious gazes, he immediately smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Ventus, but my friends call me Ven."

"Nice to meet you, bruddha," Wakka nodded with a smile, while Selphie did the same, and they repeated the process after getting introductions from Donald and Goofy as well, until she realized something off with what Ventus had said.

"Wait, if Sora's been here for over a week, how come we haven't run into him or you until now," the girl asked.

"That's actually our fault," Ventus admitted. "You see, Sora's been granted a very special power that could help save other worlds from suffering the same fate as yours, and since its one that I also possess, I decided to take him on as my apprentice. Plus, we've also been helping him look for his other friends while visiting other worlds and saving them from the Heartless."

"Let me guess, you're mainly looking for Riku and Kairi, right," Selphie asked Sora.

"Yeah," Sora sheepishly admitted. In all honesty, he felt a little bad about not looking for any of his other friends too, but to be fair, Kairi and Riku were a lot more important to him than anyone else, so it was a little understandable if he would make them the highest priority in his searching.

 _"Oh Sora. It's sweet that you care so much about us, but you really shouldn't just forget about the others like that,"_ Kairi sighed in his head.

 _"I didn't forget about them! I just…I was more worried about you guys,"_ Sora thought in response.

The mental argument with his heart's passenger was quickly put on hold though when he realized something was a little off in what the two had said, "Wait a second. Haven't you guys run into Riku? I mean, we just saw him over in Third District not too long ago."

Wakka and Selphie quickly exchanged shocked looks between themselves before looking back to Sora as the latter replied, "That's the first we've heard of it."

"Yeah. Among your little trio, you're the only one we've met, Sora," Wakka added.

"Still, it's nice to know that Riku's okay," Selphie admitted, not noticing the confused looks on the quartet's faces. If these two had been in Traverse Town for a few days, then they should have run into Riku at some point, even if he just appeared here today. Maybe Riku was just too focused on finding his best friends to really think about finding anyone else like Sora had inadvertently been, but still, he should have at least stopped to say hello to the two. Ven's face had fell a little, having his own suspicions about why Riku had not stopped to check on Selphie and Wakka if he had ever found out that the two were here, but right now was not the time to give them voice. Besides, he did not want to soil this little happy reunion that Sora was having with his two friends. He found out he would have to do so a little bit though, when Selphie suddenly asked, "Say, have you seen any sign of Kairi yet?"

Sora knew why Selphie would be asking that. Even though Kairi had not been born on Destiny Islands, she and Selphie had always shared a kind of sibling relationship that was almost like the friendship between him and Riku in a small way. It was not entirely the same though, since Selphie typically spent most of her time with Tidus and Wakka while Kairi was with him and Riku, but Sora knew that the two girls would often get together and do whatever it was girls do on days when it was just them. Knowing this, Sora was a bit hesitant on telling Selphie what he had learned just a little while ago, even with Kairi encouraging him to say something to her about it in his head, but just when he was about to, Ventus cut him off and replied in his place. "I'm afraid not. We've found one or two small clues, but nothing really concrete yet," the blonde fibbed, earning a small look from Sora.

When the blonde Keyblade Master shot his apprentice a look that cautioned him to not say anything to the contrary, Sora discreetly nodded in understanding while making a note to ask Ventus about this later before turning back to his friends, hoping to steer the conversation away from that with a question he had been wondering about since meeting them. "What about Tidus? Isn't he with you guys too?"

"I was kinda hoping you knew where he was," Wakka admitted. "We haven't seen any sign of him at all since we got here, and Leon and them said that they hadn't run across anyone who even looks like him once since Destiny Islands disappeared."

"Well don't worry too much. I'll bet that your friend is doing just fine, wherever he is," Goofy reassured the two. When the two did not seem to cheer up all that much, he then added, "Hey, ya know what? Why don't you let us look for him for ya? I mean, we're already looking for our own friends, so we can keep an eye out for yours while we're traveling to other worlds."

"Why not just let us come with you," Selphie asked.

"We can't," Ventus replied. The two looked ready to protest, but Ven immediately preempted them with his counterargument. "I'm sorry, but the fact that you two are here now is already as much as can be allowed when it comes to people going to other worlds. If we bring you with us, we'd be disrupting the world order. Sora and I are special exceptions because of the power that we both wield, and Donald and Goofy are the same since they're close allies of ours that are well aware of other worlds and have traveled to some of them before now."

"Besides, there's not really much room left on the ship. Maybe for one other person, but even that's just barely," Donald revealed.

Wakka and Selphie seemed a little disheartened by this news, but the former quickly perked up and said, "Ah no worries. If you guys are out there looking for Tidus, then we don't mind at all. Just do me a favor: if you do find him, make sure you give him a good hit to the head for making us worry about him so much, ya?"

"And make sure that you bring both him and Kairi back safely too," Selphie added.

"Don't worry. We were planning on doing that anyway," Sora reassured them.

The two nodded in thanks for this, and the conversation then fell into what the two had been doing in Traverse Town since they woke up. It turned out that they had learned quite a bit about the Heartless from Leon and the others, and ever since, they had been doing what they could around town to help the people who lived there, even going so far as to fight the Heartless when necessary. Apparently, Wakka had asked Aerith to enchant his Blitzball so that it could be used effectively against the dark creatures, while Selphie had somehow managed to convince Yuffie to loan her a set of Nunchaku to use in place of her jump rope, which she was now wearing around her waist like a belt in case the actual weapon was ever lost to her for some reason. Sora was not sure what had possessed Yuffie to say yes to Selphie's request, but considering how similar the two were in his opinion, he figured that it made a weird kind of sense. Either that or she was just intimidated into doing so after seeing how deadly the girl could be with her jump rope alone, which made a little more sense. He should know since he and Riku had a couple of bruises to prove it, much to Kairi's amusement when she had found out later on. Besides fighting the Heartless though, the two were mainly just doing some small stuff like helping out at some of the shops or keeping folks entertained in some way, so it was definitely good to see that these two were around, because the people needed whatever reassurance they could find in these times, especially after they first arrive in this town.

Wakka and Selphie actually had the chance to prove how much help they had been around Traverse Town as they joined the four in meeting up with Cid, because the entire time they were walking over to the man's real place of business, people were stopping and waving to the two at minimum, and they would both return those greetings with a smile of their own. Even Cid had to smile a little when he saw the two arrive with the quartet, and Ventus could not help but tease the man a little when he saw that. Surprisingly, Cid just brushed it off, said that he could not get into much of a foul mood with Selphie and Wakka around, and then told Wakka that he was looking forward to the next Blitzball game that he played before turning to explain his real job to the four world travelers/defenders. It turned out that Cid was mainly in the business of all things gummis, both in terms of ships and blocks, and since he enjoyed working on the team's ship so much, he said that the next time they spoke with him, he would give them a special discount. Even went so far as to give them a new weapon gummi to install onto their ship the next chance that they had, the Comet-G laser to be specific, as a special giveaway. Looking back on things, it made sense that Cid would be into that sort of thing. There was just something about him that made it seem like he was the type to be right at home working on various different scientific fields, especially in the case of things like gummi ships. Ventus had already known that Cid had been really into working on the ships since he spotted Cid working on one specific ship at the Traverse Town hangar a few times, which Cid explained was his own personal ship, and the blonde figured that since they were here, they might as well get some information about something that he had been wondering about for a little while now.

"Say Cid, when we sealed the Traverse Town Keyhole, this gummi block fell out of it. I figured it might be another one of those navigation gummis that we showed you before, but it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion, if you don't mind," the Keyblade Master said, pulling out the gummi in question when he did.

Cid looked over the block in question for a few seconds, until he finally nodded and said, "Yep, that's another navigation gummi all right, but I can't install it on your ship right now if that's what you're hoping for."

"Why not," Sora asked.

"Simple. This is one of those blocks that come in sets," Cid explained. "Some of them do a lot of times, especially in the case of blocks that are crucial to specific systems on a ship or for a set of blueprints for a type of ship. Lucky for you, this one is a case of the former. All you gotta do is find the mate to this one, and I'll be able to install it for you no problem."

"No problem," Sora confidently smirked, and after Ventus managed to convince Cid to let them hang onto the gummi for safe-keeping, the four bade both the gummi ship builder and Sora's friends goodbye, and returned to their ship, ready to depart.

They did not leave right away, since they wanted to install the new weapon that Cid had given them first, but the minute that it was locked into place and primed for action, they immediately set course for their next destination: the first of the worlds that were now reachable for the _Kingdom_. Of course, there was one important question that had to be asked, and Goofy was the one who eventually brought it up shortly after they had left Traverse Town. "How long do you think it'll take to get to one of these new worlds?"

"First off, it's not technically a new world so much as it is a world that the ship can now reach thanks to the navigation gummi that Cid installed," Ventus clarified for Goofy from up in the pilot's seat. "And second of all, to answer your question, if we were to take the straightest route there, I'd say we'll reach the closest of those worlds in about…three weeks to a month."

"A month," the other three gasped in shock.

"We can't wait that long! We've gotta hurry if we want to find Kairi's body and get her heart back into it," Sora protested.

"And for all we know, the king could be on that world too, so we've gotta get there as fast as possible," Donald added.

"Calm down, you guys. I did say that it would only take that long if we took the straightest route there," Ventus reassured them. "Fortunately, that navigation gummi also revealed a couple of shortcuts that should let us get there much more quickly. I'd say a few days at the most if not about ten hours."

Goofy was quick to check the computer to confirm this, and he immediately nodded in response, saying that Ven's measurement of time was accurate if they were going to take the shortcut that he thought the blonde was referring to, and the others were soon breathing sighs of relief at the news. With all of that said, Sora figured he might as well busy himself with a little bit of meditating, aka pretending to meditate while in reality he was mentally talking with Kairi. Naturally, Kairi had gotten on his case for it by calling him a lazy bum, as usual, but Sora just laughed it off and went on with regaling her with the stories of what he and the others had done so far. Not that Kairi really needed the recap, she was technically there the entire time, but she did like hearing how Sora would tell the stories. He always seemed to give it an extra, dramatic edge that others would consider as being over exaggerated, but to Kairi, it just made it all the more fun. Of course, she might have been a little biased, but Sora did not need to know that anymore than Sora believed that Ven needed to know that he was not really meditating.

What Sora did not know was that Ventus was well aware that the younger wielder was not actually meditating, but he did not stop Sora from doing what he was actually doing, because he figured that talking with Kairi like that was actually going to prove to be a little more beneficial than just sitting around trying to look within himself on his own for hours on end. Sure, Sora could hold a conversation with Kingdom Key if he wanted to, but those talks never really involved words in the typical sense. It was really more like feelings that translated into words for the wielder of the Keyblade, and it was not the same as talking to an actual person. Besides, he knew that he had an easier time with his training thanks to the support and aid that his friends gave him, so maybe Sora would benefit just as much with Kairi's help. The only other reason he was not getting on Sora's case was because at the moment, he had to focus on flying the ship, and making sure it got through the shortcut in one piece.

You see the shortcut that Ventus was planning to fly them through was actually a wormhole between two interspace quadrants, and he and Mickey had quickly learned firsthand that those things were not always the safest things to travel through. The first time they went through one, they had to scramble to keep their ship from falling apart, since the armor was not quite up to the task of handling the unexpected strain that the wormhole had put on the hull at the time, and they later found out from a trusted friend of Donald and Mickey's that they had actually been one of the lucky ones. It turned out that in some cases, those wormholes could actually tear a gummi ship clean in half if the armor was too weak, and Ventus was hoping that the _Kingdom_ could handle the trip. Sure, Cid had reassured them that the work he had done on the ship when he was installing the navigation gummi would ensure that they would be all right, but the blonde could not help feeling a little bit nervous all the same. Plus, there was also the reaction that the others would have after their first trip through such a wormhole to worry about.

He would find out just how bad or good things would go soon enough, because it was only a few hours after they had flown past Olympus Coliseum that they had come up on the wormhole, and Ventus easily turned the ship to fly through while calling out a warning for everyone to buckle up, prompting Sora, Donald, and Goofy to jump into their seats and fasten their seatbelts as quickly as they could. A few seconds after they were all strapped in, Ven gunned the ship straight into the swirling vortex, and everyone was soon feeling as though they were constantly spinning round and round, over and over, while their insides were twisted about in the same rotation as the wormhole's vortex appeared to be spinning. It was not a pleasant feeling, even for Ventus, though since he had been through such things a few times before it was not as bad for him, and thankfully, it was not long before the feeling had finally come to an end, right at the same moment when they came out the other side of the wormhole. Still, despite the moment being over, they all felt really woozy, Goofy even feeling like he was going to throw up in a minute, but they somehow managed to shake it off after a minute or two. Donald and Sora actually ended up getting over it the quickest, the latter because he had been sailing between islands so much since he was a kid, and the former because of his own exploits out on the open sea and through various other adventures as well. By the time Goofy, Chip, and Dale had all recovered, since they were the last to do so, they were all soon able to stop and take a look out the viewport and observe their new surroundings.

They were easily able to see that they had arrived in another quadrant quickly enough, just from the shifting colors of the void outside. Instead of the flowing, deep blue and sea green that they had seen so far, the void around them was now a mix of red, violet, and blue that seemed to waft around them like a fog bank in a mysterious sort of way. More than that, some of the random space debris and rock formations around them had seemed to change as well, as they were not quite as smooth and flat as before. Yes, there were a few like that, but for the most part, they could also see a number of jagged clusters and spiky rocks. Along with that, there also seemed to be some asteroids that had massive holes in the center of them that they could easily fly through like a tunnel. The final difference of course was that the space debris were also of different colors as well, mainly being either purple or red with some faint orange spots as opposed to the being bluish-green with yellow spots. Seeing all of these things really did prove that they were now in a whole new area of interspace, and that promised a whole new experience of adventures as far as they could all see.

It was all quite beautiful indeed, but now was not the time to be taking in the sights. These four still had a mission that they needed to complete, and they all knew it. That was part of the reason why Ventus was able to shake himself out of his awe and return his attention to the task at hand. The other part being the fact that he had seen such sights many times before so it was not quite as wondrous for him as it had been the first time. Turning his attention to the regular navigator of the ship, Ventus immediately asked, "Goofy, how much further to the closest world?"

Goofy immediately jumped over to his computer and checked the map, only to blink a couple of times before he rubbed his eyes and looked again, just to make sure he was not seeing things. He was not about to make a mistake that let him live up to his name in this instance. When he confirmed he was not seeing things, the royal knight turned back to the current ship's captain and reported, "Looks like it's just a couple minutes away from here now. In fact, if I'm reading this right, we should actually be able to see it real soon."

Goofy was right, because just seconds later, the world came into view, and the crew was soon taking the time allowed in their final approach to study the world. From what they could see, it looked like the world had a desert landscape to it, and a grand palace seemed to sit atop the entire world. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the world, they could also see what looked like a giant lion's head with eyes and a mouth that glowed like a fire, and much like how the palace seemed to reside on a side that was almost constantly daylight, the side with the lion's head seemed enshrouded in night. It was not a world that Ventus recognized from his travels, but he did feel like he had read about it once before during his training under King Mickey, a fact that he soon informed the others of once he had brought the ship into a stable orbit of the world. Seeing as Ventus was not one hundred percent sure about this world, Jiminy wasted no time in jumping over to a ship's terminal so he could look it up, and he easily found it in no time at all.

"This is the world of Agrabah, city of mystery, of enchantment, and of incredible treasures of all varieties," the cricket reported.

"Oh yeah. I remember reading about this place once in the royal library. From what I remember, Agrabah is also home to various different kinds of special magic that can't be found on any other world. In fact, there's even this one place known as the Cave of Wonders, in which one could find treasure beyond their wildest dreams, including magical artifacts that could make someone able to rule an entire world," Ventus recalled.

"Do you think maybe there would be something in there that could help us get Kairi's heart back into her body," Sora asked the hope in his voice transparent.

"There's always a chance," Ventus assured him, earning an excited fist-pump from Sora in response, along with a cheer of joy from Kairi that only Sora heard.

The excitement was quickly killed though as the ship's alarms suddenly went off, making everyone jump in fright. "What's happening," Donald asked.

 _"The ship's sensors are detecting a massive amount of darkness down there,"_ Chip's voice reported from the engine room.

 _"There must be a whole lot of Heartless down there causing all kinds of problems,"_ Dale then added a second later.

"Then there's no time to lose! Everyone to the ship's transporter, and be ready for a fight the minute we land," Ventus ordered the team, and like that, they were all scrambling to said location so that they could get down to Agrabah as soon as possible.

Just as Sora was about to step onto the transporter pad with the others, Kairi suddenly called for his attention, making him pause for a minute to see what was wrong. _"I can't explain how, but…I can sense something down there. A powerful light without even the faintest hint of darkness in it, but it's hard to really tell where it is because it feels like there's a shadow surrounding it,"_ Kairi revealed.

Sora had a good idea what Kairi was getting at, so he immediately reported what Kairi had sensed to Ventus. The minute the blonde had heard all of that, his worry immediately became panic, and he quickly explained, "That must mean that the last Princess of Heart is here on this world, and if what Kairi's saying is true…"

"Then she must be in a lot of trouble," Goofy finished.

"So we've got to hurry and save her," Donald added.

"But how come Kairi was able to notice that so quickly? I didn't even feel anything at all, and it doesn't look like you knew either Ven so how did she figure it out," Sora asked.

"Being a Princess of Heart herself, Kairi would naturally be able to sense the lights of the other six, as well as the lights of a Keyblade Wielder like you and me. Even without knowing such things, she would've been able to tell who they are, simply because they would give off a sense of familiarity to her that can't be matched by anyone else. Not like the kind you get from a family member or a loved one, but one that transcends the boundaries of a world," Ventus explained. "Either way, it's a good thing that she's now awake and able to speak with you Sora, because we may need her help if we want to reach the princess of this world before it's too late."

Hearing Kairi agree to help in his head, Sora immediately nodded to Ventus to show that they both understood, and with that, the four were soon teleporting down, bracing themselves for whatever dangers they were about to face in Agrabah, and hoping that they could handle them.

* * *

Were it any other day, the market place of Agrabah would be packed with vendors, customers, and more, all alive with bustling activity and some form of life, even if some of them were more down on their luck than others, but today was a different story. Today, the streets were all but abandoned, with only a few of the bravest of stand owners open for business, and even those were small in number. In point of fact, the only ones that you could really say were actually out and about in the square were two very distinct dark figures, who were discussing a dark plan for a dark purpose. These two were none other than Maleficent, Mistress of all Evil, and Jafar, the royal vizier who had somehow seized power of the city from its rightful ruler, and was now the sultan of Agrabah. While that might have been enough for some, Jafar wanted more still, and Maleficent was able to grant so much more so long as Jafar upheld his end of their bargain. That was actually the reason why Maleficent was here right now: to make sure that things were going as well as Jafar said they were.

"And the Keyhole," Maleficent inquired at last, having heard about how well Jafar was doing already for what seemed like an eternity to her. It was a good thing that Maleficent was very patient when it came to these plans; otherwise, she likely would have destroyed the vizier by now.

"The Heartless are searching for it now. I'm certain we'll find it soon enough," Jafar reassured her. "So that just leaves…"

A loud squawk suddenly interrupted Jafar, and the two looked up just in time to see a red parrot with bluish-green tips to his wings, and blue tail feathers descending until he finally came to rest on Jafar's shoulder. "Jafar! I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. She's disappeared like magic," the parrot known as Iago reported to his master, much too said master's displeasure, and that of his partner's as well.

"The girl is more trouble than she's worth," Jafar grumbled under his breath. Maleficent on the other hand, was of a different mindset.

"You said you had things under control," the evil fairy irritably reminded Jafar.

"Agrabah is full of holes for rats to hide in, but why worry about Princess Jasmine? With her or without her, surely this world will be ours when we find the Keyhole," Jafar pointed out. It really did not seem to make sense to him. After all, they had already caused several different worlds to fall to their power by doing so, and each of the other princesses had fallen into their grasps as a result, so it did not make sense for them to wait until Jasmine was within their grasp before plunging this Agrabah into darkness to Jafar. Really, why was Maleficent suddenly being so cautious with securing the princesses? That was the question that Jafar had been wondering for a while now.

Naturally, like any good leader of villainous cabals, Maleficent had her reasoning already on the tip of her tongue even before Jafar had asked the question. "We need all seven Princesses of Heart to open the final door. Any fewer is useless," Maleficent explained as simply as she could. "And with Ventus now hunting the Heartless and likely our allies, we need to make absolutely certain that they fall into our grasp. Nothing can be left to chance."

"Well, if the princess is that important, we'll find her," Jafar sneered in response. He then glanced over his shoulder to where a squad of Heartless quickly began to materialize, each brandishing a sword and decked out in attire that was appropriate for a person who lived in Agrabah, and ordered, "Find Jasmine and bring her to me at once."

Iago and the Heartless were soon racing off in the city, leaving Maleficent and Jafar on their own for a moment, which gave the Maleficent the chance to provide the vizier with a quick word of caution. "Don't steep yourself in darkness too long. The Heartless consume the careless."

Jafar merely laughed in response as he said, "Your concern is touching but hardly necessary."

Maleficent was not a blind fool. She could tell that despite how great his control over the Heartless were, Jafar was going to become very careless eventually. All it would take was one small slip in his plans, and the sorcerer would be digging his own grave. Still, she could not say that she did not warn him, and there was also the fact that out of everyone in her little alliance, Jafar held the best control over the Heartless, not counting herself and Hades. Of course, there was also one other person who held better control than her, but she was not currently counting him at the moment, given his current status. Feeling that there was not much else of a reason for her to remain here, Maleficent departed for the time being, just as unaware as Jafar was that they were being secretly watched, and by none other than the very princess that they were hunting for at the moment.

Jasmine could still not believe that Jafar had finally managed to seize power from her father the way he had, nor did she really understand how he came into contact with this strange woman, but she did understand enough to know that it was only with Maleficent's help that Jafar now had such powers. How else could he have gained the ability to call upon such evil and dark creatures as the ones that had just rushed off in search of her than by going to someone whose mere presence reeked of evil? But on a more important note, just what was it that they wanted with her? They already had Agrabah, and with those monsters at their disposal, they would likely find this Keyhole at any moment, so what made her so special? Yes, she had heard Maleficent mention something about a final door, but what had she meant by that? She could not really say for sure, but what she did know, was that she had to make sure that she stayed out of their grasp. Luckily, she knew just the person to turn to for help. She just had to hope that he was still alright, and that they had not gotten to him first. If they did though, she was not sure if she would ever forgive herself.

* * *

When Ventus said that they were going to get right into the fighting the minute they landed, no one ever thought that he would have meant it literally. In fact, the very second that they appeared at the gates of Agrabah, they found themselves surrounded by Heartless, both familiar and new. There were Shadows of course, but for the most part, there were some new Heartless as well that took the form of Arabian thugs. All of these new ones were clad in white turbans and matching face masks, yellow vests, dark red curl-toed shoes, armbands, and chokers, and they were all brandishing curved swords that bore a strong resemblance to classic scimitars. A quick look into his journal allowed Jiminy to identify these as Bandits, and that they were able to attack from under the sand while being able to attack very deftly with their swords, meaning that the team found themselves with quite the fight for a good amount of time. The fight actually ended up taking a bit longer than any of them would have liked, but in the end, they were able to clear this area of the bazaar quickly enough. Still, it did not prevent anyone from commenting on how sudden this fight was in one way or another.

 _"You know, when Ven said you guys were going to jump right into the fighting the second you landed, I thought you guys would have at least had a few seconds to breathe before you started fighting,"_ Kairi commented to Sora.

Sora just mentally nodded in response. He was a little too focused on their current task to really have a proper conversation with Kairi at the moment, and Ventus had to admit that he was glad to see that his apprentice was putting so much focus into their mission. That did not mean that he wanted Sora to completely ignore Kairi, she was one of if not the most important person in Sora's life, but there was a time and a place for idle chit-chat, and right now was not the time for either one. They had to focus on their objectives: find the Princess of Heart, stop the Heartless, seal the Keyhole, and possibly take down a major bad guy along the way. When they were finally sure that no more Heartless were going to pop out and jump them, they set to work on trying to locate the princess, with Sora consulting Kairi to see if she could sense anything from within his heart. Unfortunately, Kairi did not seem to be able to pick up on anything specific, but she was able to tell that they were close to wherever her fellow Princess of Heart was. That was good news, sure, but without specific directions, they were not going to get very far, so they switched to getting information the old fashioned way: talking to the nearest person they could find.

The closest person actually turned out to be a man clad in a pair of blue pants, a black t-shirt, and a sleeveless red vest, while his dark hair was concealed underneath a white hat, and this particular individual seemed to be one of the few people who had an open stand at the moment, despite how deserted the bazaar was. When he saw the four approaching, the bored look that was previously on his face was immediately erased and replaced with an excited smile as he welcomed them over rapidly saying, "Welcome to Dave's Antiques, Treasures, and More, home to the finest merchandise this side of the desert dunes! On sale today! And for travelers such as yourselves, I think I may have just the thing to catch your interest." He then reached for an item on one of the shelves behind him before any of the four could say anything, and then continued on by showing off the item in question. "Ah yes! This here is a full-fledged, combination hookah and coffee maker, also makes a million fires." He then banged the item against the counter as he assured them, "It will not break. It will not…" Just before he could finish, the bottom part of the hookah suddenly sprung off, and hung loosely on the spring, drawing a deadpan look from the merchant. "It broke." He then tossed it aside, ignoring the looks that Donald and Ven were both giving him, as well as the confused glances that Goofy and Sora were exchanging, and reached for another item beneath the counter. "Oh, look at this," he cooed in awe. "You know, very few people have seen one of these intact before. This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware. Listen." He then lifted the lid a little while making a not-entirely-discreet spitting sound of the side of his mouth, before he sighed, "Ah, still good."

"We're not looking to buy anything! We just need some information," Ventus finally exclaimed, spotting a brief break in this man's fast-paced speaking pattern to get a word in.

"Oh…Well then…Not quite as profitable, but I can still help with that. No one knows things on the streets around here better than ol' Dave. That's me, in case it wasn't already obvious. What mysteries can I solve for you," the merchant asked as he slipped the "still good" Tupperware back under the counter.

"Well how long have those Heartless been around here," Sora asked as a starting point.

"You mean those strange creatures? They've been around ever since Jafar seized power from the sultan," Dave immediately replied. When he got blank looks from the four, he figured that they needed a little more than that, and said, "Wow, you guys must be really new in town if you don't know who Jafar is."

"We literally just got here a few minutes ago," Donald revealed.

"I see," Dave nodded. "Well, it's like this: Jafar was once the sultan's royal vizier and most trusted advisor, but anyone who had met the man could probably tell you that the guy was bad news. I'm not just saying that because the guy has a weird thing for snakes and I hate snakes, just so we're clear, but that's beside the point. Jafar's wanted to take over the kingdom for ages now, and then one day, a few weeks ago, out of nowhere, Jafar's suddenly in charge, and those monsters are all throughout the bazaar, silencing anyone who even seems to indicate that they want to go against his rule. If you ask me, he got help from some powerful outside force, and even without that, he also still had a few tricks up his sleeve, or should I say in his staff?"

"His staff," Goofy asked.

"Yeah, you see wherever the guy goes, he's always got this snake staff in hand, and some say it has mystical properties like being able to hypnotize people or shoot a stream of fire. But you didn't hear that from me," Dave informed them, whispering the last sentence at the end.

"Hear what," Sora asked.

"Exactly! I like you kid. I like this kid. He's smart. Care for a desert jewel? Fifty percent off, just for you," Dave declared, holding out a red ruby to Sora.

"No thanks," Sora denied.

"Oh, okay. So, is there anything else I can help you guys with? Or maybe another item you might be interested in buying?" The group had to hand it to Dave. The guy was determined to get them to buy something from his stand, and he did not give up easily.

"You said that Jafar has the Heartless silencing all resistance to his rule. Does that mean that no one is doing anything to stop him," Ventus asked.

"Far from it actually. There are two people who are sort of doing something," Dave revealed. "You see, after Jafar seized power, Princess Jasmine somehow escaped from the palace and into the night. Being the rightful heir to the throne, she could easily knock Jafar off that big cushy chair and free her father, and Jafar knows it. He's been searching for her ever since, using both those monsters and that little parrot that's always hanging around him, Iago, but I get the feeling he's after her for a different reason beyond just the obvious."

The quartet were immediately exchanging knowing looks amongst themselves when they heard that. If Jafar was looking for this Jasmine as desperately as Dave was indicating, then she must be the Princess of Heart they were looking for, which meant they had to find her first. Still, there was something else that they had to ask about. "So who's the other person that's standing up to Jafar," Goofy asked.

"Why that would be the same guy who helped Jasmine to escape: the local, number one thief and trickster of Agrabah, who's easily, become a one-man rise in crime. My man, Aladdin," Dave revealed. "I don't know how it happened, but the guy somehow ran across Jasmine during her escape from the palace, and helped her to get away. No one's seen hide, hair, or even a peep out of his trusted monkey friend ever since then. But word is that Aladdin went out looking for some way to help Jasmine depose Jafar, and possibly even get him to win the princess's heart. There hasn't even been a smallest sign of him or anyone being home, aside from this one moment when something seemed to fly into the large hole in the wall of the building he lives out of which he drew a curtain over so it could act as a window. But again, you didn't hear that from me."

"Thanks all the same," Ventus nodded. "Any chance you have an idea on where Jasmine might be?"

"Weren't you listening earlier? I said no one's seen her since she disappeared with Aladdin. I'd tell you to start at Aladdin's place, but I checked that place out myself, and she wasn't there. If had to guess, she's probably ducking around in the market somewhere, trying to stay as far out of sight as possible, but that's just a guess."

"Well can you tell us what she looks like," Donald asked.

"Why? You going to try and find her?"

"Yeah, we are," Ventus confirmed. "You see, we have special abilities that can destroy the Heartless, but it will be meaningless if Jafar gets his hands on Jasmine. If he does a lot more than Agrabah will be at risk."

Dave studied Ventus for a minute, almost as though he were looking into the blonde's soul in order to determine the honesty in his words, until he finally sighed and ran through a brief description of the princess. "Well, from what I've heard of her, she has an hourglass figure, dark skin, and thick, black hair that she keeps tied into a low ponytail with a blue ribbon and a headband with a sapphire in the center. She also typically wears a blue bedlah outfit with long bustle pants and a top that leaves her forearms and midriff bare. Oh, and she also wears golden earrings, necklace, and shoes."

"Thanks a bunch, Mister," Sora nodded in thanks as the group prepared to leave.

"Not a problem and don't call me 'Mister.' Just Dave's fine. Now are you guys sure I can't interest you in any…" Dave started to ask.

"NO," was the quartet's simultaneous reply.

"Alright, alright. Just chill. You can't blame a guy for trying to make an honest living. I've been living in a hole and struggling to get by even before Jafar took over. Cut me some slack," Dave placated. That earned him a little sympathy from the group, and Ventus immediately reached into one of his pockets to hand over a bit of munny that he had picked up from some of the previous battles against the Heartless, knowing it would become whatever currency was used on Agrabah the moment it left his hand and fell into the peddler's. Seeing this kindness brightened Dave's day quite a bit, and as the four departed, he quickly called out, "Best of luck brave heroes! I'm rooting for you!"

The four waved back in thanks, and then set off deeper into the bazaar, determined to find Jasmine before their enemies could. All the while though, one niggling thought was pestering them at the backs of their minds, and Sora could not help but give voice to it. "Is it just me, or does that guy seem a little familiar to any of you for some weird reason?"

"Nope, it's not just you. I feel like I've seen him before too, or at least, someone like him somewhere," Ventus admitted, his mind wandering back to one of the worlds he had briefly visited on his first journey through the worlds.

"He seemed pretty nice to me," Goofy admitted.

 _"Yeah, I thought he was really nice too. He definitely doesn't feel like a bad guy, just like someone who's oddly familiar for a reason I can't understand but that I can still trust to help us out,"_ Kairi agreed with Goofy.

"Who cares about that? We've gotta find the princess before the Heartless do," Donald reminded everyone, not knowing that he was cutting off Sora before he could tell them of Kairi's thoughts on Dave.

"He's right. Let's table this matter for now and focus on finding Princess Jasmine," Ventus declared, and with that, they were all putting their minds back into the game.

* * *

Trying to find Jasmine was no easy feat for our heroes, even with Kairi helping them out by telling them if they were getting closer or farther away. Everywhere they turned in Agrabah, they were running into Heartless, which naturally meant that they had to fight no matter what happened or where they went. Still, it did not stop them from turning the city upside down as much as they could looking for her. In fact, the only places they did not go to were Aladdin's house and the palace, the former because they already knew that she most likely was not there anymore. As for the palace, it was obvious she would not be there because there was no way she was going to go back to a place where she had escaped from, and even if she did, Jafar no doubt had Heartless crawling over every inch of the place, so she would have been captured the minute she set so much as one toe in the building. The only other reason was because the road up to the palace was actually blocked off at the moment, no doubt due to Jafar's meddling, so they would not have been able to look there even if they wanted to. Eventually though, they found themselves checking several places more than once, even going so far as to check out the area just outside the city gates in case she was hiding somewhere along the walls surrounding Agrabah, and needless to say, it was becoming more than a little tiring. At the rate they were going, it was going to take nothing short of either random luck or a miracle to find her.

Thankfully, they happened upon that bit of random luck. They had just walked into an alleyway in their continued search, when they heard something rustling in the shadows behind some large boxes by the wall. "Hey, whoever's hiding back there, you can come on out. We're friends," Sora called to the mystery individual.

A few moments after Sora had called out, the person in question stepped out of their hiding place, and revealed themselves to be a beautiful young woman that happened to be a perfect match to the description of the princess that Dave had given them. Seeing she was still hesitant to approach them, Ventus put on a friendly smile and asked, "Princess Jasmine, I presume?"

"Yes or at least, I was the princess when my father was sultan of Agrabah," Jasmine nodded in confirmation. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ventus, but you can just call me Ven. And this is Donald, Goofy, and my apprentice, Sora. We're here to help in any way that we can," Ventus revealed.

"How? Jafar controls the whole city, and he's gained evil powers that are unlike anything I've ever seen," Jasmine asked. Despite the doubt in her voice, they could all tell that she was hoping very much that they could help, because she did not want to give up just yet.

"We've got some special powers of our own. We can take him, no problem," Donald boasted.

"Uh-huh, and Sora and Ven are both wielders of the Key…" Goofy started to say, but his mouth was quickly clamped shut by Ventus, who was soon laughing sheepishly in an attempt to cover Goofy's small slip. Clearly, the knight was having almost as hard if not a harder time keeping the existence of things like other worlds and the Keyblade a secret than Sora was.

Jasmine was not stupid though, and she quickly thought of something just from that little bit that Goofy had said before he was silenced. "Do you know something about the 'Keyhole'?"

That made all four jump a little in surprise, and prompted Sora to ask, "How'd you know about that?"

"I overheard Jafar earlier when he was talking with a strange woman that I'd never seen before. They were desperately searching for something they called the 'Keyhole'," Jasmine explained.

"This woman that was with Jafar…Did she have pale green skin, dress in a long black and purple robe, a horned headdress, and carry a staff with a green orb at the tip," Ventus asked.

"Yes. Do you know her," Jasmine exclaimed.

"Maleficent," Ventus muttered with narrowed eyes, drawing surprised looks from the rest of his friends. He then turned his attention back to Jasmine, and instead of directly answering her question, he diverted them onto a different topic. "How'd you get away from the palace, exactly? We heard a couple of rumors, but nothing really solid. And besides that, the Heartless aren't exactly easy to fool, especially when it comes to sensing hearts that are so full of pure light, like yours seems to be."

 _"Tell me about it,"_ Kairi moaned, prompting Sora to rub his chest a little in a small attempt to comfort her. It may not have been entirely effective, but the gesture was still appreciated all the same.

"I almost didn't, actually," Jasmine admitted. "Jafar had caught me trying to escape at first, but then he appeared and helped me."

"You mean Aladdin," Sora asked.

"Yes, that's right. We were hiding nearby in his house, and were pretty safe, but it did nothing to hide what Jafar had been doing to the city since he seized power," Jasmine confirmed.

"So where is he now," Donald asked.

"I'm not sure. He left a while ago to take care of something, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Just that he had to leave Agrabah to do it. Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right," Jasmine said the worry as evident in her voice as the sand in the desert of this whole world.

Seeing how concerned she was for the man who had helped her instantly clued everyone on the team in on a very important fact: Aladdin was far more than a friend to Jasmine. In fact, they would even go so far as to say that she was in love with him, if you could believe it. Realizing this, Sora suddenly began to feel a little giddy; something he was sure that was influenced by Kairi's heart being inside of him. Kairi had always loved romance just as much as she loved grand adventures, hence the reason why she would always insist that it be included in some of the games that she would play with him and Riku whenever they dragged her into one. Usually, it was the typical knight saves the princess type of game, which would end with the princess giving her hero a small kiss of thanks on the cheek, and even now, Sora could not help but blush a little at the memories of every time when Kairi would give him said reward. More importantly, seeing how concerned Jasmine was with Aladdin's well-being as opposed to her own safety also served as further proof that she was in fact a Princess of Heart, which meant that the team could breathe a little easier knowing that they had managed to get to her before any forces of darkness had, but sadly, that relief and the giddiness at seeing evidence of Jasmine's feelings for Aladdin was only short-lived.

Just when Ventus was about to suggest they find somewhere safe for Jasmine to hide, a new presence suddenly made itself known, as the person spoke with a sneer in his tone. "Aladdin? Where might I find this street-rat," the person asked, and everyone immediately turned their gazes upward to see none other than Jafar himself standing on the wall above them, grinning devilishly at how he had finally tracked down his prey, along with her supposed protectors, and he then carried on in addressing the princess, saying, "Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see."

"Better rats than ones who dwell in darkness as you do," Ventus retorted as he stepped forward, moving Jasmine behind him as a better bit of protection.

"Jasmine, run," Sora whispered to the princess. "We'll hold him off."

Jasmine simply nodded and raced out of the alleyway as fast as she could, and the minute she was out of sight, the four instantly summoned their weapons, ready for action, prompting Jafar to note the blades being wielded by Ventus and Sora. "Ah, the boy who has become the newest Keybearer," Jafar noted with a hiss that was a little too much like the snake on his staff for some of their liking. He then looked to the blonde and commented, "And I believe that would make you the infamous Ventus, would it not?"

"I'm guessing that means Maleficent's told you all about me and my friends," Ventus replied. "What's it to you?"

Jafar simply smirked once again and then waved his fingers, summoning forth a squad of Bandit Heartless before he turned to leave, saying, "I'll leave you to deal with these Heartless. I have far more important things to attend to than a pair of boys and their little friends."

Each of the four warriors could not help but groan a little in response as they entered into another fight, leaving Jafar to make an easy escape. It was not just Bandits that they had to contend with for long though, as they were soon also facing Shadows as well as Heartless that had been disguised as the large pots around them. The minute they had gotten close to those pots, their true nature as Heartless were revealed with the pots suddenly growing four spider legs and then charging at them. Luckily, these Heartless were fairly easy to deal with, since they only seemed to know how to charge and tackle an opponent and nothing else, but the fact that there so many of them in addition to the others was what really gave Ven and the others a hard time, much to the blonde's annoyance. Eventually, the Heartless were even joined by creatures with conical, yellow bodies, spherical heads, and conical, orange hats, with the Heartless emblem emblazoned on their body and despite its nonthreatening appearance, these new Heartless proved to be very fast and very difficult to get rid of. It was not made any easier by the fact that they were able to throw out lightning magic with ease, while also absorbing the same type of magic if they were hit with it.

At some point in the middle of their seemingly endless battle, Sora finally felt like he had enough, so he jumped back and fired off a blast of the Ragnarok Shotlock, unleashing several salvos of energy projectiles that seemed to turn all of the Heartless they hit into dust. When the Shotlock's power wore off, there were still a few Heartless left, but Sora's usage of said power had allowed Ventus the chance to gather up enough energy to unleash his Fever Pitch Command Style, which he then used to rush through those that remained. Any that were left after that point were easily dealt with by Donald and Goofy in one manner or another, though the former did refrain from using any lightning spells, since the newest variety, which Jiminy had identified as Yellow Operas, could absorb said magic. After that point, they quickly glanced around, remaining on guard until they were sure that they had dealt with all of their enemies for the moment. When they were sure that they had eliminated all the Heartless that Jafar had unleashed upon them, Ven and Sora dismissed their Keyblades and started trying to find Jasmine again by searching for the feeling of her light.

For several minutes, they were not able to pick up on anything, and that did not translate into something good to them, but they did not panic just yet. They still had a way of finding her that Jafar did not, and that way was resting inside of Sora's heart. Kairi was still able to get a feel for Jasmine's light, and since they had now met the princess, she had a better idea of what she was looking for when it came to finding said light. Sora did not even need to ask for Kairi to look, because she had started searching the minute that they had eliminated the last of the monsters. In fact, by the time Sora had asked Kairi for some help, she had already narrowed down two possibilities as to where Jasmine might be, based on the areas where her light was resonating strongest from. The first of the two locations was the palace, for obvious reasons, and the second was a tall building in town that they could only assume was Aladdin's home. They had been told that she had been hiding out there, and since Jasmine did not want to be taken back to the palace, they had to hope that she was currently hiding at Aladdin's. Still, Kairi took another minute to determine whether or not Jasmine's light was coming from anywhere else, and when she finally confirmed that those were the only two places that the princess's light was coming from, the four immediately booked it over to Aladdin's.

Getting there was fairly simple since they did not encounter any Heartless along the way, but it was not easy, because it turned out that the only way they could get inside was by climbing up to the rooftops and going from there. When they finally reached the building itself, they slowly made their way inwards, just in case the Heartless had gotten here first. Somehow they doubted that would be the case, but you could not be too careful, which was actually a good thing to be, because Aladdin's home seemed to be so rundown, they were surprised that the floor was not collapsing beneath their feet and that the ceiling had yet to completely cave in. Eventually, they found themselves standing right in the middle of Aladdin's home, which was basically just the one room on the top floor of the building, and they could see what Dave meant when he said that Aladdin's home provided a great view of the palace. The only thing that would have made it enjoyable would have been if Jasmine were here as well, but unfortunately, there was no sign of the princess anywhere, and since Kairi had not sensed Jasmine's light anywhere else in Agrabah, they could only assume that she had ended up at the palace at some point, and that spelled bad news. If Jafar really was working for Maleficent, and if she was the one behind the disappearances of the other Princesses of Heart, then there was no telling how much time they had before Jasmine was taken away from this world like Alice had been from hers.

That was all the reason that they felt they would need to charge the palace gates and rescue her, even if they had to do so without any solid plan on how to get through the blockade in the street and the army of Heartless that would no doubt be waiting for them, and they would have charged right out to do just that had something in the corner of the room not suddenly caught Sora's eye. "Hey guys, hold up a minute," he called to the others just as they were about to leave after seeing the object. "I think there's something else in here."

"Careful Sora. It might be another Heartless," Goofy cautioned, his shield already in front of him so he could take action at a second's notice, while Donald did the same with his staff.

"I don't think it is. I didn't sense any Heartless in here when we came in, so I doubt that's the case," Ventus disputed. That did not mean he was going to let them relax just yet though. "Be careful all the same, Sora."

Sora only nodded before he slowly made his way forward, until he was finally close enough to see whatever it was that was hidden in the shadows, and when he did, he immediately scrambled to move aside the large box that had been placed on top of it. When the box had been moved aside, the object came flying out from where it had been imprisoned, startling Sora a bit, and the others soon after, but afterwards, the boy could not help but let out an amused chuckle when he felt something wrap around him really fast before unwrapping again, coming out into the light at last so that the others could finally see it clearly. They were all stunned to see that the object in question was actually an ornate, Persian carpet with gold lining and tassels, and it was using said tassels for hands and feet. The designs all across its purple surface were very intricate and colorful, and they only seemed to enhance the rather playful and energetic personality it seemed to be showing off. The carpet then danced around Sora one more time, making the boy and his heart's passenger very amused as he finally figured out that it was saying thank you to him, and replied, "You're welcome."

"I don't believe it," Ven gasped in awe. "An actual magic carpet. I've heard about them, but I've never actually seen one in person. Man, Aqua would've loved this."

"But uh…what's it doing here," Goofy asked.

The carpet apparently heard him, and immediately started waving at them all before it flew towards the window like it was about to take off and leave. Seeing this made Sora realize, "I think he wants us to follow him."

"How do we know he's not leading us into a trap," Donald asked, and the others had to admit that he did have a point. The carpet was pinned down in Aladdin's house just a moment ago, so what if Aladdin had done that because the carpet could not be trusted.

"We don't, but at the same time, there's also a chance that he might lead us to Aladdin, and since he's already helped Jasmine escape from Jafar once, he might be our best bet at getting her out of his clutches again," Ventus reasoned.

"So we basically don't have much of a choice," Sora asked.

"Sure we do. We could either take a chance on the carpet and see if it can lead us to Aladdin, or we could storm the palace ourselves in a desperate attempt to save Jasmine without the extra help that Aladdin could give us. What I'm saying is that we should be smart about this and not just rush off without thinking it through," Ventus clarified for Sora.

 _"You do tend to do that quite a bit at times, Sora,"_ Kairi teased.

 _"I do not,"_ Sora argued.

 _"I'm pretty sure that Ventus and some of your more recent memories would disagree. For example, when you first arrived at Olympus Coliseum, or when you were chasing the White Rabbit in Wonderland,"_ Kairi reminded him.

Sora had nothing to say to that, beyond crossing his arms in a huff. He would have done some mental grumbling, but Kairi would have been able to hear it, adding more ammunition to her arsenal. He quickly shook it off though when he realized that Ven and the others had already gone off to chase after the magic carpet, and he quickly rushed after them to catch up, hoping that Ven's hunch about the carpet leading them to Aladdin was a good one.

* * *

The good news is it turned out that their hunch about the carpet was right, and it had in fact brought them to Aladdin. In point of fact, the magic carpet had flown them out to Aladdin's location himself, though there was just barely enough room for all of them on the flying rug, and it was a good thing that it had, because they had to go across at least half of the desert outside of Agrabah's gates, and all the way to the darker side of the world to reach him. The bad news, Aladdin and his monkey, Abu were both stuck in a sand trap and were slowly sinking further in. To make matters worse, when Sora tried to rush over and help, a trio of Bandits sprung up from beneath the sand in an ambush. Luckily, Goofy was able to react quickly and deflect the Heartless' attacks with his shield, giving Sora a chance to bring out Kingdom Key and destroy his attackers, but that only seemed to encourage more Bandits to start popping up out of the sand, swords swinging and blocking any chance they had to advance closer to where Aladdin was. Seeing as they were going to have to get through the creatures of darkness first, Ventus and Donald immediately summoned out their own weapons and immediately joined their friends in the fight.

You would think that getting rid of these sword-wielding Heartless would have been easy for the group, especially since the Bandits were the only Heartless around them, but you would be wrong. Just like Jiminy said, the Bandits were able to sink down and attack from beneath the sand, and it looked like that initial squad was not the only one hiding in the sand in case anyone tried to come and save Aladdin. Ventus was not sure if that meant Jafar already knew about Aladdin or if it was something else that was drawing the Heartless here, but right now, he had to focus more on the fight than anything else, which was not made that much easier when Sora unleashed his Typhoon Bombardment Shotlock, throwing sand up in nearly everyone's eyes had most of them not shielded their eyes just seconds before they were hit. Obviously, Sora had not thought of that little detail, as evidenced by the sheepish, apologetic look on his face, but there was not time to really get on him for the matter, because the Heartless were still coming after them. Not only that, but even with the number that Sora had eliminated using his personal Shotlock, they were not gaining any ground against the dark creatures, and it was only going to be a matter of time before they were in the same spot as Aladdin or worse. Seeing this prompted Ventus to wave Sora over to him, feeling that it was time for him to teach the kid another new lesson. He just had to hope that this newest mid-combat lesson did not end up having similar results to the Command Styles lesson he gave in Wonderland afterwards.

"Sora, do you remember the fight with Cloud back at Olympus Coliseum," Ven asked the minute the young Keybearer was standing back to back with him.

"Yeah. It's not exactly hard to forget," Sora pointed out as he blocked a Bandit's sword with Kingdom Key. Really, he was a bit offended that his master thought he could forget about such a spectacular battle like that.

Ventus nodded in relief, and then, as he slashed through another Bandit that had tried to jump him, he went on to explain why he brought that up. "Listen carefully. The magic energies a Keyblade wielder possesses can be used to perform more than just spells. It's also used to unleash powerful sword attacks as well. Many of them are abilities that are unique to us, but the rest are ones that we can often times learn just from seeing others perform them. Cloud used a variation of one such ability: Sonic Blade, an ability where you rush an opponent several times over with powerful thrusts that can either devastate or stun an enemy that's struck by so much as even a glancing blow."

Sora could only stare in awe for a minute, even as he parried and deflected attacks from the Bandits around them, and he just had to try it out for himself until he remembered one little problem with that. "How do I use it," he asked.

"Just pick your target, focus your magic into the Keyblade as you imagine doing what I just told you, and then unleash the power," Ventus explained. When Sora just stared at him blankly, Ven knew he was going to have to do better than just tell him, and decided to let action do the talking. "Just watch," he instructed, and a minute later, Guardian Wind seemed to glow a little along its blade, and Ventus was rushing forwards at an incredible speed. Not quite as fast as he would have been moving with his Fever Pitch Command Style, but it was still incredibly close.

Sora just gaped in awe for a minute, forcing Donald and Goofy to save him a few times before some Heartless had gotten him, but when he finally did remember where he was, he saw that Ventus had wiped out several of their opponents with that one ability. Ventus then turned to Sora and nodded, silently telling the kid that it was his turn to try now, and Sora immediately did as Ventus told him earlier, with Kairi cheering him on in his head a bit as he focused his magic into the Keyblade. After thinking for another minute or so about what he just saw Ven do and how he wanted to do the same thing, Sora could feel the energy begging to be unleashed, and he immediately released it, causing him to rush forward in a burst of speed he did not know he possessed. If Sora had been freaked out by the sudden push forward, he had not shown it, because the Kingdom Key was thrust out in front of him the minute his charge had started, and he kept thrusting it forward with every charge he made, until finally, his high speed assault came to an end in a burst of energy that caused the remaining Heartless to go up in smoke.

Any stragglers that were left after that were swiftly dealt with thanks to a little Thunder spell from Donald, while Goofy simply batted the others away with his shield, and once again, there was nothing around the quartet but sand and the trapped Aladdin. Seeing they finally had an opening, Sora and Ventus immediately ran over to Aladdin to try and pull him out, but just as they were reaching out, the sounds of moving sand caught their ears, and they immediately turned to see Donald and Goofy standing behind them in defensive positions as yet more Heartless appeared to try and push them all in. "Gawrsh, not again," Goofy groaned, and the others could not help but agree with him. They had more than enough of this endless battle, but the Heartless just would not stop coming.

That quickly changed though when Aladdin finally managed to pull himself up out of the sand trap enough to reach into his pocket and pull out a golden lamp. He then rubbed the lamp as fast as he could while shouting, "Genie, get rid of these guys!"

When Aladdin had finished rubbing the lamp and raised it up in the air, a cloud of blue smoke erupted from it, surprising the four other adventurers from another world, but not as much as what came out of the smoke. There, materializing into solid form was a large, blue…person, for lack of a better word, who had a blue wisp from the waist down as opposed to feet, large hands, a black beard, and a short black ponytail, and pointy ears. The only clothing he seemed to wear was a pair of golden bracelets, a gold earring on his right ear, and a red sash around his waist, but the heroes were far more concerned with what the appearance of this new individual might mean for them. At least they were concerned until they heard him speak. "Wish Number One, coming right up!"

When the massive being snapped his fingers, the Heartless all vanished completely, like they had never even been there. Not only that, but neither Ven, Sora, or even Kairi could sense even the small hint of anymore in the area, and they did try to look this time, because after getting ambushed so much, they did not want to take any chances that there might still be some Heartless left. When they were finally satisfied enough in their search for anymore Heartless, Donald finally asked the question that they were all wondering. "What just happened?"

"I was about to ask all of you the same thing. Who are you guys and what were those things," Aladdin asked once he had tossed his monkey out of the sand trap, reminding the adventurers that they still needed to get him out as well.

"It's a long story, but how about we explain it after we get you out of there," Ventus offered.

Aladdin just grinned in agreement, and he happily accepted the hand that Ven was holding out for him to grab onto so that the blonde could pull him free. Afterwards, the team all introduced themselves to the Agrabah local, with Aladdin introducing himself and his pet monkey and friend Abu in reply, and they then went into as much detail as they could about why they were here. They did not tell him anything about being from another world of course, but they did tell him that they were traveling warriors who were trying to help anyone who had encountered the Heartless or creatures and villains like them, and when they heard that he had gone missing, they immediately went to investigate. There was no way that they could hide anything about the Keyblade and their magic powers since Aladdin had seen them for himself, firsthand, but since that was not as big of a secret as the matter of there being other worlds, they did not mind sharing a little bit of information regarding that. They did not tell him everything though. There were still some things about the Keyblade that they kept secret from the "street rat," after all, but Aladdin did not seem to care too much. He was just glad that they had shown up when they did to help; otherwise, he did not want to think about what would have happened.

"Thanks Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy," Aladdin nodded in thanks.

"Happy to help, Aladdin," Ventus nodded in return.

"But what're you doing out here," Sora asked.

"Same old stuff. Hunting legendary treasure. Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders," Aladdin shrugged. He then waved his hand to Carpet while pulling out the lamp from earlier as he added, "I found that magic carpet and this lamp. Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the…"

"Please, kid, leave the intros to a professional," the blue being interrupted excitedly, and he did just that with an unbelievable show of magic to accompany his introduction. "The ever impressive, the long-contained, one and only GENIE OF THE LAMP! Rub-a-dub-dub the lamp and have your dearest wishes granted. Today's winner is…Aladdin! Congratulations!"

While Aladdin was getting an overenthusiastic handshake from Genie, Donald gained an excited look when he heard that, and could not help but feel the need to ask for a bit more information about what Genie just said. "Any wish," the duck sorcerer inquired.

"Patience, my fine, feathered friend," Genie waved in reply, startling Donald with how his hand seemed to appear right in the duck's face so suddenly. "Any three wishes! A one wish, a two wish, a three wish, then I make like a banana and split!"

"And of course, there's also a certain set of rules that those wishes have to abide by, right," Ventus added on.

"You are correct, sir," Genie cheered with a wave to Ventus. "Rule Number One: I can't kill anybody, so don't ask," he then started as he made a slicing motion in front of his neck that actually caused his head to fall into his hand, and still be able to talk despite that. "Rule Number Two: I can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else." He then planted a huge kiss on Goofy as a joke while cooing, "You little punim, there." He then moved onto the last rule as he laid flat on his back and said, "Rule Number Three." He then slowly sat up as he turned into a zombie version of himself, and said, "I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty sight. I DON'T LIKE DOING IT!" He then changed back to normal, or whatever counted as normal for him, and added on, "Other than that, you can feel free to wish away. Oh but ix-nay on the wishing for more wishes. That's it…Three." He then turned into three caballeros as he counted, "Uno, dos, tres." And to wrap up this explanation he turned himself black and white and finished, "No substitutions, exchanges, or refunds."

Sora immediately slipped over to Ven and whispered, "Hey, do you think we could wish for him to put Kairi's heart back in her body?"

 _"Or maybe to bring my body here first, or at least tell us where it is,"_ Kairi added in Sora's head, prompting Sora to repeat the question to Ven on her behalf.

"I'm not so sure," Ventus admitted. "Maybe if we were the ones holding the lamp, we could possibly return Kairi's heart to her body, but as far as finding her body goes…well, even genies have to obey the rules regarding world order, and I get the feeling that wishing for him to bring her body here would be breaking that rule. Maybe he could give us a clue if we wished for him to tell us where Kairi's body is, but that would be it."

Sora became a little downcast at hearing that, but Kairi was not about to let him become depressed because of that. _"Hey, don't worry Sora. We'll figure out some way to find my body, and get me back into it. I already told you I don't mind waiting here for too long. I know you'll find the way to do it sooner or later."_

 _"Thanks Kairi,"_ Sora smiled in reply, and he then returned his attention to Genie as he continued on with his little show.

"Our lucky winner made his first wish," Genie declared before he slid over to Sora with a hand by his mouth like he was talking discreetly, changing his voice a little when he spoke to the kid. "And let me tell ya, what a doozy that wish was." He then slipped away and made a double of himself, and they both spoke in unison when he said, "So he has two left." The two Genies became one again, as he finally came to an end with his ghostly tail turning into a microphone and asked, "So, master, what'll you have for Wish Number Two?"

A loud applause suddenly rang out around them, from where, no one was sure, but Aladdin was a bit too focused on Genie's question to really care. "Hmm, how about making me a fabulously wealthy prince," Aladdin suggested.

"Oooh! Money! Royalty! Fame! Why didn't I think of that," Genie exclaimed with a small hint of sarcasm at the end. He then made like he was rolling up his sleeves and declared, "Okay, you asked for it! A hundred servants and a hundred camels loaded with gold! Just say the word and I'll deliver it in thirty minutes or less, or your meal's free. Hey, I'll even throw in a cappuccino!"

"No thanks," Aladdin chuckled in polite decline.

"Oh okay," Genie shrugged, acting like that was no big deal, which it probably was not, considering.

Before Aladdin could make the wish, Goofy just had to ask, "Uh, why a prince?"

"Yeah. I can understand wanting to be fabulously wealthy, but why add in being a prince," Ventus asked.

"You see, there's this girl in Agrabah named Jasmine," Aladdin explained rather bashfully, but he quickly became a little downcast. "But she's a princess, and I'm…Aw, she could never fall for a guy like me."

 _"Seriously? He thinks that a girl wouldn't fall for him just because of her status? Why do guys always assume they need to change who they are for the girl they love just because of silly things like that,"_ Kairi questioned. Sora did not answer though, because he was just as guilty for having similar thoughts in regards to Kairi in the past. Granted she was not an actual princess on Destiny Islands, but she was still the mayor's daughter by adoption. That did come with a fair deal of status, and her looks definitely contributed to how she would be one of the most sought after girls on the islands, had it not been for the fact that any guy trying to ask her out would have to go through him and Riku first. It was not just that though. Ever since he learned that Kairi was a Princess of Heart, he felt like she had reached a whole new level of importance that he could never hope to reach, even though he was a Keyblade Wielder now, so once again, he had to wonder if he would be good enough for her.

His thoughts must have become as evident as Aladdin had just made his own, because Ventus immediately stepped up to try and dispute the idea that had wormed its way into Aladdin's head, and that was now worming its way into Sora's. "What makes you so sure that she won't," the blonde asked, bringing Aladdin's attention to him. "Aladdin, girls always prefer a guy who's honest with her and is true to who he is. You shouldn't change who you are just to make the girl like you. You should just be yourself."

"Yeah right," Aladdin scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Take it from someone who knows about that kind of thing," Ventus insisted, surprising the others a little. He then gained a fond smile that was also a bit bashful, and explained, "You see, there's a girl that I…really care about, a lot. I had a huge crush on her even when I was just a kid, but as I got to know her over the years since we first met, it became more than that, and for years I was so sure that she would never feel the same way. Not only was she older than me by a couple years or so, but she was also brave, talented, the most unselfish person I know, and she almost never wavered in what she believed was right and wrong. Meanwhile, I was the youngest of our little trio of friends, short, and way behind both her and our other friend, Terra in my training, and not only that, but she had known Terra way longer than me, and he was pretty much everything I figured a girl would want in a guy. So, I tried my best to be more like Terra, trained like crazy, and did everything I could to try and impress her, even by practicing my magic as much as she did, just so I could spend a little extra time with her. It wasn't until my first journey to defend others from dangerous beings like the Heartless that I started to realize that she didn't want me to change who I was just to get her attention. She liked me for me, and no one else. The fact that she kissed me really drove that point home."

Each of Ven's friends knew that the girl he was referring to was Aqua, and more than that, Ven's story definitely made Sora feel a little better, and it seemed to make Aladdin think a bit about his idea that Jasmine would never fall for a guy like him as well. The main reason he had gone to the Cave of Wonders in order to retrieve the lamp, besides hoping that he could use it to somehow free Agrabah of Jafar's rule, was because he figured it was his best bet at getting Jasmine to return his feelings. Still, from what Ven had just said in his story, it sounded like whoever this girl he was talking about was, she was pretty much the same as Jasmine, aside from the princess thing, and yet she clearly fell for him without Ven really having to change anything about who he was. Could there really be a chance that Jasmine would ever fall for a simple street rat like him? Aladdin was not so sure, but at the same time, he had to wonder if there was a chance that she would. He was about to ask Ventus to tell him more about this woman he cared about so much, when Donald and Goofy started to process something that Aladdin had said earlier about the girl he cared about so much.

"Uh, princess," Donald started.

"Jasmine," Goofy continued, and the minute the two had heard those words back to back like that, Sora and Ventus both gasped in shock.

"Oh no! Ven, we almost completely forgot why we came out here looking for Aladdin in the first place," Sora exclaimed, surprising Aladdin a little.

"Oh, that's right! Jasmine's in trouble, Aladdin! We think Jafar's got her," Ventus revealed.

"What?! Well c'mon, let's get going," Aladdin rushed, and like that, he was jumping up onto Carpet with Abu, Sora, Donald, and Goofy joining him soon after. Unfortunately, that left no room for Ventus, but he made do by summoning out his Keyblade Glider, and with that, the group was flying back to Agrabah as fast as they could.

* * *

Despite moving at their top speeds though, it was not until morning when they were finally getting close to Agrabah, and during that time, they had a moment to exchange a little small talk, namely regarding Aladdin's third and final wish. Originally, Aladdin was going to use one of the wishes to get rid of Jafar and restore Jasmine's father to his rightful place as sultan, but after talking with his new friends, who had promised that they would be able to help with the evil vizier, he had a feeling that he would not have to use the wish for that anymore. So now, Aladdin still had a free wish, and he wanted it to be a really good one since it was the only wish he had left after his wish to be made into a prince, assuming he still went through with it. The only downside was that he had no idea what to use it for, and asking Sora and the others yielded no better results, so they eventually got around to asking the only other person they could ask: Genie, something he had not been expecting at all if the surprised look on his face was any indication, along with how he had suddenly stopped flying around like it had been the first time he had gotten out of his lamp in forever.

"Are you okay," Ventus asked, worried that they had offended Genie by asking him what he would have wished for.

"Yeah, fine. It's just…no one's ever asked me that question before," Genie admitted with a shrug. "Well in my case…nah, forget it."

"What," Sora asked.

"No, I can't," Genie tried to say.

"Come on, you can tell us," Goofy reassured him.

Genie sighed in defeat of this, and then said, "Freedom."

That surprised everyone a little, even Abu had to let out a sound of surprise when he heard that. "Freedom? You mean you're a prisoner," Donald asked.

"Well that makes sense," Ventus revealed. "The connection between a genie and their lamp has been long-known to be incredibly strong; hence the reason why a genie must grant wishes to whomever it is that holds their lamp."

"That would be correct, sir," Genie confirmed. "Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty-bitty living space. It's always three wishes, then back to my portable prison. I'm lucky to see the light of day every century or two."

"Aw, that's terrible, Genie," Sora sighed, really feeling for the big guy. He had a pretty good idea of what Genie probably felt, but then again, somehow, he doubted that living on a small world like Destiny Islands was really anything compared to the living space of Genie's lamp.

"But oh to be free! Not to have to go POOF! 'What do you need?' POOF! 'What do you need?' POOF! 'What do you need?'…To be my own master; such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world," Genie sighed in hopeful joy, clearly thinking of his dream right then. He then sighed as he dropped down to seem like he was sitting on the edge of Ven's Keyblade Glider and said, "But what am I talking about? Let's get real here; it's not gonna happen. Genie, wake up and smell the hummus."

"Why not," Goofy asked.

"The only way I get out of this, is if my master wishes me out. So, you can guess how often that's happened," Genie replied.

Hearing that made Aladdin hum in thought before he looked over to his lamp-bound friend and said, "Say, Genie, what if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp? What do you think?"

Genie immediately perked up when he heard that, his face becoming filled with an expression of hope as his eyes jumped to Aladdin, looking for any sign that would indicate that the guy was messing with him in any way. He had heard people say that they would do such a thing before only to go back on their word when the time finally came, so he was not going to just take any promise like that at face-value. Naturally, he was surprised to find nothing but pure honesty in Aladdin's face, but just to be sure, he still asked, "You'd do that?"

"Genie, it's a promise. After we help Jasmine," Aladdin assured his friend.

"Yeah, and if something happens that prevents him from doing it, one of us can wish you free," Sora piped in.

"Uh-huh. After all, you just have to be the one holding the lamp in order to get the wishes, right," Goofy asked.

"So that means, if any of us get the lamp, since none of us have ever held it before, we'd all get three wishes each, right," Donald continued, catching on to Goofy's thinking just seconds later.

"Technically yes, that is true, but I'm not so sure if we could wish for Genie's freedom," Ventus informed them, gaining confused looks from the other three. He then flew a little closer so he could quietly explain the reasoning. "Using a magic lamp to make wishes is one thing, but since we're not from this world, we can't technically wish for Genie's freedom. It's part of the same reason as to why we can't wish for Genie to bring Kairi's body to us."

Sora and the others were saddened to hear that news, but that did not seem to bother Genie too much, assuming he heard what Ven said. No matter how you sliced it, Genie was going to be set free from his lamp after helping his new friends out, so he was all the more eager to get to Agrabah now. They were singing a different tune once they had arrived though, because the minute they walked through the gates, they were ambushed by Heartless once again, this time being mostly Bandits and Shadows, with a new variation of the Large Bodies mixed in, which Jiminy dubbed as the Fat Bandits. It probably would not have been so bad had it not been for the fact that the Fat Bandits were able to breathe fire, but all the same, the team of heroes had managed to fight off their attackers long enough to get up to the rooftops of the closest buildings. From there, they were able to see that nearly every street had been blocked off, no doubt on Jafar's orders, leaving them unable to get anywhere on the ground. Thankfully, Aladdin knew the city like the back of his hand, and easily led them across the roofs until they reached his house again, which they were relieved to find completely free of any Heartless what-so-ever.

After casting a couple of quick spells to ensure that the Heartless would not be able to get into Aladdin's house at all, Ven told everyone to take a few minutes to rest up a bit. There was no doubt in his mind that with all of this protection, Jafar would be ready and waiting for them with some form of sneaky trap, so they would have to be ready for anything. The minute the blonde had said that, Donald immediately plopped down and started guzzling up as many Ethers as he could, having exhausted quite a bit of his magic energy in the past few battles, while Goofy passed out some Potions for everyone to drink in order to heal any injuries that they had sustained during the fights, and recover their lost energy. When he noticed that Aladdin was rummaging through his things looking for something, Sora quickly slid over to Ventus, and decided that he needed to get a few answers about something that had been bothering him for a while now.

"Hey, how come you didn't let me tell Wakka and Selphie about Kairi when we met them back in Traverse Town," Sora asked when he saw that he had Ventus' attention.

Ven knew that question was likely going to come up sooner or later, though he figured that it would have been a lot sooner. Still, given the circumstances, it made sense that Sora would only ask about this now. After all, he had been pretty absorbed in the reunion with his two friends, and they had gone right back to work afterwards, so there was never really a time for Sora to have asked until now. He made a quick note to help Sora learn how to better prioritize things later, and then turned to the boy and explained, "Sora, the fact that Kairi's a Princess of Heart alone is something we should be keeping secret, but if too many people know that her heart's inside of you, then we'll definitely attract a lot of the wrong kind of attention. Imagine what would happen if one of Maleficent's spies had been back in Traverse Town, or even anywhere around here, right now. If possible, we need to keep this just between us and people we know for absolute certain that we can trust for as long as possible."

Sora nodded in understanding of that. He may not have liked it, but he could see where Ven was coming from. Kairi was a target for the bad guys on her own, and with her heart inside of him, that made him a much bigger target than he already was. If everyone knew about this, then he knew that he might as well have been wearing a big neon sign on his back that dared the bad guys to come and get him. More to the point, if Wakka and Selphie knew, then there was a likely chance that they could be used to get to him. Sure, that was just as true for Leon and the other survivors of Hollow Bastion, but they were all well-experienced fighters. Wakka and Selphie on the other hand may have some fighting capabilities, but that was really close to the same level that Sora's abilities were back before he gained the Keyblade and ended up in Traverse Town the first time. He would admit that it was likely that the two had gotten better due to fighting the Heartless or some extra training from Leon and the others, but that did not make the risk any smaller for them, so he ended up having to agree with Ventus' judgment on this. That did not mean that there was not at least one person who did not like that answer.

 _"You've gotta be kidding me! In case you guys hadn't noticed, they're already being targeted every time they go outside whatever place their currently living out of in Traverse Town. How's knowing that I'm in your heart going to change that at all? Besides, you know full well that Selphie and Wakka can handle themselves,"_ Kairi protested into Sora's head, making him wince a little at the volume of her shouting.

 _"I know that, but do you really want to see the look they would have on their faces if they found out that your heart had been separated from your body, which is now lost somewhere out there on one of the other worlds,"_ Sora asked while Ventus walked over to talk to Aladdin about Jafar's plans, or at least as much as he could talk to the guy about. _"Besides, I'm already having to worry about being as careful as possible whenever I get in a fight just because of the fact you're here with me, and I've got no idea what Riku's in the middle of right now. I don't want to drag anymore of my friends into unnecessary danger like this."_

 _"I understand that, Sora, but that should be their choice to make,"_ Kairi pointed out. She did not want to see Selphie getting upset from learning about what had happened to her friend, but at the same time, she still felt that their friends deserved to know.

Sora would have argued further with Kairi when he overheard Genie join in on Aladdin and Ven's conversation. "Keyhole, eh? I could swear I've heard about that somewhere before," the cosmic-powered being revealed.

"Really? Where," Donald excitedly asked on everyone's behalf. If Genie knew where the Keyhole was, then that meant that there was a chance that they could find and seal it shut before Jafar ever had the chance to reach it.

Unfortunately, it did not seem like Genie's memory was all that great in some cases, because he had to pause and think for a minute, even as he muttered, "Now, where was it? It's only been 200 years…"

Everyone had heard that, and found it to be far from encouraging new, but they quickly set it aside when Sora spoke up to get them back on track. "Well, anyway, we've got to stop Jafar before it's too late."

"He's right, and the first step in doing so is getting Jasmine to safety, so we should head out to the palace as soon as possible," Ventus agreed.

"All right, follow me. I know a couple of shortcuts," Aladdin informed everyone, standing up straight to reveal a scimitar in his hand and they were on the move racing over the rooftops of Agrabah once again. Sora took that as his cue to mentally inform Kairi that they would continue their debate later, and had to chuckle a little when he heard her grumbling about it in response. He knew that Kairi hated keeping such big secrets from her friends, but she would do it if she saw good reason, or if she was unable to do anything to the contrary. The latter of the circumstances may have been the big reason as to why she was not able to tell their other friends about her current condition right now, but he still had to hope she would see reason on this eventually. It was going to be hard for him if she did not let it go anytime soon.

* * *

Despite the fact that the Heartless had failed to eliminate the Keyblade wielders and their friends, Jafar was not very concerned. He had finally recaptured Princess Jasmine, and now all that was left for him to do was wait for Maleficent to send their newest assistant to "escort" the princess back to Hollow Bastion while he located the Keyhole and sent the Heartless into it. Like many typical villains that were at the peak of a moment of triumph, Jafar was now taking his time to bask in the glory of his near success, confident that no one could stop him at this point. Even if the Keybearers actually managed to meet up with the street-rat, Aladdin, Jafar was absolutely certain that they would never be able to stop him before it was too late. Besides, if anything, he was actually counting on them coming here. After all, they had something that he wanted, and he knew it would make finding the Keyhole all the more easier, while cementing his rule of Agrabah for good. In the end, Jafar was not disappointed, because it was not long after he had stepped out of the palace with Jasmine in tow to act as a kind of lure for the heroes that the five all dropped down on the street before him, each of them glaring at him with deep ferocity, though none quite matching that of Aladdin's glare, and Jafar was well aware of why that would be the case.

"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you, boy," Jafar taunted the current holder of Genie's lamp. "Back to your hole, street-rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more."

Aladdin could have cared less about what Jafar had to say to him, because all that mattered was seeing that the princess in question was currently being held prisoner by Jafar. "Jasmine," Aladdin shouted.

"I'm so sorry, Aladdin," the princess cried as she tried to approach, only to be cut off by Jafar as he raised his staff towards her threateningly.

Seeing the girl he had fallen so deeply in love with in trouble, Aladdin knew what he had to do. Sure, Sora, Ven, and the others probably could get to her, but he figured that they would not have been able to reach her fast enough. Sure, it meant he would have to give up his wish to become a prince, but if it meant that Jasmine was saved, Aladdin could not have cared less. So, he discreetly pulled out the lamp behind his back, and gave it a quick rub while he muttered, "Genie, help Jasmine. Please!"

There was no fanfare or explosive show of magic this time, but that did not mean that Jafar was not soon aware of a large presence behind him, so when he turned to face where the princess was supposed to be, he was only mildly surprised to see Jasmine safely held in Genie's arms, and the genie in question merely grinned happily. "One wish left! You're making this really easy, you know," Genie counted down to Aladdin, drawing a few smiles from the rest of the gang.

With Jasmine now safely out of harm's way, the team was sure that they now had Jafar on the ropes, but to their surprise, the vizier did not seem worried at all. If anything, he just continued grinning at them like he knew something that they did not. "So sorry, boy. I'm afraid your second wish has been denied," Jafar chuckled.

Everyone was confused by what Jafar meant when he said that. They all clearly saw Genie pull Jasmine to safety, and it was well within the genie rules, so how could Aladdin's wish have been denied at this point? They got their answer very soon, unfortunately. When they heard a small flapping noise, they turned to see Iago flying over to Jafar with the lamp held in his talons, much to their horror. The second that Iago dropped the lamp into Jafar's hands, Genie vanished from where he was with a sad look on his face, apologizing to Aladdin as he disappeared, and dropping Jasmine from the air. To make matters worse, the princess had fallen right into an open pot that turned out to be a Pot Spider Heartless, and said Heartless was quickly starting to scurry away. Ven and Sora would have charged in to attack the Heartless, but they had no way of knowing what might happen to Jasmine while she was trapped inside of it. Their hesitation ended up being just what Jafar needed to summon more Heartless to the square, including two particular Heartless that resembled a bug's head and rear end, and he soon disappeared from view afterwards as he declared, "And now, I bid you all farewell. Attack!"

The minute that Jafar vanished, the Heartless that Jasmine had been trapped inside of suddenly merged together with the other Pot Spiders that had appeared, and the bug-like Heartless to form one, mid-sized, centipede-like creature. Seeing this prompted Sora and Aladdin to both charge it head-on, only to be repelled by the beast when their respective swords struck its head. A minute after they had been thrown back, the centipede Heartless slapped them aside with its twisted antenna, electrifying them with lightning just so that the two would feel even more pain from the hit. Thankfully, Ventus was able to cast a quick Defensive Aero spell that saved the two from suffering too serious an injury, and with that, he joined the fight with Donald and Goofy right behind him.

Since they now knew that attacking the head was not the brightest idea, they decided to put more focus on the Pot Spiders making up the body of this Pot Centipede, as Jiminy had decided to name it. They figured that it would make the creature weaker if it had less of a body to work from, but that was not going to be so easy to accomplish. For every Pot Spider they destroyed, another two seemed to take its place. When he saw this was happening, Aladdin immediately stepped in and started blocking any of the newer Pot Spiders from getting near the Pot Centipede, and he was soon joined in that effort by Goofy, leaving Sora, Donald, and Ven to deal with the main enemy. Eventually, Donald blasted away the last Pot Spider that made up the centipede's body, and the Keyblade wielders instantly took that as their cue to charge in on the head and tail of the centipede, Ventus with his Fever Pitch Command Style, and Sora with the Photon Charge Shotlock. It took very little time for Ventus to eliminate the head of the Pot Centipede, and in a quick flash of light, Sora was able to easily dispense of the tail, and he soon used the remaining power of his Shotlock to blast away any remaining Pot Spiders that Aladdin and Goofy had already missed.

The main reason for Sora's attack on the remaining Pot Spiders was that they had not found Jasmine even after destroying the Heartless she had been trapped in, so they had to assume that meant she had been somehow traded over into another Heartless during the fight. Ventus was quick to join Sora in his efforts, using his Multivortex Shotlock to assist in the matter, but no matter how many Heartless they destroyed, they were unable to find even a single sign of Jasmine still being there. When he saw how they were not having any luck, Aladdin quickly joined in, smashing and bashing every Heartless that he could to try and find Jasmine, desperately calling out to her as he did, until eventually, they were the only ones left in the city with no Heartless around and no sign of Jasmine.

Seeing that there were no Heartless left and that Jasmine was still nowhere to be seen, the group knew in an instant that Jafar had just played them for fools, and the sound of the vizier's dark cackle echoing around them only reinforced that point. "Damn it," Ventus swore as he punched his palm in frustration. "Jafar must've known all along that Aladdin would find Genie's lamp. He was probably counting on that happening so that he could lure us in and steal it away for himself."

"And now Genie has no other choice but to grant Jafar any wish he wants," Sora finished. "But what could he really want to wish for at this point? He already has control over both the Heartless and Agrabah, and he has Jasmine as his prisoner."

"You're right, but there's one thing that Jafar doesn't have yet: the location of the Keyhole," Ventus reminded his apprentice.

"And even if Genie doesn't know where to find it, he would have to show Jafar where it is because of those stupid genie rules," Donald moaned.

While some would think that Aladdin was not paying them any attention at all, the truth of the matter was that he had at least heard a little bit of what they were saying. He probably would have heard everything if he had been in a calmer state of mind, but with Jasmine still in Jafar's clutches, he really could not care less about anything else. Still, that did not mean he was unable to think straight at all. As such, he was able to try and think for a minute about where this Keyhole could possibly be, and after thinking about what his friends told him, along with what Genie had said, only one course of action made sense in the street-rat's head. "We have to get to the desert! That's where Jafar has probably gone," Aladdin told his newest friends.

"What? Why would you think that," Ventus questioned.

"You said this Keyhole thing was supposed to be hidden somewhere that very few people would be able to get to or know about, right? Well considering that, along with the fact that Genie said he had seen it before, I can only think of one place in Agrabah it could be: the Cave of Wonders," Aladdin explained. "It houses treasures beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but it only ever allows certain people to enter."

"Of course! If you have a place that only specific individuals can get into, then where better to hide something as valuable as the Keyhole than there," Ventus caught on.

"Then we've got to get there quick," Goofy said.

"Right. Come on, let's move," Aladdin ordered everyone. Just as he was about to turn and head for the city gate though, he found his path blocked by the others. "What're you doing? We've gotta go and save Jasmine!"

"We will, but it might be better if you stay here and leave this to us," Ventus carefully cautioned. He knew that if he said the wrong thing right now, Aladdin would likely try to fight him, if for no other reason than to go off and save Jasmine alone if he had too.

"No! I'm not staying! Not while Jasmine and Genie need my help," Aladdin argued.

That surprised everyone. They knew that Aladdin was willing to do whatever it took to help Jasmine, but they had no idea that he was going to go to such lengths for Genie too. "Why do you want to help Genie and Jasmine, Aladdin," Sora asked.

"Well, I doubt I need to tell you why I want to help Jasmine, but Genie…he's the first real friend I've ever had other than Abu," Aladdin explained. "I've grown up out in the slums of Agrabah for years, ever since my mother died, and my father disappeared years ago, so I can only assume he's dead as well. I've always had to fend for myself, and sure, having Abu around is great and all, but…well, I have wanted at least a few other real friends to talk to at the very least. Jasmine was probably the first person I've ever met that I was able to get so close to, and after I met Genie, I just felt like…well, like I could really count on him, not just because of the fact I was holding his lamp, but because he was my pal."

Hearing Aladdin say all of that really made the team's hearts go out for him. To hear that such a good person like him had to endure such a hard, lonely life would break anyone's heart a little. They knew it was rare to find someone who would continue to persist through any hardship they had endured, but it was even more rare to find someone who still cared more about others than himself like Aladdin seemed to, and that just made them all admire him a little more. If it were under any other circumstances, they would have not hesitated to bring him along, but there was still one small problem: unlike any of them, Aladdin had no special powers to keep him safe. Sure, he could handle himself in a fight, as he proved when they were fighting the Heartless just now, but when they ran into Jafar, they knew that there was a chance the vizier was going to throw everything he had at them, along with finding some way to make Genie fight them as well. They could not ask Aladdin to go in there and fight his friend, let alone risk his life while doing so, and they made sure to make that clear to him.

"But how are you gonna be able to help without Genie? His magic isn't going to be able to save us if we need it too, so you'll be in a lot more danger," Goofy cautioned Aladdin.

"Hey, I'm a street-rat, remember? I've been ducking guards and scraping for food for years, and most of the time, I've had to improvise, so I might as well keep doing what I do best," Aladdin confidently smirked.

"You know fellas, I think we should let Aladdin come with us," Jiminy suddenly said, surprising them all. They were not expecting Jiminy of all people to be okay with letting them risk someone else's life like they would be Aladdin's when they went after Jafar. Seeing their surprise, Jiminy quickly explained, "He's determined to do whatever it takes to help the girl he loves and his friend, so even if we do find a way to make him stay here, he's still likely going to find a way to come after us and try to help. He's a lot like you and Sora in that regard, Ven." Ventus and Sora could not help but smile a little sheepishly when Jiminy said that. They knew full well that he was right about that. Seeing he made that point clear, Jiminy continued, "And besides that, Aladdin not only knows exactly where the Cave of Wonders is, but he's been in there before. Namely, when he went to get the lamp, so he knows just what kind of traps to expect when we're in there, and how to avoid them. It just makes sense to bring him along with us for that reason if nothing else."

Looking amongst themselves, not one of the four friends found that they could argue with Jiminy in anyway. Aladdin did know exactly where to find the Cave of Wonders, while they only had a general idea of where to look, and that was only because they were brought there by Carpet so that they could save Aladdin. Plus, there was no doubt that a place like the Cave of Wonders would have a number of different booby traps and things to keep intruders out, even if only certain people could get into it, so having Aladdin with them to help them navigate through those traps would be a huge help in the long run. Really, at the end of it all, they did not really seem to have much choice but to bring Aladdin along. With that in mind, they finally agreed to let Aladdin help them, and after climbing aboard Carpet again, with Ventus flying alongside them on his Keyblade Glider, they were all headed out to the desert, hoping to save Jasmine and seal the Keyhole before it was too late.

* * *

Jafar was feeling really great right now. Really, he was at the greatest zenith a villain could imagine reaching, in his own personal opinion. He had Princess Jasmine prisoner, he had the genie's lamp, and now, he had the Keyhole unveiled before him, just waiting to be filled with Heartless that would drown Agrabah in everlasting darkness. Everything was coming up in his favor, and not even the Keybearers were able to stop him. They already tried and failed before, and even if they were able to somehow get here now, it would not matter in the slightest. Especially since he had enchanted the entrance to the Cave of Wonders so that its bestial entrance would attack any who would dare to even attempt to approach. Meaning, they would have to survive whatever the great lion head could throw out if they wished to continue chasing after him, and since they had not shown up for several hours now, he was left to enjoy his moment of triumph in peace as he waited for Maleficent to arrive, while Jasmine lay unconscious at his feet, and Genie just sat off to the side, moping in sad dismay at what he had been forced to do for the vizier.

The only downside was that every minute that Maleficent and her new friend delayed was another raise to the risk that the Keybearers may somehow prevail and arrive to save the princess. That was not to say that Jafar doubted his own power, he most certainly believed he could best the Keyblade Master, the boy, and the king's two fools, but he was also a practical man. As he had mentioned once before, that little group was becoming a problem that had to be dealt with, and one of the best ways to deal with them right now was to complete their assignments on their respective worlds as quickly as possible. Of course, it was not very easy to do that when you had to wait around on your compatriots like this for several hours, but thankfully, Maleficent did finally show up, and when she did, Jafar did not hesitate to reiterate once again how much of a problem those four were becoming. It definitely helped that he had good reasons to support his argument this time.

"Ventus and that boy again," Maleficent questioned, though Jafar was a little confused as to why she did not seem all that surprised over how they were here on this world.

Still, the lack of surprise by the leader of this little alliance did not throw Jafar off his game for long, as he went on to say, "They are more persistent than you led me to expect. Why not explain the situation to that boy Riku? Doing so may actually prove useful to our…"

"I hope you don't mind our interrupting, but we need to lodge a few complaints regarding your rule, Jafar," a voice interrupted, causing Jafar to spin around and lay eyes on Ventus, Sora, and the others as they came rushing into the chamber. Having been the one who spoke, Ventus then turned a steely gaze towards the evil fairy that was standing by the Keyhole and added, "Don't think you're going to be left out of this, Maleficent. We've got some unfinished business to address."

"Wait a second, that's Maleficent," Sora gasped in surprise.

Maleficent merely smirked in response and said, "Well, well. It's actually rather good to see again, Ventus. You've grown up quite well these last ten years."

"Oh spare me. Any compliment from you is like poisoned honey," Ventus practically growled. He then summoned his Keyblade and aimed it directly at the evil fairy and demanded, "Now tell me, why are you after the Princesses of Heart, where have you taken them, and what have you done with them?"

"All in good time, my boy. You may be older and more trained now, but you are still just a boy compared to the power of darkness that I wield," Maleficent promised, and with that she disappeared, clearly believing that the group was beneath her notice for the moment, and silently informing Jafar that she would be leaving them to him.

Even though he was confused about what Ventus and Maleficent were talking about, Aladdin did not let it distract him from the reason why they were here in the first place. "Jafar, let Jasmine go," the scimitar wielding boy demanded.

"Not a chance," Jafar scoffed. "You see, she's a princess; one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

That drew surprised looks from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, since they knew in an instant what Jafar was talking about when he mentioned the seven princesses, and they had no clue how he could have learned about that. At least, not until they reminded themselves that he was working with Maleficent, and she had probably revealed that information to him. Still, out of everything they were currently feeling, they were more confused than anything else when Jafar mentioned that the Princesses of Heart held the key to opening a door. Just what door was he talking about, and how did the Princesses of Heart possess the means to opening it? It was a question that Sora had soon directed towards Kairi, only for her to give a soft hum that sounded a lot like "I don't know," making him feel like he could see her shrugging in equal confusion for a minute.

Ventus on the other hand had a very strong hunch as to what Jafar was referring to, and his worries for the worlds were now at an all-time high. "You can't be serious," the blonde master protested. "Are you and Maleficent really that insane?! That door was closed for a reason, and if anyone were to ever open it, there won't _be_ any worlds left for you to rule. It would be the end of all things, and the light would be forever extinguished."

"Or so you would be lead to believe," Jafar dismissed, clearly not believing a word that Ventus just said. "For beyond that door lies a power that would promise us the worlds for all eternity, with no hope of fools like you ever being able to challenge us. But you fools won't live to see just what that power that lies beyond it is." The vizier then raised the lamp above his head and shouted, "Genie! My second wish. Crush them!"

"Genie, no," Aladdin pleaded, hoping that there was some way that his friend would be unable to grant that wish.

Unfortunately, Genie had to let him down, and say, "Sorry, Al. The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

"But I thought you said that genies couldn't kill people. Wouldn't this be a wish that does just that," Goofy asked.

"You'd be surprised what people can live through," Genie shrugged. "And besides, he said for me to _crush_ you, not _kill_ you. Unless he actually says the words, it's allowed."

Needless to say, no one was pleased to hear about that little loophole, but that was not going to stop the team from getting the job done. More to the point, it did not change the plan they had made as they were fighting their way through the Heartless-infested Cave of Wonders. It was actually quite simple: while Donald and Goofy kept Jafar busy, Aladdin and Sora would sneak over and take back the lamp while pulling Jasmine to safety, while Ventus raced for the Keyhole in order to seal it shut. If Ven could not get to it, then since he would already likely be close by, Sora could just make a mad dash and seal it himself. Sadly, they were already presented with a problem to carrying out said plan after Jafar used his magic to form a barrier that separated them from the Keyhole, and since it also prevented them from escaping, they knew that they had no other choice at this point but to defeat Jafar before they could do anything else. They just had to avoid anything that Genie threw at them while trying to take back the lamp and beating Jafar.

Without even a single word, the five went to work, with Donald and Sora drawing Jafar's attention so that Goofy and Ventus could move in and attack up close. It was not as easy as one might think, because Jafar was certainly no slouch in a fight, at least when it came to making sure that his enemies could not get too close for his comfort. Every time that one of the adventurers managed to get close enough, they were blasted away by a quick pulse of magic, giving him a chance to try and zap their long-range support with a beam from his staff. Thankfully, Ventus had managed to recover quickly enough to cast a quick Aero Shield in order to defend Sora and Donald from the full force of the blast, but it did still hurt quite a bit. While Jafar was busy cackling over how he had easily pushed them back, Aladdin took his chance to move in and grab the lamp, but Jafar noticed his approach and easily summoned a rain of scimitars down to block Aladdin's advance. Aladdin was glad that none of those swords went through him when they fell, but it did not make getting the lamp back any easier, and Jafar was just barely starting to fight.

Sora then charged in using the Photon Charge Shotlock to get close, and once the Shotlock's power had worn off, Sora took a mighty swing at Jafar. Unfortunately, the vizier was able to utter a quick incantation that allowed him to turn to smoke and swiftly move away before Sora's hit could land, and Sora was instead raising his Keyblade up in defense in order to deflect the boulders that Genie suddenly dropped down on him. Thankfully, Genie shouted out a warning to the kid before the sudden boulder drop, so Sora escaped relatively unscathed. Ventus then charged in using a speed boost from his Fever Pitch Command Style, and switched out for Wingblade right when he had gotten close to Jafar, but like before with Sora, Jafar turned to smoke and escaped just before too many of Ven's light swords could hit him. Unlike Sora though, Ventus was able to land a couple of hits before Jafar had escaped, but he was still having to use a lot of its power in order to avoid being hurt by Genie's forced attack on his person.

This little pattern continued for some time until Sora started really getting frustrated with Jafar's use of mid to long range tactics and constantly running away whenever they got close, and it showed when he shouted, "What's the matter? Too scared to really fight us yourself, you cowardly snake?"

"A snake am I," Jafar questioned with a hiss as he slowly moved towards them. "Well let's see how sssssnake-like I can be!"

Even as he had spoken, Jafar's appearance had begun changing, starting with his face and how his tongue stuck out a little when he had hissed, and before anyone knew what was happening, Jafar had transformed into a massive cobra that was almost too big to fit in the room, much to everyone's horror. Seeing this new transformation, Donald shot a small look at Sora and said, "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

"How was I supposed to know he could do something like that," Sora questioned, but that was as far as their argument got, because they were soon diving aside in order to avoid being hit by Jafar's massive body or being chomped down on by his massive mouth of teeth that were no doubt laced with poison.

Jafar then lunged at Sora once again, but this time, Aladdin and Ven came to the rescue, with the former slipping in to slice at Jafar's head, while the latter then unleashed a burst of the Ragnarok Shotlock afterwards to keep Jafar from coming close to them again. As Sora jumped forward to unleash the same Shotlock, Ventus took that time to say, "A quick lesson for future reference, Sora: when fighting sorcerers, mages, or any other form of enemy that primarily fights with magic like Jafar here does, never assume anything regarding their limits."

Sora just nodded and then focused his powers so that he could unleash a Sonic Blade attack, slashing at Jafar several times over, and since Jafar was now such a big target, there was no shortage of points where Sora could hit him, and the vizier felt every single one of his slashes. Aladdin then slid across the ground towards the snake after Sora had dashed away from Jafar, and swung his scimitar as hard as he could, striking Jafar across the face when he did, and causing the vizier-turned-snake to hiss in pain due to the blow. He would have retaliated against Aladdin, but a sudden barrage of ice and fire magic, courtesy of Donald made him rethink that idea, and Goofy made him forget about it completely when he rushed in and slammed his shield into Jafar's face. Ventus then took that moment to unleash his Pulse Bomb Shotlock on Jafar, peppering the snake with several different small explosions of light magic, until Jafar was backed into enough of a corner for him, Sora, and Aladdin to all leap forward and stab the snake with their respective blades, drawing a loud howl of pain from Jafar when they did.

"Rick 'em, rack 'em, rock 'em, rake! Stick those swords into that snake," Genie cheered, having turned himself into four cheerleaders that had a large letter "A" on their shirts along with a set of crossed swords that looked like Sora and Ven's Keyblades.

"You either crush them or stay out of this," Jafar hissed in annoyance.

Genie instantly turned into just one cheerleader after that, and merely rolled his eyes as he said, "Jafar, Jafar. He's our man. If he can't do it, GREAT!"

That proved to be as much as Jafar could take, because he instantly unleashed a powerful blast of magic from his eyes that sent Donald and Goofy flying into the far wall. Sora was about to rush over and use his Keyblade to cast a healing spell, but before he could get two feet away, he found himself held tightly in Jafar's coils along with Ventus and Aladdin, both of whom were struggling to get free or at least breathe a little better. "Little fools," Jafar cackled. "Did you really think you could defeat the most powerful being on this world? Without the genie or those Keyblades, you are all nothing, while I am without equal!"

At any other time, Sora would have glared defiantly at Jafar, but to everyone's surprise, he did no such thing. Instead, he had to do his hardest to keep a smile off his face, because Jafar had inadvertently given him an idea on how they could win this, and in order for it to work, he needed to keep as cool a head as possible right now. So, once he was sure his features were completely schooled, he merely looked at Jafar with an even gaze, and then shrugged as best as he could and said, "Meh."

"What? What do you mean meh? Why are you saying 'meh'," Jafar demanded, insulted at the boy's attitude.

"Exactly what it sounds like. You're not the most powerful; you're just…meh," Sora explained. "I mean, Ventus is way more powerful than you on his own, even without his Keyblade, and there are so many more beings that have more power than you. Maleficent, the Heartless, and of course the genie just to name a few."

While Ventus was a little confused as to what his apprentice was doing, Aladdin caught on in an instant, and was soon joining Sora in his efforts. "Sora's right. Maleficent gave you the power to control the Heartless, and without them, you never would've become sultan. More than that, taking that power away will be barely even the smallest problem for Genie."

"Al, Sora, what're you doing? Why are you bringing me into this more than I already have been," Genie nervously questioned.

"I've gotta agree. You two really should stop talking before you give him any ideas," Ventus advised in caution, but both he and Genie went ignored by the duo as they kept egging Jafar on.

"Face it Jafar. You're still just second best," Aladdin goaded.

"Honestly, I think saying even _that_ is being generous, and whenever you would ask someone otherwise, they'll just say…meh," Sora finished with a shrug at the end, just to prove his point.

Jafar would have snapped all of their spines right then and there, and he could have done it easily too since he had them and Ventus so wound up in his grasp, but he quickly realized that there was a good deal of truth to their words, and instantly stopped in his squeezing. "You're right. Their powers do exceed my own, but not for long," Jafar hissed, and he slowly slunk towards Genie, making Ven feel like his heart just dropped into his stomach, because he had a feeling he knew exactly what Jafar was thinking.

Apparently Genie shared the blonde's suspicions, because he was quickly trying to talk Jafar out of whatever he was thinking of doing as the vizier-turned-snake slunk closer and around him. "The boys are crazy. They're a _little_ punch-drunk. One too many hits from the snake."

"Genie! My final wish! I want you to make me…an all-powerful genie," Jafar commanded, confirming exactly what both Genie and Ventus feared, while Donald and Goofy could barely do anything more than start quaking in their boots.

Genie did not want to do it, and right now more than ever, he wished that he was a free genie so that he could not grant that wish, but as he had stated previously, the one with the lamp calls the shots, and Jafar had just called his final one. Genie just wished it was not that one. "You're wish is my command," Genie hesitantly nodded. He then threw a small look at the two who had given Jafar this idea and muttered, "Way to go, Al, Sora."

Even as he cast the magic that would transform Jafar, Genie could not help but cover his eyes, and the minute his beam of magic struck Jafar, no one was able to blame him. In an instant, Jafar began to undergo a change so incredible, that the entire cavern shook underneath the sheer power of his transformation. Moments later, the entire room had been shaken so hard that a huge hole opened up in the center of the room, and down into a chamber that was filled with lava, save for a few platforms that made it safe to cross, and Jafar fell right down into it as his snake form vanished in a puff of smoke. The three heroes that had been wrapped up in Jafar's coils had no choice but to follow, mostly because they had been held in the air directly above where the hole in the ground now was. Thankfully, Ventus was able to use a bit of wind magic to both cushion their fall and ensure that they would land on one of the safe areas of the chamber, but it did nothing to hide the fact that their enemy had just become a much bigger problem than he already was.

"Sora, Aladdin…what have you two done," Ventus asked as Donald and Goofy eventually came down to join them, thanks to a lift from Carpet, his eyes completely fixated on Jafar's new muscular, crimson red, yellow-eyed genie form that now loomed over them. The other two did not seem to hear him though, as they were busy looking this way and that for some reason, so naturally, he was more than a little annoyed at that point. "You guys! You just gave Jafar everything he needs to ensure that we don't survive this, and that this whole world is plunged into darkness! Why are you not more concerned?"

"Come on, Ven. Don't you remember the rules of the whole genie gig," Sora asked with a knowing smile. "Phenomenal cosmic powers…"

"Itty-bitty living space! Sora, Aladdin, I take back what I was saying earlier; you two are brilliant," Ventus cheered, having finally caught on to why they had egged Jafar into doing this. "Since he's now a genie, Jafar must have a lamp to go with it, so if we find it…"

"We can use it to trap Jafar inside," Aladdin smirked in conclusion, and the entire group was quickly searching everywhere they could for anything that looked like it could be Jafar's new portable prison. It was not easy though, given that Jafar was taking full advantage of his new cosmic powers to attack them, whether it be by throwing magic blasts at them, or even simply lifting a massive boulder from the molten lava to throw at them.

Eventually though, Goofy caught sight of Iago flying around the room with something held tightly in his talons, and after taking a minute to try and study it, he gasped, "Hey, there it is! Iago's got it!"

The other four immediately turned to see that Iago did indeed have a black lamp held tightly in his talons, and given how fast he was trying to fly away with it, they could only assume that meant it was Jafar's lamp. In an instant, they were all racing as fast as they could towards Iago, dodging everything Jafar threw at them as they went to the best of their abilities, but it seemed that Iago was proving to be much faster than he let others believe. Thinking quickly, Donald cast a quick fire spell in Iago's path, startling the parrot into turning the other way. Seeing what Donald did immediately clued Ventus into what he was thinking, and the blonde quickly cast a blast of Blizzaga in Iago's path once again. Keeping up with the little tactic, Goofy tossed his shield at Iago, and while it did not hit the parrot, it did discourage Iago from flying in the direction he had been beforehand, and he was soon changing course once more. Iago had to make one final change in course when Aladdin suddenly threw his scimitar in Iago's flight path, only to realize too late that they had driven him right into arms-reach of Sora. The wielder of Kingdom Key did not Iago get away when the parrot realized his mistake, because he instantly grabbed the parrot and pried Jafar's lamp from his grasp before tossing Iago across the room.

Seeing that his friend had managed to get his hands on Jafar's lamp, Aladdin turned towards the newly-made genie and shouted, "Hey Jafar, I think you've forgotten something about your final wish!"

When Jafar looked down at Aladdin in confusion, he was shocked to see a pair of gold bands suddenly fasten around his wrists, while Ventus smirked, "You want to be a genie, then you've got it and everything that goes with it!"

"Now, back to your lamp," Sora finished, and he raised the black lamp high above his head, letting it work its magic on its prisoner, as it began sucking Jafar in. The red genie was instantly crying out in disbelief and trying to grab at anything he could to avoid being pulled in, but he only ended up grabbing Iago by his tail feathers, and the two of them were both sucked into the lamp, until they both disappeared inside of it with a pop.

"Aw, you little tricksters," Genie cooed in delight, glad to hand his own lamp over to Aladdin, just to make sure that it would be in the hands of someone that he could trust it with, and bringing smiles to everyone's face.

After that, Sora just tossed the lamp aside, not really caring where it fell at the moment. As long as it stayed in the Cave of Wonders, they would not have to worry about Jafar again for a long time. Besides, right now, they had more important things to worry about, like checking on Jasmine and sealing the Keyhole for instance, and Carpet was more than happy to give them all a lift back up to the chamber they had previously fell from. They arrived in no time at all, but when they dropped down onto the pedestal that they saw Jasmine had been laying unconscious upon before, all they saw was the Keyhole, and absolutely no sign of Jasmine anywhere. Ventus immediately moved to help Aladdin search for the missing princess using his senses, while Sora moved to seal the Keyhole with his Keyblade. A moment later, they all heard the reassuring clanking sound of the Keyhole being sealed shut, and once that deed had been done, the Keyhole disappeared behind a wall of quickly-hardening sand.

With the Keyhole sealed, Sora was ready to join Ventus and Aladdin in looking for Jasmine, but before he could, the whole cave began shaking again, only this time, they doubted that it was going to stop until the whole thing fell in on them. "We'd better get out of here," Goofy shouted as he raised his shield overhead in order to block any boulders that would have fallen on him or anyone close to him.

Ventus could not have agreed more, and he instantly summoned his Keyblade Glider while the others boarded Carpet. The only problem was that Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to drag Aladdin onto the magic carpet, because the street-rat was not willing to leave without Jasmine. It was not until Ventus told Aladdin that she was already gone that Aladdin finally relented and let himself be flown to safety on Carpet, but in their hearts, the four adventurers knew that once they had reached safety again, they would have quite a few things to explain to Aladdin. There was just no way that they could hide what had happened to Jasmine or anything else from him now. They just had to hope he would be able to handle it well.

* * *

 ** _AN: So I guess you guys can see at this point that I wasn't kidding when I said this chapter was a long one, huh? I loved the movie Aladdin, and I just had to include a lot of stuff from the actual movie in here, not because the version we explored in the games wasn't fun, but because I felt like it would make things a lot more interesting at least. Plus, who doesn't love Genie when he's being funny, right?_**

 ** _Ventus: Not to mention you pulled another Stan Lee._**

 ** _AN: Ah yes! I'm sure some of you are already aware of this, but that character Dave is actually an OC avatar I use when I want to make a cameo appearance in my stories. This makes the...fourth story he's appeared in now, I think? Yeah, this is the fourth one, and once again, Dave was a bit of help to our heroes, only he also doubled as that merchant we saw at the beginning of the first Aladdin movie. You know, the one who begins the tale? I'm sure if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about._**

 ** _On another note, someone actually suggested in an earlier review that I show what happened to the other Destiny Island kids, and at first I was all like "No way man. They not important." But then I got to thinking and figured that I could probably do something pretty interesting with them. After all, those other three are all from Final Fantasy Games like Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Aerith, and Cid, so why not include them in a way beyond just being victims? That's why we ran into Wakka and Selphie here before the gang left Traverse Town again. If you're wondering what happened to Tidus or if we're going to see him again, then don't worry too much. He will be appearing again later on, but it won't be on Traverse Town. It'll be a whole different world. On a somewhat related note, we'll also be seeing at least two, not one, but TWO other Final Fantasy characters appearing here in this story. I'm sure some of you have already guessed this, so I'll go ahead and say it. Yes, Sephiroth will be one of those two. The other one...well, I'll leave that as a surprise for now._**

 ** _Also, yeah, I had to give Ven that moment with Aladdin when he heard about Al's reasons for wanting to be made a prince. Ven knows better than a lot of people that girls prefer a guy who's honest with them about who they are, as we've now seen with the relationship between Ventus and Aqua, at least in this story series, and I'm sure that after learning about Kairi's status, Sora could not help but feel a little insecure about whether or not he and Kairi could be together as well, so having Ven recount that little tale served as a way to teach both of the two that lesson. Or at least get the ball rolling on teaching it to them._**

 ** _Finally, yeah, I just had to explain why Genie was able to grant Jafar's wish for him to crush the heroes. In case it isn't obvious nowadays, magic can be very picky, right to the point where you have be very specific in what you want it to do, so it makes sense that Genie would be able to grant a wish to crush someone simply because the person did not actually say that he had to kill him. Now, if Jafar had wished for Genie to kill them, he wouldn't have been able to grant that wish, but since that wasn't the case...well, you get it by now, I'm sure. I feel like I'm just beating a dead bush at this point._**

 ** _Sora: I can't help but feel like the battle against Genie-Jafar was a little cheap._**

 ** _AN: Well what do you expect to happen there? In the game, you had to focus on hitting Iago and the lamp, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hurt Jafar at all, and besides, the whole point of convincing Jafar to wish to be made into a genie was so that they could trap him in his lamp, so obviously it's going to be just a simple struggle to get the lamp away from Iago._**

 ** _Ventus: But why did you make me seem like an idiot this time? I mean, how could I have failed to catch onto their plan until they explained it to me?_**

 ** _AN: Hey don't take it like that. This is more along the lines of that old saying about how the teacher can learn just as much from the student. Sure, Ven's a Keyblade Master now, but that doesn't mean he's some all-powerful, perfect being. He does need a little help from time to time in figuring out a way to win, or what a person is planning. I mean, Aqua wasn't able to solve everything on her own after she became a Keyblade Master in Birth By Sleep, or in Keyblades of Future Past, and don't forget, Sora and Kairi were both masters in that story as well, and even they needed some help from others in order to win. Besides, I kinda felt like Sora had not been getting very many moments to shine in this story, and I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity for him to do so._**

 ** _Sora: And don't forget about that little introduction to my learning how to use Sonic Blade._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I have to admit, that was kinda hard to really figure out. Abilities like Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum, and other battle abilities like them...I really needed to think in order to figure out how they would be implemented. Sure, you could just say it was a bit of magic channeling and be done with it, but I wanted it to be a little more involved than that. Hence the reason why I had Ven say that the abilities could be learned either over time or by seeing someone else use them, assuming they are abilities that Keyblade Wielders can use. That's not to say that Sora and Ven will be able to learn a bunch of new fighting abilities just by watching other guys fight, but it will be a good way to help explain how they can use such abilities._**

 ** _Well, I think that covers everything..._**

 ** _Ventus: Except your reasons for ending where you did with this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Oh that. Well I wanted to do all of Agrabah here, but unfortunately, it started to get too long, and I felt that the best compromise was to just have it end with the immediate aftermath of the fight with Jafar. Don't worry, we'll be getting into what happened after their escape from the Cave of Wonders right at the start of next chapter, but that won't be all that we'll be seeing in the next chapter. Care to have a glimpse of what I mean? Then move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _After a brief talk with Aladdin, the team finds themselves joined by a now freed Genie in their quest, via summoning charm, and they are all headed off once again. The only downside is that Ventus can see his apprentice is showing signs of being a bit too confident in their success than he probably should be. Is Sora letting the small number of victories distract him a little more than he should, or is he really feeling that confident in their abilities even despite the serious losses they've now suffered? It may take a real whale of a tale, a living puppet, and another unexpected reunion to find out for sure. And just what is it that Kairi's doing right now that's caused her to go completely silent? Enter the belly of a beast as the adventure reaches a new depth, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, looks like things are going to get pretty crazy next time. Until then though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	12. Whale of a Tale

**_AN: Hey how's it going everybody, and who's ready to dive into another chapter of Dual Keys?_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Riku: Shouldn't you be saying things like "dive in" when we get to the Atlantica chapter(s)?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, this one mostly takes place inside a giant whale, and whales are usually underwater. It counts here. Besides, what else do you want me to say? Some little spin on the song "No Strings On Me"? Like Ultron didn't already make a mess of that classic._**

 ** _Ultron: I heard that! [gets blasted out of the room by a large cannon that popped out of the floor]_**

 ** _AN: And do you really care? Anyways, let's answer a review or two while we're here. First, I'd like to make a general response, and ask why did so many of you automatically assume that Tidus is with Maleficent just because he was missing from Traverse Town? I mean, come on. There are other worlds out there that he could've ended up on, and besides that I'm fairly sure that I gave a hint on where, or at least who Tidus would end up with in the last chapter's author's note._**

 ** _Sora: You didn't. You just said that there would be two more Final Fantasy characters appearing later on including Sephiroth._**

 ** _AN: Oh...well, never mind then. Anyways, don't panic, Tidus is still going to be one of the good guys when we see him again, and he won't be with Maleficent. Doesn't mean he won't be doing something really important when we see him again, though._**

 ** _Next up to my buddy "Monkey D. Conan", appreciate the praise and understanding for the last chapter's length, and yeah, you were right. There was nowhere else that I could have split that piece of the adventure last chapter. Normally, I would answer all of your questions, but unfortunately, most of them would require giving away spoilers, and we all know how I am about spoilers._**

 ** _Roxas: Come on. You could at least tell them a little something, like how after they get to Hollow Bastion and meet Riku that first time, Ven basically..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits controls]_**

 ** _Roxas: Aw nuts. [gets whapped in the head by a large hammer that makes him fall flat on his back after uttering gibberish]_**

 ** _AN: Anyways, I will say this: Ven will not be leaving Sora behind because of anything like that, so you don't need to worry about that. As has often been pointed out in the past, Ventus and Sora are a lot alike. Oh, and the whole suggestion on the armor, I've actually already had a little thought on that, and while it's not like your idea, it will, hopefully, still be just as important. And it will have some similarities to the Jedi Order in a way._**

 ** _Sora: Hey, can I just point out this one guest review that made a little reference to Dragon Ball Z when it talked to me and Ven about how Genie was right to say you could be surprised what you can live through?_**

 ** _AN: Well, you just did, so I can't really say no now, can I? Anyways, thanks for pointing that out, pal._**

 ** _Ventus: How about the one talking to me about the new intel regarding me and the Keyblade War?_**

 ** _AN: Go for it._**

 ** _Ventus: I just want to remind you that this story is an AU, and was started before this intel was out, so naturally, it's going to ignore things like that, mostly because at this point, it would be next to impossible to add it in without doing a lot of story revision that none of us really want to do right now, if ever._**

 ** _AN: Well, that feels like a bit of a mean way to put it, but it's definitely blunt and to the point. Moving on, let's get on with the show, and dive into the adventure. In more ways than one this time around._**

 ** _Kairi: What's that supposed mean?_**

 ** _AN: You'll find out in a minute. You especially, my dear Kairi._**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XI**

Deep in the heart of her castle, Maleficent was standing proudly at the head of her meeting table, smirking with glee at the fact that they had now had six of the Princesses of Heart in their grasp. Sure, they may have lost Jafar to Ventus and his little friends, and Agrabah's Keyhole may have been sealed shut to prevent the Heartless from plunging the world into darkness, but that was a small price to pay in exchange for what they had gained. After all, in the long-run of this game, nothing that Ventus, his apprentice, or the king's lackeys did would be able to prevent darkness from consuming all of the worlds once they had opened the final door. Of course, some of the other people in the room had to disagree with her on how her priorities were ordered. After all, losing one of their own was a serious blow to their efforts, and it only made them think that they would need to rethink some of their own plans if and when these four meddlers arrived on their own worlds. Then again, the only one who was voicing their grievances about the loss of Jafar was the Lord of the Dead, even though he did not really seem like he cared that much about it.

"That smarmy vizier could've had 'em, if someone had stuck around to give him a hand," Hades sighed, throwing a small pointed look to their organization's newest and youngest member.

Riku just rolled his eyes at the ruler of the Underworld in response at first. He honestly did not care what Hades thought about his actions. While the other individuals in this room probably would not be doing the same, he was not about to try and hurt his friend, even if he did feel like Sora had betrayed and abandoned him. After all, if he were to do that, he knew that one particular person would never forgive him, and her opinion was all the really mattered to him at the moment, even if deep down, he did still acknowledge that Sora would likely hate him if he did something to bring harm to the spiky-haired boy. When he noticed Hades' look did not change, Riku immediately jumped to his first defense and pointed out, "Hey, I did my part. I brought the princess, didn't I?"

Honestly, the boy did not expect anyone else to speak in his defense, since he had gotten the sense that only one person here was even a little tolerable of his presence ever since he had arrived on this world, but then again, considering that the person who spoke up for him was that very same person, he probably should not have been that surprised. "Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred," Maleficent revealed, having seen the signs that Jafar was about to drive himself into his own downfall ever since her latest trips to Agrabah. She then drew a cautionary look in Hades' direction and added, "One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely."

Hades did not need any other hints to indicate that she was talking to him, or why she was giving such a warning, and immediately insisted, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lighten up, huh? I'm as cool as they come, okay?" He then returned his attention to Riku and said, "By the way, kid, have we got something special for you."

Riku could only hum in confusion as he looked between the two for a minute, until Maleficent reminded him, "We had a deal, yes? You help us, and we grant you your wish."

When a light flashed from the center of the table, Riku's eyes immediately moved in that direction, and he was instantly greeted with the sight of a familiar dark red haired girl, dressed in a sleeveless white top, with a black one underneath, a purple skirt and biker shorts, white shoes with purple caps, yellow wristband and purple armband on the left arm, a pair of bracelets on her opposite wrist, and a black choker and necklace around her neck. Even though her eyes appeared to be closed, indicating that she appeared to be sleeping or something, Riku did not need to see her eyes to know that they were definitely the violet-blue ones of his missing friend that he and Sora had been searching for. "Kairi," he gasped in both relief and surprise.

"Go to her," Maleficent commanded him. "Your vessel is waiting."

Hearing the dark fairy say that caused Riku to turn his attention to another one of the room's occupants, this one being a man with curly black hair and thin mustache in a pirate's getup, which included a frilly white shirt underneath a red coat with gold lining and maroon cuffs, an orange sash over his right shoulder that held his sword scabbard in place on his left hip, maroon pants, white knee-high socks, black boots, and a large hat with a huge feather stuck in it. The thing that stood out the most about him though was how he had a hook in place of his left hand, which glimmered a little as he stepped out into the dim light of the room, waving said hook. "Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage," Captain James Hook informed the boy, confirming that he would be the one to transport Riku to wherever Kairi was.

In all honesty, Riku would have loved nothing more than to head straight for wherever Kairi was right that second, and he likely would have too, but something about this just did not seem right to him. Sure, Maleficent was delivering on her end of their agreement, but so far, he had only done one part of his job for her, so why was she bringing him to Kairi now? More importantly, from what he could tell, Maleficent was not the type to do just anything without there being some kind of catch to it, and having grown up on an island world, Riku knew that you could never catch any fish without the right bait, so he had to wonder just what Maleficent was aiming to reel him in for with this particular worm. This suspicion made him feel like he had to know, and it had eventually driven Riku to ask, "Why are you doing all this for me? What's the catch?"

"Catch? What's the catch," Maleficent asked in reply, her tone far too innocent for Riku's liking. She then slowly approached Riku and slowly caressed his face with her free hand as she merely said, "Silly boy, you're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy."

"I seriously doubt that," Riku scoffed as he batted Maleficent's hand away.

"Believe what you wish. But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain," Maleficent shrugged, hardly seeming at all offended by Riku's actions or words.

As much as he hated to admit it, Riku did have to acknowledge that Maleficent had a point there. Still, that did not mean that he dropped his guard until after he was well out of the room. There was just something about the woman that Riku did not trust at all. Sure, she had done quite a bit for him since he had arrived here on this world all alone with neither of his friends anywhere in sight, including giving him his new weapon and some magic, but there was just something about her that still made his skin crawl a bit. Then there was the fact that she seemed so determined to drive a wedge between him and Sora. Sure, that was not really too hard to do at the moment, given what he had learned the last time he had seen Sora, but the fact that Maleficent was pushing for it so much made him feel like something else was going on there. Whatever it was, it did not matter right now. If she or any of these others crossed him, he would deal with them, but only once he was absolutely sure that Kairi was safe and sound again.

* * *

Getting out of the Cave of Wonders before it completely collapsed on them was not an easy task for our little group of adventurers. Carpet and Ven both had to do some really fancy flying just to avoid the boulders that came crashing down from the collapsing ceiling, never mind what they had to try in order to avoid being roasted by the lava geysers that were erupting beneath them, but thankfully, they all managed to escape in one piece, relatively speaking. The only one that they could not say entirely the same for was Aladdin, because he was still upset over how they had lost Jasmine and seemed to have left her behind. The latter of those two things actually caused him to nearly slug Ventus once they had returned to the Arabian boy's home, and he would have too had Sora and Goofy not intervened just as he was winding up to swing. After Aladdin had calmed down enough, they all sat him down and did the only thing that they could do at that point: tell him the truth, and nothing short of the _whole_ truth. Everything regarding other worlds, how Maleficent was kidnapping the other Princesses of Heart, and even how they were traveling to other worlds in an attempt to stop both the evil fairy and the Heartless. Sure, it did break quite a few rules, but at this point, it was not like they really had any other choice after everything that had happened.

Needless to say, it was a lot for Aladdin to take in, even without all the incredible things regarding other worlds that he had just learned. The one thing he was most focused on was that Jasmine was still alive, but was now being held captive somewhere outside of Agrabah. If that was the case, then he had to wonder why they were all wasting time just sitting here when they could be headed off to the next world to find and rescue her. With that in mind, Aladdin immediately looked his new friends right in the eye and said, "Sora, Ven, let's go find her."

No one needed to guess what Aladdin meant when he said that, and that made telling him this next bit of sad truth all the harder for the four. "Sorry, but we can't take you with us," Sora informed Aladdin.

"Wh-why not," Aladdin asked, practically begging them at this point.

"It's not that we don't want to Aladdin, but the sad fact is that if we do take you with us, we'd be tampering with the world order even more than Maleficent and her allies already have," Ventus replied.

Hearing that caused Aladdin to deflate quite a bit, now feeling even more helpless than ever, because this served as the final proof that he would not be able to do anything to help Jasmine now. Seeing how depressed their friend was, Goofy could only sadly moan, "Gwarsh, I wish we could bring Aladdin with us, too."

"But we can't," Donald sadly reminded his friend. Even though he was not saying it, the sorcerer did wish they could do more to help Aladdin right now. "If we take him to another world, we would be…"

"Muh…Mudd…" Goofy stuttered in an attempt to say the word that Donald was leading him into.

"Meddling," Donald finally filled in.

 _"Poor Aladdin,"_ Kairi sighed in despair from inside Sora's heart. _"There has to be something that we can do for him."_

 _"I can only think of one thing right now, Kairi,"_ Sora replied, and he quickly turned his attention back to the boy in question. "Aladdin, we'll find Jasmine. I promise."

What none of them ever noticed was how Genie was glancing around the room with a sad look, most of which was directed at Aladdin, and after seeing just how depressed the guy was, Genie knew what he had to do. "Uh, earth to Al. Hello? You still have one wish left," Genie reminded them all with a melancholic smile. "Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you."

That surprise everyone who had heard him, and they were all showing it to Genie in full with the shocked expressions on their faces. "But…But what about your freedom, Genie? Aladdin promised he would use his last wish to set you free, and none of us can wish for it since we're not from this world," Sora reminded the big, blue, cosmically-powered guy.

"Hey, it's only an eternity of servitude," Genie shrugged. He then waved over to Aladdin and said, "But what Al's feeling for Jasmine, that's love! When you find the one, you're not ever going to find another girl like her in a million years. Believe me, I know, I've looked."

Everyone had to give a small smile at Genie's little joke at the end, but that did not change the fact that he was basically giving up what could be his only chance to finally be granted his own wish in exchange for helping Aladdin. If anyone needed more of an indicator that Genie considered Aladdin to be a true friend, they would not find one greater than this. Knowing this, the quartet could only turn and stare at Aladdin, wondering just what he would do now. Would he follow through on his promise, or would he listen to Genie? It felt like time had slowed to a crawl until Aladdin finally grasped the lamp, looked up to his friend, and uttered the words for his third and final wish. "I…I wish…for your freedom, Genie."

Genie had made a show of rolling up his nonexistent sleeves as he prepared to grant what he thought would be Aladdin's wish, until it registered that the kid had not said what he had been expecting him to say. "What? Al," Genie gasped.

A moment later, everyone watched a twister of magic erupted from the lamp, swirling around Genie at a rapid pace that most of them could only equate it to the lights of an incredible meteor shower on a moonlit night. When the twister finally came to an end, it did so in an eruption that revealed Genie's lower half had changed from being a ghostly tail to a pair of long blue legs with brown, pointed shoes, and shortly afterwards, the gold bracelets he wore on his wrists snapped off and vanished in a flash of light, revealing that they were more akin to cuffs than they were bracelets. By the time Genie's latest transformation had been completed, the lamp had dropped down to the floor with a loud clatter, indicating that its power was now gone, and prompting Genie to slowly bend down and pick it up himself, just to confirm for himself that it no longer had any power over him.

When he did not sense anything coming from the lamp, he could not help but laugh a little as he whispered, "I'm free…I'm free!" He still had one last thing he needed to check just to be sure though, and he instantly deposited the lamp into Sora's unsuspecting hands, while telling the kid, "Quick! Quick, wish for something outrageous. Say uh, um…Know what, I don't care what you say. Just wish for anything, and make it as out there as possible if you can. Anything at all. Just try it."

Sora exchanged a few glances with the others, wondering why Genie would be asking him to do that, but all he got was a couple of shrugs that said to humor the guy. So, after thinking for a minute, Sora eventually shrugged and ended up saying the first thing he could think of. "I wish for a paopu tree."

"NO WAY," Genie instantly denied, and he then burst out laughing as loudly as he could before literally bouncing off the walls in joy, cheering about how good it felt to finally be able to say that in response to a wish. "I'm free! I'm free at last!"

"Yes you are, Genie," Aladdin nodded with a smile, drawing Genie's attention to him, along with a look that asked the obvious question. "Hey, a deal's a deal, Genie. Now, you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master." He then hesitated for a minute before adding, "But if you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help Sora and Ven find Jasmine."

Genie studied Aladdin very carefully for a while, and for a moment, the others were sure that Genie was going to refuse. Their worries increased as Genie turned away from the guy and said, "Sorry, Al. I'm done taking orders from others." Everyone was silent for a minute, waiting for him to say something else, and for a brief beat some of them thought that he was not going to, until he did speak up again while flashing a smile to Aladdin. "But…A favor, now that's entirely different. I guess I could give that a try. After all, we're pals, right, Al?"

"Genie…" Aladdin sighed with a grateful smile.

"Just leave it to me!"

"And us too," Sora added on. "We'll do everything we can to get Jasmine back home to you safely."

"Still, doesn't this mean that now no one can wish for Aladdin to be made a prince," Goofy asked.

"Hey, it's not like I can't still do it. Like I said, a favor is an entirely different story from taking orders, and I figure that I now owe Al quite a few," Genie shrugged.

"Actually Genie, I think I'll pass on that," Aladdin revealed, surprising everyone. He then looked over to Ventus and explained, "You were right before, Ven. I could tell when I saw her in the square before she was taken, Jasmine really does care about me despite the fact I'm not a prince. So, if Aladdin the street-rat is who she fell for, then why try and be anyone else?"

"Not quite how I would've put it, but yeah, that is the basic gist of it," Ventus nodded in satisfaction.

"But I've gotta ask, just who was the girl you were talking about in your story," Aladdin inquired.

Ventus fell silent for a minute, and the other three were sure that he was not going to answer because it was too painful to think of at the moment. Eventually though, the blonde did answer Aladdin's question in full, saying, "Her name is Aqua. She's an exceptionally gifted mage, easily the best in our little trio of friends when it came to magic, if not the best magic user among all Keyblade wielders, and the first of us to become a true Keyblade Master. She cared a great deal more about others than herself, and as such, she ended up disappearing one day while searching for a way to help our other friend, Terra. But even so, I know that she's still out there somewhere, looking for a way to get back home to us while doing whatever she can to help us all from where she is."

Hearing that brought smiles to everyone's faces, all of them thinking of just how sweat Ven's description of Aqua was, but they could not stay in the moment forever, because the quartet of adventurers needed to move on. Before doing so, Genie made sure that they would be able to call on him for help by gifting Sora with a summon charm that the boy could use to call him for help. Aladdin also had a parting gift for them as well: a Keychain that he had found in the Cave of Wonders while they were making their way down to the lamp chamber in order to face Jafar, but when he tried to offer it to Ventus, the blonde just waved him off and told him to give it to Sora. When asked why, Ventus just said that he already had his own impressive collection of Keychains while so far, Sora only had the one he received from Tarzan, so it made more sense for the kid to get it instead.

Aladdin was not the only one who found something down in the Cave of Wonders though, as Donald had actually discovered what he believed to be one of the missing pages from Merlin's book. Looking it over to see if he could recognize it, Ventus was soon nodding in confirmation of this fact, and they were all eager to return to Traverse Town right away so that they could give it to the wizard. Ventus immediately advised against that, saying that it would be better if they only did so once they had all of the missing pages, and from what he could remember, there were still four pages left somewhere out there. On the topic of missing pages though, Sora revealed that he had actually found another page from Ansem's report, saying that he spotted it falling from the sky after they had sealed Jafar in his new lamp. Hearing that gave them all reason to believe that Jafar had the page on him for some reason. Sadly, this new page was from much later on in Ansem's research, and made little sense to them. It talked about a body being gone and yet the heart did not return to the Heartless, while also speaking about the Realm of Darkness, how there were other worlds out there in the Realm of Light, and something about a world between the Realms of Light and Darkness. Since it was so far further into the report than the last one, they figured that it would make more sense once they had retrieved the other pages, so they simply pocketed it with the first one they found, bade Aladdin and Genie goodbye for the moment, and returned to the ship, ready to set out for the next world.

* * *

A few hours had passed since the team's departure from Agrabah, and as he thought about the recent events that had unfolded since this journey began, Ventus could not help but feel very worried. He knew long before their meeting that he would likely be thrown into one crazy ride the minute that he found Sora in Traverse Town, but this was a bit more than he had been bargaining for. Six of the seven Princesses of Heart were now missing and likely being held captive by Maleficent, several worlds had fallen to darkness, and while he and the others had managed to secure a few worlds against the Heartless and any villains who were commanding them, it was more of a hollow victory in comparison to what had been lost at the same time. Do not misunderstand, Ventus was sure that they would be able to save the princesses, but if they did not do so quickly, all the worlds would suffer the consequences. Yes, he could take pleasure in the fact that they had achieved a few small victories that had possibly slowed Maleficent down a little or set her back, but Ventus was not as young as he had been when he first ventured across the worlds; he knew how to look at the bigger picture, and right now, it was not a pretty one. Then again, one could say that his mood was just a little foul after his little reunion with Maleficent, but that did not mean that he was not able to think clearly enough to realize such important details.

Sora on the other hand, was feeling just the opposite of his master, so much so that you would think that their viewpoints were black and white. Despite the losses they suffered, Sora seemed to believe that they were still doing great. Maybe he was just still feeling pretty excited over how well he had been doing with his training along with how they had now managed to seal five Keyholes while stopping quite a few villains like Jafar now, but aside from that, one could easily tell that Sora was letting those wins get to him. Even as he did a few practice swings with his Keyblade while using it with his newest Keychain, Three Wishes, Ventus could see that Sora was not feeling the least bit concerned at all. More than that, he could even hear Sora excitedly conversing with Kairi about how they were "on fire right now" and likely going to save all the worlds and get her back before she knew it. Ven knew the kid was probably just saying that to keep Kairi from worrying too much, not that she really seemed like it from what he had heard from Sora so far, but he had to wonder just how much of that confidence was just for show, and how much was actually real.

The blonde master soon learned he was not the only one thinking that Sora was getting a little carried away with his confidence, and it was right after the next thing that he heard Sora say from his position at the pilot's controls. "I'm telling you, nothing can stop us right now. Maleficent can go ahead and do her worst, because we'll be able to beat it no problem," Sora boasted.

"Now Sora, you shouldn't go and antagonize people like that, even if they aren't here," Jiminy lightly scolded as he jumped down onto the control panel in order to better address the room. "I'm glad you're feeling confident and sure right now, we all are, but we still need to exercise caution whenever we come across the Heartless or Maleficent."

"But Sora does have a point. Every bad guy we've fought so far, Heartless or otherwise, we easily defeated. And Ven said himself that he beat Maleficent when he was still a kid and in training, so maybe she isn't really that tough," Donald pointed out.

"Don't forget that was ten years ago, and a lot can change in that time," Jiminy pointed out.

"Besides, I never said I was alone when I fought her," Ven added, jumping into the conversation the minute he spoke up. "I had some extra help from three good fairies, and while that did make the fight a little easier, she was still pretty tough. Considering that she now controls the Heartless, there's a very real chance we could be in for the fight of our lives if we face her right now, never mind the fact that we may very well lose that fight. Don't forget what would happen if the Heartless ever got to you, Sora."

Sora sobered up a little at that reminder, but he was quick to recover and say, "I didn't forget, that's why I don't plan to hold back if we do fight her. I can't keep Kairi's heart safe if I'm too busy worrying about getting hurt or something."

"I admire your courage, Sora, really, but that doesn't mean you should be acting like you can't get hurt at all. That kind of overconfidence can easily lead to one's downfall," Ventus cautioned. "Besides that, you still haven't got halfway through your training yet. Don't forget, you haven't mastered the three basic Command Styles or even discovered what your Unique Command Style is yet. While you may have a natural talent for Shotlocks, you still haven't discovered what any of your other personal ones are. For now, you should really just focus on keeping your training up until you do at least one of those two things, because once you do, then I'll be able to safely say that we could stand a chance against Maleficent. More importantly, you can't get too swept up in the small victories and forget the bigger picture."

Sora's response was to moan a little in misery, knowing that meant he was going to likely be meditating a lot after he was done, while barely acknowledging anything that Ven said after he brought up his training, assuming he really understood it that well at all, and when he heard the boy's complaining, Jiminy could only sigh and say, "And here I thought Pinocchio could be a bit difficult at times."

"Huh? Who's Pinocchio," Sora asked when he heard that.

In an instant, the others were all looking at Sora like he had just grown a second head, until Goofy suddenly remembered, "Oh right, Sora doesn't know about how Jiminy here is an official convenience."

"Conscience," Donald corrected.

"Yep, official conscience," Goofy nodded.

"You see Sora, a long time ago, I came to an old clockmaker's shop, and saw he built the cutest little puppet you ever saw," Jiminy explained, recalling his tale with a smile. "The same night, the clockmaker made a wished upon a star that his puppet could be a real boy, and the next thing I know, the Blue Fairy appears and brings the little fella to life. If he were able to prove himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, he would become a real boy, and in order to help him learn right from wrong, I was named his conscience. Ever since then, I'd been doing all I could to help out the puppet known as Pinocchio so that he could achieve his dream of becoming a real boy, and help his father's wish come true. But then, our world fell to darkness and we got separated. I can only hope that Pinoke's been staying out of trouble since I've been gone. Gosh knows that Geppetto worries about him quite a bit when the little guy isn't careful."

You could not help but feel a little touched after hearing Jiminy's story. It was just so sweet how Jiminy cared about Pinocchio, and despite how much trouble the little puppet seemed to be from what the cricket had said, you could still tell that the little guy did mean well just from how Jiminy talked about him. Hearing about Pinocchio, Sora could not help but compare himself and Ventus to the little puppet and Jiminy in a way. Both Ven and Jiminy wanted to help their respective charges in any way that they could, and if Pinocchio was anything like him, then Sora knew that he and the puppet both wanted to see their own dreams come true so that they could bring happiness to those they care about. At the same time though, he had to wonder just what that could mean for him if he really was that much like Pinocchio. After all, from what Jiminy said, the little guy had gotten himself into quite a bit of trouble, so would that mean he would end up dealing with something similar, or that he may end up separated from Ventus like Pinocchio had been from Jiminy at some point? Sora did not want to think about that, and he did not really have time to anyway, because the ship's proximity sensors suddenly started blaring all around them, pulling everyone to their stations.

"What's going on? More Heartless," Sora asked once he was seated at the weapons controls.

Goofy checked his readouts for a minute before he said, "No, I don't think so. It's way too big to be a Heartless ship, or at least a Heartless ship like the ones we've encountered so far."

"Wak! Look! What is that," Donald suddenly shouted, pointing out the viewport.

Everyone's eyes immediately followed Donald's finger, and they were soon gazing upon a large, dark grey, almost black mass that appeared like it was swimming towards them in a manner similar to a fish, and it only continued to get bigger as it got closer. A minute later, they all heard what sounded like a loud moan, and the ship shook under the g-force that ran between the two as it swept past them, giving them a better look at it when it did. When they did see the thing though, they could hardly believe their eyes. "It's a giant whale," Goofy shouted.

"But how's that possible? I thought you couldn't pass through interspace without a ship like ours, or something like Ven's Keyblade Glider," Sora argued. He was pretty fascinated by the sight of the creature, having never seen a whale up close before himself, but he was still more concerned about how such a creature could exist out here.

"Some beings are able to survive in harsh environments without that kind of thing, assuming they have a strong enough body and will. Though some times, that's not always a good thing, because of what kind of creatures can typically exist in this place," Ventus explained.

"You can say that again! That's Monstro," Jiminy exclaimed in a panic.

"You know that creature, Jiminy," Donald asked.

"Yeah. He's from my world. He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides," Jiminy explained. "Why, he swallows whole ships, alive! In fact, before Pinoke and I got separated, we were actually looking for him because we heard that he swallowed Geppetto and the ship he had set sail on to find Pinocchio."

That definitely left the team worried, and their worries only grew when Monstro came back around again, shaking the ship once more as he passed by, and from the way he was swimming, they did not need to guess what he was probably going to do the next time he came near them. "Whoa! Ven, get us out of here," Donald shouted.

"Too late! He's going to swallow us," Sora shouted, having seen that Monstro was already closing in on them, his massive mouth wide open and ready to do exactly as Sora said he was going too.

"BRACE YOURSELVES," Ven ordered, grabbing onto the steering controls as tightly as he could, prompting the others to grab hold of whatever they could to make sure they were not thrown out of their seats or the ship. The last thing any of them saw was the shining teeth in Monstro's open mouth closing in on them, and then everything went black as a loud crash echoed around them.

* * *

 _It was just another beautiful day on Destiny Islands, just like most other days, and since it was such a nice day, it came as no surprise that the kids were all outside playing around and having fun like only young kids could. Two such boys were four-year-old Sora and his best friend, the five-year-old Riku, who were all set to explore the mysterious cave on the Play Island behind the waterfall, all the while, the former would not stop gushing about what he thought was in there. "It's true! I saw it with my own eyes," little Sora insisted._

 _"You sure you didn't just hear it this time," little Riku asked, still incredibly skeptical of his best friend's claims._

 _"What difference does it make," Sora asked. "There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"_

 _Riku then just sighed, finally giving up on trying to convince his friend otherwise, and then moved onto his next question. "All right. Suppose there really is a monster…Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"_

 _"No problem. Let's do it," Sora declared confidently as the two boys reached the cave entrance. Riku turned to his friend and nodded with a confident smirk that was so similar to the one his older self would one day be constantly sporting, until his attention was directed back to the cave entrance as Sora suddenly shushed him. "Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?"_

 _"Shh, quiet. We've gotta be careful," Riku hushed Sora, and after listening for a minute, he did hear something. That very same sound was the all the reason Riku needed to slowly, cautiously lead the way into the cave. When they finally came into the cave that would one day become the Secret Place, they found no signs of any monster, or anything else that could be causing the sound, at least until Riku looked up at the ceiling to see a large hole in it. "See that? It was just the wind making that noise," Riku pointed out to Sora, though you could tell that he was still just as disappointed as his friend._

 _"Aw, man! I wish it was a monster," Sora moaned, sadly. He let his eyes sweep around the cave, thinking that it could make a good hideout, despite the fact that there was nothing really cool in here, until his eyes found something strange on one of the far walls. "Hold on! What's that over there?"_

 _Riku turned to where his friend was looking, and he was soon greeted by a large, wooden slab with gold lining, embedded into the wall. He immediately made his way over to get a better look at it while trying to move it, only to find that it would not budge an inch. "A window, or maybe a door? It won't open," Riku reported as he continued to try and move it without any success._

 _"Geez, is that really all that's in here," Sora asked._

 _"What do you expect in a boring place like this," Riku rhetorically asked. He would not admit it, but he was just as disappointed as Sora that the weird door was the only thing in here. He had gotten his hopes up thinking that something interesting was finally going to happen on their otherwise boring world, and from what he could tell, Sora was just as disappointed as he was. He was just hiding it with a small smile, but that was just like Sora, and Riku had a good idea on how to cheer the kid up. "Hey, Sora."_

 _"Hm?"_

 _"When we grow up, let's get off this island," Riku suggested excitedly. "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

 _"Sure," Sora nodded in agreement, and the two then turned to make their way back out of the cave. As they went though, Sora had to ask, "But isn't there anything fun to do now?" There was a small moment of silence between the two until the spiky haired kid perked up and said, "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house? Did you hear? She arrived on the night of the meteor shower!"_

* * *

 _It was sunset on Destiny Islands, and while many had already gone home for the day, two particular boys were still out on the Play Island having the time of their lives as they raced against each other. "Hey, wait up," one boy called out to his friend._

 _"Too slow, Sora! See ya at the finish line," the other boy called back, who turned out to be five-year-old Riku, and he was just barely keeping ahead of four-year-old Sora as they both ran past the bridge that lead to the small island with the paopu fruit tree._

 _When they came to a stop on the other side of the bridge, little Riku immediately pumped his fist in victory, while Sora skidded to a stop and panted hard with his hands on his knees. It did not take long for Sora to get his breath back though, because he was instantly standing up straight again as he turned to Riku and demanded, "One more time! You just got lucky."_

 _Riku would have easily retorted to that had something not caught his attention on the bridge above them. When Sora noticed this, he also turned his gaze upwards as well, and he was soon resting his eyes on a tall, slender woman that was slowly walking across the bridge, looking down at them as she went. From where the two boys were, they could see that she had a very strange outfit, or at least strange by Destiny Island standards, which composed of a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, a black corset with two pairs of white laces, and black shorts. In addition to that, she also wore a pair of intersecting pink straps over her chest, held together by a strangely shaped silver badge, while her arms were covered by white bell-sleeves, and her hands were covered by tan fingerless gloves. Moving on down allowed them to see that she also wore a pair of black stockings that reached halfway up to her thighs, leaving a small area of skin on her legs bare, while two strips of blue cloth were draped over each of her hips, along with a smaller white strip that was tied around her waist and draped in the same manner. Completing her outfit was a pair of silver, pointed boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each, and a small, segmented armor piece on each of her upper arms, leaving her shoulders otherwise bare. In short, from where Sora and Riku were standing, the woman was probably one of the most beautiful girls they had ever seen until now._

 _While the two boys continued to stare at this mysterious beauty, the woman in question just smiled at them before dropping down on the sand before, startling Sora a bit when she did. When he saw that she was okay, and now down on one knee before them, Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a small chuckle, which drew an amused smile from the woman as she chuckled a bit herself. As she looked over the two, mumbling something under her breath as she did, one could see a bit of recognition in her eyes before she laughed a little again, leading Sora and Riku to exchange a confused look between them until she spoke up at last, bringing the boys' full focus onto her. "One of you might be special enough," she muttered before directly addressing the two. "Hey, you two mind telling me your names?"_

 _"I'm Sora," the spiky haired child announced while raising his hand like he was in a classroom. He probably had not heard about the whole stranger-danger thing from his parents yet, but then again, considering that everyone on Destiny Islands knew each other, there was never really much reason to consider most people a stranger._

 _"And you," the woman then asked the older boy._

 _"Riku," the silver haired lad replied._

 _The blue haired woman studied Riku a little bit for a minute, before she turned back to the younger boy and asked, "Sora, do you like Riku?"_

 _"Of course I like him, he's my best friend," Sora nodded happily._

 _"Good," the woman smiled. "So then, if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost, or say, he starts wandering down a dark path alone, you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe. That's your job, Sora, and I'm counting on you to do it, okay?"_

 _While the two boys were a little confused by what the woman meant by that, Sora was still able to get the basic idea of it, and immediately nodded in reply. His response earned both him and Riku a playful little rub on the head from the woman as they all laughed a bit, and after she gave each of them one last, bright smile, the two boys headed off for home, their little rematch forgotten, and knowing that the blue haired beauty was watching them go with a smile on her face._

* * *

Kairi awoke with a start, and was instantly on her feet as she began trying to figure out what she had just seen. Were those some of Sora's memories, and if so, why did she just see them in that dream? More importantly, was that woman that Sora and Riku met when they were kids Master Aqua? She certainly seemed to match the description that Ventus had given them, and she was dressed a lot like him too, namely in the fact that she wore a badge just like the blonde man's, along with a similar set of armor, so it could have been her. If it was though, why did she look so familiar to the redhead? Kairi was not entirely sure, and she had a feeling that asking Sora was probably not going to help that much, since it did not seem like the woman ever gave him and Riku her name, at least from what she saw of the memory. Still, it could not hurt to ask, hence the reason why Kairi was now directing her gaze upwards as she called out to her friend.

"Sora? Did you see that just now? What was that," Kairi asked, but to her surprise, the boy did not answer her. She figured that meant he was still knocked out or something, so she tried again, this time a little louder. "Sora! Wake up, you lazy bum!"

Kairi continued calling out to him for a few minutes, but continued to receive no reply, until finally, she just plopped down on the stain glass floor beneath her with a sigh, wondering why she could not wake up her friend. She had always been able to before, many times just by looking down at him, but this was the first time that she had not roused him at all. She reasoned that he must have gotten hit really hard in the head when Monstro swallowed them up, so she might as well wait him out for a little bit. With that decided, she took a moment to once again look around the unchanging area that was Sora's heart, something that made her smile a little as it reminded her of the promise she asked for Sora to make to her that night before the islands fell. At the same time though, she was a little concerned by how nothing in Sora's heart ever seemed to change aside from the dark, grey cloudy sky above the stain glass platform. If it were not for her conversations with Sora in the past, she probably would have felt a little bit of panic and worry building up in her stomach by now, but then again, this was still Sora's heart, and knowing that put her a little more at ease. When her eyes glanced over to a section of the floor though, she noticed that something was a bit different, and as a result, she immediately turned back to said area, only to blink twice before she registered what she was seeing. Instead of a large image of Sora sleeping with Keyblade in hand next to smaller images of herself, Riku, and his other friends, Kairi saw that it was actually her who was sleeping with a Keyblade in hand alongside smaller images of Sora, Riku, and the blue haired woman from that earlier dream, along with a few other blank circles.

"What the…What's going on here," Kairi whispered as she jumped to her feet, shocked at the sight beneath her feet. She was soon startled once again when an odd voice suddenly called out around her.

 _"So much to do, so little time…Take your time. Don't be afraid,"_ the voice advised.

"Hello? Is someone there," Kairi asked.

 _"The door is still shut, but the day it opens can be closer if you are to aid the chosen one in his quest. Can you do it, Princess of Heart,"_ the voice questioned.

Kairi may not have been sure what was going on, but she did understand enough to figure out what the voice was asking. It was basically saying that she could somehow help Sora in a bigger way than she had been so far, if she had the courage to do so. Knowing this, Kairi's face soon became set in determination, and she answered, "If it means helping to keep Sora safe, and saving everyone else who has suffered because of the Heartless, I'll gladly do whatever I can to help him."

She was not sure how, but somehow, Kairi just knew that the voice was smiling at her, even as it spoke again. _"Step forward then."_

Kairi immediately did so, and like that, the ground shook around her while three pedestals rose up from the ground. When they came to their full height, Kairi could only gasp in awe as she saw three distinct Keyblades appear above the pedestals in a flash of light, and one of those Keyblades was one that Kairi recognized from Sora's explanation of his dream as the Rainfell Keyblade; the Keyblade that Ventus had said was Master Aqua's default. The other two were Keyblades that Kairi did not recognize at all, but somehow felt like they held a connection to the blue haired master. The first of which held a water theme by being reminiscent of cresting waves, both along the shaft and the teeth, held a blue version of Ven's Wayfinder in a dark circle at the top of the shaft surrounded by a cresting wave, and two heart-shaped openings at the hilt, while the handle and chain on the Keychain were both ivory in color, and the token on said Keychain was the same, blue Wayfinder. The other mystery Keyblade was simple in its design, and possessed a color scheme of various shades of grey and copper. In addition to that, the shaft was smooth and cylindrical, tapering out at both ends, with the teeth forming a boxy "E"-shape, while its guard and grip both held a more squared design as opposed to the usual cylindrical one that was possessed by most of the other Keyblades that Kairi had seen. The Keychain was held onto the base of this final Keyblade by several simple chain links and its token was the same symbol that Ventus and Aqua both wore on their outfits as badges.

 _"Like the chosen one, power sleeps within you, perhaps a power that is far greater than any other Keybearer could imagine, given you are a Princess of Heart. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well,"_ the voice decreed.

That was when it all finally clicked into place for Kairi. "This is…This is a Dive to the Heart, like Sora's! But then, does that mean that…I'm also going to get a Keyblade?" She received no answer from the voice, not that she was really expecting to, so instead she shrugged it off and began looking at the different Keyblades before her, thinking carefully over her decision. She figured she should follow Sora's lead and hear about the different aspects of the Keyblades before making any decision, so she immediately walked up to the one Keyblade she had instantly recognized and picked it up, while asking, "Tell me a little about this one, at least in how it pertains to me."

She was not met with silence this time, as the voice was soon explaining the aspects of the Keyblade to her like it had to Sora. _"The Rainfell. The promise of a path that is of equal inner and outer strength. The power of a mystic mixed with that of a noble knight, the path of this blade promises that one shall always seek out what is true, just, and right. Even when all is at its darkest, the light of what is good shall always prevail to keep loved ones safe, so long as the connections you hold in your heart remain strong. Is this the path you seek?"_

While it started off similar to what Sora had been told, Kairi was a little surprised that some of it was different. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that this was her own dive as opposed to Sora's, but more than that, Kairi somehow felt like something about this blade was calling out to her in a weird way, almost like someone was encouraging her to choose it. Kairi was not going to be hasty though, and she placed Rainfell back on its pedestal before moving to the first, mystery Keyblade that she did not recognize. Picking it up, she heard the voice whisper about the blade in her ear. _"The Brightcrest. A blade that grants impressive physical strength while bestowing incredible magical power. A path of the mystic is most common for the wielder of this blade, with great wisdom and inner strength being guaranteed. But be warned, ruin can also follow the path of the mystic, for physical strength will often be sacrificed for the strength within."_

"Why does that not sound entirely accurate," Kairi wondered as she placed Brightcrest back. She had always thought that inner and outer strength were pretty closely tied together, but then again, considering the light she had inside of her was apparently so great, while her own physical strength could not compare to Sora or Riku's so easily most of the time, she had to admit, she could see some reasoning behind that.

Her question went unanswered once more, even as she made her way to the third Keyblade and picked it up, getting the rundown on this one as well. _"The Master's Defender. The blade of a powerful warrior passed down to those who defend something of great importance. Though even the mightiest of shields can blind us to what really must be done to protect others, when it blocks our view of what is important to us. Sometimes, a shield to repel all, can repel even those closest to our hearts, if we are not careful."_

Something about that last sentence made Kairi a little bit concerned. She liked be able to defend all from harm, but she did not find the idea of losing those most precious to her in the process of trying to defend them. She could not have placed Master's Defender back on its pedestal more quickly before she moved back to the center of the room and began looking at the three Keyblades in an attempt to decide which she would choose. Since she was sure she would not choose Master's Defender, that just left the other two Keyblades to choose from, but in their own ways, they both sounded so appealing, even if one did have a drawback or two to it. Both promised great strength in terms of magic powers, and after seeing what Sora could do with his magic, Kairi could honestly say that she saw herself as someone who would likely fight primarily with magic, so that would have made Brightcrest the most logical choice since it was said to amplify magical power. The only downside was how the voice had talked about how physical strength would sometimes be sacrificed for inner strength, and Kairi did not want to become too weak to help others in any way possible. Still, that was just a word of caution, and it did mean that it would not happen if she was careful. She was just about to turn back to Brightcrest when something unexpected happened.

 _"…fell…"_ someone seemed to whisper in her ear. It was not the same voice as before, and Kairi could tell that this one was most definitely female, but at the same time it also sounded very distant, like they were extremely far away from wherever she was right now. After a minute or so, Kairi heard the voice again, this time a little more clearly. _"Rainfell."_

"Hello? Voice, is that you," Kairi asked as she looked around, hoping that she could at least catch a glimpse of this person.

 _"Choose Rainfell…Serve you as well as it did…"_ the female voice called out, almost sounding a little desperate just then, but her voice seemed to fade in and out as she spoke, which was why only parts of her sentence got through, until finally, she seemed to fall silent completely.

Kairi was not sure who that person was, but something deep in her heart said that she could trust this mystery woman, and if she were being honest, Rainfell did seem to be the most appealing option to her, so she instantly walked up to the Keyblade in question, lifted it off the pedestal, and when the first voice asked again if this was her chosen path, she replied yes. A second later, the base Keyblade of Master Aqua vanished, and the first voice then said, _"Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?"_

Kairi knew that was coming based off of Sora's story, but that did not mean she was any less surprised. Both of the other two options had some qualities that appealed to her, so that made this choice a little more difficult. Glancing between Brightcrest and Master's Defender, Kairi could not help but ponder which she should give up a little, until the woman's voice suddenly whispered in her ear again, this time a little clearer, almost like she was closer to Kairi, but still a ways away from her. _"You only recoiled away from one of the two, and besides, you obviously don't want to lose that which you are protecting. The choice should be easy with that in mind."_

As much as she wanted to protest, Kairi knew the voice had a point. She did like the idea of being a warrior that defended something of great importance, but if that kind of power and responsibility caused her to lose what she was protecting, then she did not want it. So, she marched right over to Master's Defender, and lifted it high into the air as she said, "I'll give up the Master's Defender."

At once, Master's Defender vanished, and the first voice recited, _"You have chosen the power of Rainfell, the power of a courageous, loyal, and unselfish warrior. You have given up the Master's Defender, the power of a staunch defender. Is this the form you choose?"_

"Yes," Kairi nodded, not failing to notice that she had spoken at the same time as the woman's voice.

A minute after she had spoken, the pedestals sank beneath the ground, and Kairi found herself falling down to another stain glass platform as the first one broke apart, just like Sora had. However, this one was the same as the one that Kairi had seen in Sora's heart, pictures and all, something that made Kairi sigh in relief until her mind wandered back to the woman's voice. After thinking for a minute, Kairi looked up, thinking that the person that voice belonged to might be able to answer her, and questioned aloud, "You sound so familiar. Do I know you?"

Surprisingly, the woman answered her, and Kairi could somehow sense that she was smiling as she answered the redhead. _"You do, Kairi. We met long ago. You might not remember right now, but maybe, by the time this is over, you'll have at least recognized me."_

Kairi was not sure what this woman meant by that, but from that sentence, she was able to figure out that she must have been one of the people that Kairi had known from her birth world. If she was likely to remember this person from completing her Dive to the Heart, then that made Kairi all the more determined to hurry and do so as quickly as possible. Besides, who knew what kind of trouble Sora was getting into without her to keep an eye on him, even if he did have three other friends to do that at the moment.

* * *

"Knock it off," was the annoyed warbling that finally roused Sora from his unconscious state, and after rubbing his head a little in an attempt to get any small aches out, he quickly turned to see Ventus, Donald, and Goofy standing a short distance from him, looking up at the top of a tower that seemed to be made of old wood, while the last of the three was holding his shield over his head like he had done when the Cave of Wonders was collapsing around them. In point of fact, it was actually the knight in question who had first noticed that Sora was finally awake.

"Hey, Sora. Are you okay," Goofy questioned as Sora came over.

Sora merely nodded in reply as he looked between the three and asked, "What are you guys doing? Where are we anyway?"

The answer to Sora's first question came when a small chest suddenly fell down from above them and nearly hit him in the head. Thankfully Sora had jumped back before the thing had done so with a thump, and Ventus then said, "We're inside of Monstro's mouth. That big whale swallowed us and our ship whole, just like Jiminy said he was known to do. I'm just glad he didn't decide to chew his food, otherwise, we'd be a lot worse off than we are now."

"How's the ship doing," Sora asked, glancing around in an attempt to find it. When he did finally spot the gummi ship, it looked like their vessel was still in one piece, but ever since becoming Ven's apprentice, and even when he first got his Keyblade, Sora had learned to not take anything for what it appeared to be.

"The ship's still in reasonably good condition, according to Chip and Dale. Nothing too serious that they won't be able to fix up in short order, but the real problem is figuring out a way to get Monstro to cough us up, and to make sure we're on the ship when he does. Trust me, it is not a good idea to be out in the middle of interspace without some kind of ship or protective suit," Ventus explained.

"And for today's weather: expect showers," Goofy joked in conclusion, referencing how the small chest and others like it had been falling from the platform above them. His point was emphasized when another chest dropped down on his shield with a clang, causing him to quickly amend his state. "Heavy showers."

"Hey! Who's there," Donald called out once again, drawing Sora's gaze upwards as well, and allowing him to see that there was indeed someone up on top of the tower before, rummaging about in a larger treasure chest while tossing down the smaller chests that had nearly hit him and Goofy.

"It's me," the person in question replied when he heard Donald, and he instantly stood up straight so that the group could see him better. When he heard the person's voice, Sora knew that it was most likely a young boy, but when he saw the boy in question, he was shocked to see that said boy was actually a living puppet, with black hair and blue eyes, dressed in red shorts, a tan, short-sleeved shirt under a black vest, a yellow hat with a red feather in it, white gloves, brown shoes, and a large, blue bowtie.

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio," Donald sighed when he saw the living puppet. A few seconds later, both his words and the person he saw finally registered to him. "Pinocchio?!"

"So that's Pinocchio," Sora asked.

"Yep, that's him," Ventus confirmed, having heard quite a bit about the little puppet from Jiminy ever since the cricket had arrived at Disney Castle.

"Pinocchio," Jiminy exclaimed in excitement as he jumped up on Sora's shoulder to get a better look. Unfortunately, he only made it up to Sora's shoulder in time to see the little guy walking off with a large object in his arms. "Pinoke, where are ya going? Pinoke," Jiminy called out, but it did not seem like Pinocchio heard him. "Come on, everybody! After him, quick!"

No one argued with Jiminy at all. They owed the little guy a lot for all the help he had been so far, and for making sure that there was an accurate record of their journey, so helping him reunite with his friend was the least they could do. Thankfully, they did not have to go too far, as it turned out that Pinocchio was just heading over to a small boat that was a little further back in Monstro's mouth than they had been. The only downside was that they had to swim through the water that had collected in the whale's mouth to reach said boat, but they did not complain about it that much. When they reached the boat, they could hear voices coming from up on the deck, one of which they recognized as Pinocchio's while the other sounded a bit older and more intrigued, no doubt by whatever it was that Pinocchio had brought back from the chest he had been searching through.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio," the older voice asked just as they were climbing up onto the boat's deck, letting them get a look at the man it belonged to. When they did, they saw an older looking fellow dressed in a white shirt with a red vest, black pants, brown shoes, and a set of glasses, looking down at what they all quickly realized to be a gummi block, and if they had to guess, the team had to figure that this must be the clockmaker that Jiminy had told them about.

"With this, we can get out of here, Father," Pinocchio explained, confirming their suspicions.

"Really? With this big block? You think so," the puppet-boy's father asked, sounding all the more intrigued as he studied the gummi block more eagerly, and the team took that as their cue to step into the conversation.

"It's true," Sora said as he and the others climbed up, causing Pinocchio and his father to turn to them. "Gummi blocks are really helpful when you want to travel somewhere. Our own ship is actually made up of them."

"Oh, my. So the whale swallowed all of you, too? My goodness," the clockmaker gasped.

"Afraid so, sir," Ventus nodded. "Sorry to intrude like this, but a friend of ours was very eager to see Pinocchio."

"Oh, no need for such formalities, my good man. My name is Geppetto, and any friend of my son, Pinocchio, is a friend of mine," the clockmaker insisted. "And who is this friend you are referring to?"

"Geppetto! I'm so glad to see you're all right," Jiminy cheered as he jumped up on Sora's shoulder once more.

"Jiminy! Boy, am I glad to see you," Pinocchio cheered just as happily as the little cricket hopped up on the living puppet's shoulder.

"Jiminy Cricket! Now how did you end up with these fellows," Geppetto asked, smiling almost as much as Pinocchio when he saw the cricket.

"It's a long story, but how'd you two wind up here," Jiminy asked.

"Well, when we got separated, I traveled all over, looking for Pinocchio, until one night, Monstro swallowed my boat whole. I never expected that one day, while I was catching the fish that the whale swallowed as well for food, I would fish Pinocchio out of the water as well, but I'm so happy that we're together again," Geppetto explained. He then lifted up the gummi block that Pinocchio had brought to him so that he could carry it into the ship's cabin, and said, "So, I hope that Pinocchio was a good boy in my absence."

"Well, he still has a little trouble with telling small fibs, but aside from that, he's been nothing but a good little fella the whole time I was with him. I actually got separated from Pinocchio myself and wound up meeting these guys soon after," Jiminy explained as he jumped down from Pinocchio's shoulder once again.

"Sheesh, don't be so hard on the little guy, Jiminy. He is still young after all," Ventus reasoned.

"Hey, part of my job as an official conscience to help people learn right from wrong, and I can't do that if I let Pinocchio get away with telling fibs, Ventus," Jiminy defended himself.

"Well, it seems we've all had quite the journey, right Pinocchio," Geppetto concluded. When his son did not reply, Geppetto turned to where the boy had been, only to see that Pinocchio was not there anymore. "Pinocchio? Oh, where has he wandered off to now?"

"Does he disappear like that a lot," Ventus guessed, while the others wondered how the little puppet could have snuck away without any of them noticing.

"I'm afraid so, yes. I've warned him not to wander too far in here, but he still seems intent on exploring every part of the whale as possible, always saying that he wants to find some way for us to get out," Geppetto explained.

"Well, if you want, I'm sure we have some spare gummi blocks that you can apply to your ship to aid in your escape," Sora offered. When he remembered that he should not be making that promise on his own, he looked to the others and asked, "Uh, can't we?"

"Of course," Donald nodded. "We'll just need to make sure they're the right blocks before we do anything like that."

"We'll ask Chip and Dale to help you out with that while we go look for Pinocchio for you, if you don't mind, Mister Geppetto," Ventus offered.

"Oh thank you very much, uh…Ventus, is it," Geppetto asked.

"Yeah, but you can just call me Ven. And this is my apprentice Sora, and our friends Donald and Goofy," Ven finally introduced.

"Your apprentice, eh," Geppetto asked as he looked the younger Keyblade wielder over. "Well, it seems like you and I have something in common besides having Jiminy around, in a manner of speaking."

Ventus and Sora exchanged a small glance between them before they both smiled and former said, "Yeah, I guess you could say that." He then glanced at his team and told them to go down to the passage that led further into the whale while he called Chip and Dale to inform them of the situation. When he finished with said call, the blonde was ready to signal the team to move out when he noticed an apprehensive expression on Sora's face. "Something wrong, kid," he asked his apprentice.

When he realized Ventus was looking at him in concern, Sora immediately turned to face his teacher and explained, "I was trying to talk to Kairi about Pinocchio and Geppetto, and maybe see if she could help us track him somehow. I know that he's not a Princess of Heart, but if she can sense stuff like that, maybe she could sense other things too, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it, but you really should learn to trust your own abilities in sensing things like that instead of always relying on Kairi. She's not going to be able to help you out like that forever, you know," Ventus confirmed with a word of caution. When he finished speaking though, he noticed Sora's expression had fallen a little more, and he quickly asked, "What's wrong? Did Kairi say something that you didn't like hearing?"

"No, it's not that," Sora replied. "She didn't say anything at all. I've tried getting her attention, doing everything to talk to her that you told me to do, but I haven't even gotten a whisper out of her. It's like she's not even there. What if something happened to her when Monstro swallowed us? What if her heart got pulled out of me while I was unconscious? Or what if…"

"Sora, Sora, SORA! Just calm down. Kairi's still inside your heart," Ventus told his apprentice as soothingly as he could before he quietly added, "Both figuratively and literally." He then returned his full attention to Sora and explained, "I'm sure you can sense her light in there as well as I can, right?" When Sora nodded, the blonde then explained, "Then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. I'm sure she's probably just sleeping or something. This journey has been rather tiring for her, too, after all. Just give her a little time, and I'm sure she'll be wide awake to talk with you again before you know it."

Sora took a deep breath to help calm his nerves, and then nodded with a small smile on his face. With that settled, the quartet of adventurers set out to find the missing puppet, with Jiminy tagging along with them since he was almost as worried about Pinocchio as Geppetto seemed to be. All the while, Ventus could only stare at Sora as he wondered about what the boy had told him. He did not doubt that Kairi was still inside Sora's heart; like he said, he could still sense her heart's light in there, but he had to wonder if he was right when he said that she was just sleeping at the moment. Was that really accurate, or was there another reason?

* * *

In truth, looking for a way to escape from Monstro's belly was only part of the reason why Pinocchio had wandered off. The other part was because he thought he saw someone else walking into the cavern just a few moments before, and he wanted to find out who it was. If it was another one of Jiminy's new friends, then Pinocchio figured he should go after this person before he ended up getting into trouble. After all, Monstro's stomach was like a maze if you did not know how to get around. Fortunately, he found a way to mark the correct path after all this time he and his father had spent in here, but that did not make the whale's stomach any less dangerous. It was still a beast's stomach after all. After looking for a few minutes though, Pinocchio did not find anyone else down there, despite how sure he was that there was someone else in here, and he was still very certain of it. Even so, that did not mean that someone else had found him.

"What are you doing, Pinocchio," a voice called out from behind him, and he quickly turned to see Ventus and the others coming after him, the blonde being the one who had called out. "Come on, let's go back."

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you," Goofy informed him, making Pinocchio feel a little bad.

"I didn't mean to make him worried, but I thought I saw someone come down here," Pinocchio explained.

That surprised the four a little, but they had to wonder if the little puppet was just seeing things, since none of them had seen anyone else. After taking a minute to try and sense if someone else was there and finding nothing, Sora just looked to the puppet and said, "Pinocchio, stop fooling around. This is no time for games."

Sora then turned to depart for the ship when Jiminy suddenly said, "Hold on, Sora. If Pinocchio was telling even the smallest of lies, his nose would grow a little longer, and yet, it's still the same. That means he's telling us the truth."

The others were about to question Jiminy on that when someone else spoke up, and it was not someone they had been expecting to find here. "But Sora, I thought you liked games. Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

Instantly, Sora spun around to find his best friend standing next to the little puppet with a smirk on his face and an odd look in his eyes, one that set off a few warning bells for Ventus, along with the fact that the silver haired boy was even here at all when it should not have been possible without some kind of vessel or some special magic. Sora did not seem to have thought of that, because he was more focused on the fact that his friend was here at all. "Riku! Wh-what are you doing here," Sora asked.

"Just playing with Pinocchio," Riku shrugged, acting like he was not in a dangerous location at the moment, or like he did not know what Sora really meant by that question.

"You know what I mean," Sora snapped. "What about Kairi? Did you find any clues about her?"

"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know," Riku then challenged, much to their surprise. He could not have been serious, could he? This was not the place or the time to be fooling around like that, but from the look in Riku's eyes, it was hard for any of them to tell if he really cared that much at the moment.

"Riku, look around you. We're inside of a whale's stomach. This isn't the place for that kind of thing," Ventus said, hoping to appeal to the boy's better judgment.

"Stay out of this, Blondie. This is between me and Sora," Riku scoffed, and he then grabbed Pinocchio by the hand and raced off.

"Riku, wait! There's something about Kairi that I've gotta tell you," Sora cried out, but Riku had already gotten out of earshot and out of sight before he could finish. Sadly, the same could not be said for the Heartless, because they were quickly appearing just seconds after Riku had vanished. Most of them were Shadows of course, but there were some new ones too that had heads that looked like jack-o-lanterns, tunics that had the Heartless emblem emblazoned on the front while the sleeves ended in pink cuffs, and large clawed hands that possessed no flesh or skin to connect them to the sleeves of the tunic, leaving a disturbingly empty gap. The new Heartless also did not have legs, but instead, a ghostly tail, and one of its swirling, yellow eyes hung out of its socket by a length of silver chain. Jiminy quickly explained that these new ones were called Search Ghosts, and that they typically only attack when someone enters the searchlight they emit from their good eye. More importantly, the Search Ghosts were also noted to be able to warp out of harm's way for a short time, and absorb an enemy's strength if they got close enough, and that left the team with all the more reason to avoid getting too close to these spooky-looking Heartless.

They soon found out how tough these ghost-like Heartless were firsthand, as the minute they charged into battle, the four found themselves met with quite the match whenever they struck out against these Search Ghosts. Often times when Sora or Ventus were about to slice one of said ghosts, they would warp out of the way and then reappear to attack them from behind. Such a sneaky tactic would have worked had Donald not spotted the danger and fired off a quick Blizzara or Fira spell to intercept the Search Ghosts before they could harm the two Keybearers, but anytime that the little trick did work, it left the two feeling quite a bit of pain afterwards. What made matters difficult was that another version of the Yellow Opera was now floating around the area as well, this one being green and healing their enemies if the team was not fast enough to destroy them, which Jiminy identified as Green Requiems. Add that in with the Shadows and the small number of Soldiers that appeared throughout the fight, and it was a good while before the four were finally able to chase after Riku and Pinocchio.

Their pursuit was not an easy one, though, because they quickly discovered that navigating Monstro's stomach chambers was like trying to find your way through a massive maze. Every time they were sure they had found a passage that would lead them directly after Riku and his hostage, they ended up meeting a dead end, and many times, those dead ends included a Heartless ambush, often times, ambushes that consisted of two Large Bodies at minimum along with a squad of Green Requiems supporting them. No one could blame the four for the groans of misery they let out whenever they walked into such a battle. A number of Large Bodies were hard enough to deal with without the added support of a Heartless that could heal damage that the team inflicted, and they quickly discovered that magic was of no help against the Green Requiems when Donald tried blasting them away with a Thundara spell, only for it to have no effect at all, so they ended up leaving the little guys to Goofy most of the time, or just hitting them with anything that was not heavily magic based. Such tactics allowed Ventus to show off another move to Sora that he called Strike Raid, in which he infused the Keyblade with a bit of magic, threw it at their enemies, and then either summoned it back to throw again, or let it spin back into his hand like a boomerang. Sora picked up on using this ability just as quickly as he had Sonic Blade, much to the blonde's pleasure, but he was still a little worried that learning such moves so quickly might not be very beneficial in helping Sora reign in his overconfidence. That would have to wait for now, because they needed a huge break if they were ever going to find their way through this maze to wherever it was that Riku had taken Pinocchio.

They got that break a bit sooner than they thought when Jiminy noticed something that the others seemed to have missed. "Hey, fellas, have any of you noticed how some of the entrances have a bunch of boxes next to them that the others don't," the cricket asked.

Looking around the current chamber, the group did indeed see that there were a bunch of large boxes around one of the tunnels that lead into another chamber. "Hey, now that I think about it, there were some other boxes that were placed around specific passages in the other chambers as well," Goofy exclaimed.

"But what does that have to do with anything? We've gotta hurry and find Riku and Pinocchio, remember," Donald reminded everyone.

"I wonder," Jiminy muttered to himself, jumping out of Sora's jacket so that he could run up to the closest box. After looking it over for a few minutes, he cheered in excitement, and waved the group over to show them what he found. "Look at this! The logo for Geppetto's workshop is stamped onto this box, and I'll bet that each of the others boxes have it somewhere on them, too."

Once they got a good look at the image, they quickly moved to check the other boxes and found that, sure enough, each box had it stamped on there. It was a little more faded on a few boxes than others, but it was definitely there. They all quickly assumed that the boxes had come from Geppetto's ship, but that did not explain what they were all doing down here. At least, not until Ventus caught onto Jiminy's train of thought. "I get it. You're thinking that Pinocchio must've put these all around the place as a way of marking the trail so he wouldn't get lost if he or Geppetto ever came very far down here, right?"

"Exactly," Jiminy nodded. "Pinoke may be a little naïve at times, but he's always been a smart and resourceful little guy. Maybe, if we follow the boxes, we'll find Riku and Pinoke in no time at all."

"It's worth a shot. Riku doesn't know how dangerous this place is, and if he has found out something about Kairi, then we need to hurry and find out what it is. Plus, I've gotta tell him about Kairi being inside me, and quick," Sora agreed, but while the others all nodded in agreement right away, Ventus did so with a bit more hesitance.

It was not that the blonde did not want Sora to tell his friend about Kairi, but Ventus had a strange feeling that Riku would not be too willing to listen to Sora at the moment. There was something different about the silver haired boy in comparison to how he was when they saw him back in Traverse Town, and Ventus was very sure that neither he nor Sora would like it when they found out what it was. Still, the kid had a point when he said that they needed to know if Riku had found out something about Kairi, so he could not argue with Sora's suggestion even if he wanted to, and once again, they were all racing off to head further into the belly of the beast, this time with more of an idea on which direction to go in.

* * *

It honestly baffled him. Really, Riku could not believe how easy those fools were making this. You run off with one little, living puppet, and basically drop a hint that you know something they want to know, and they come running like a man dying of thirst to water. Honestly, Riku did not want to actually hurt Pinocchio, but given what he now knew, he needed to take the puppet in order to test a few theories. The fact that it gave him a chance to mess with Sora turned out to be an added bonus, along with how he was getting the chance to see if this Ventus really was what he claimed to be for himself. Honestly, he might come close to looking the part, but if you were to ask Riku, that blonde guy was nowhere near as impressive or strong-looking as the last, real Keyblade Master that he had met.

Of course, he was not about to explain the full scope of what he was doing to his current shadow, and he was not referring to the Heartless. "Why do you still care about that boy," Maleficent questioned him. "He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all."

"I don't care about him. I was just messing with him a little," Riku scoffed, hoping that Maleficent would buy the little fib. One thing that Riku had learned long ago was that mixing a bit of truth in always tended to make a lie more believable.

"Oh, really? Of course you were," Maleficent smirked, her tone disbelieving, but her words indicated that she was willing to let him keep his secrets for now. Still, she had to caution him about something before she departed. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it."

"Mind your own business," Riku snapped after her as she disappeared. He could not stop from glaring down at the ground for a minute for what the evil fairy had just implied. In Riku's eyes, Maleficent was basically implying that he was weak like that foolish vizier, Jafar. There was no way that Riku would ever let himself fall that far. The power of darkness was his to command and not the other way around.

He was so focused on his brooding that he almost missed Pinocchio running past him and into the next chamber, with Sora and the others hot on his heels. When he saw Riku standing before the passage that Pinocchio had run through, the spiky haired boy immediately called out, "Riku! What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora," Riku retorted, a cross look firmly planted on his face while he glared down at his friend, or rather, the Keyblade in Sora's hand and his blonde master to be more specific. "You only seem interested in running around with your so-called 'master' and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even _want_ to save Kairi?"

"I do, and I'm doing a lot more to try and help her than you think," Sora tried to say. He was about to explain about Kairi being in his heart, when he was interrupted once again. The only difference between this time and the last one was that the interruption was due to a scared cry for help that everyone knew was coming from Pinocchio.

There was something of an unspoken agreement between everyone that got all of them to race into the next chamber together to see what had happened to the little guy, and what they found was not quite what any of them had been expecting. As it turned out, they had entered the literal bowels of Monstro, and there, in the middle of the room, was a large, Heartless boss, which rested on a violet and lavender flower-like base, with a body that looked like a giant orange head. A smaller, tan colored head rested atop the large one that had the typical, glowing yellow eyes of all Heartless, along with a jagged mouth, purple spikes beneath that, and an orange antenna. A pair of long, pale green arms extended out of the smaller head and ended in yellow, three-fingered hands, each with dark purple spikes on them, while the Heartless emblem rested between the eyes of the larger head. The most horrifying thing about this Heartless though, was that inside of the larger head's mouth, which gave off an appearance of being like a cage, was a scared little Pinocchio, a sight that got everyone on the team very worried, while Riku had to struggle to make sure the smirk on his face stayed mostly hidden.

Seeing Pinocchio in danger had caused Jiminy to start freaking out like crazy, but thankfully, Goofy was able to calm him down long enough for the chronicler to check his journal for any notes on the Heartless boss before them that could help. "Okay…okay, umm…Got it! Here it is," Jiminy finally declared once he had gotten himself relatively calm. "It's called the Parasite Cage, a name that's reflective of how its larger mouth resembles prison bars and its great appetite, seeing as it literally eats anything in its path. It's often known to either capture victims so that it can take its time with swallowing their hearts, or find a way inside of really large beings so that it can take their hearts from the inside."

"Well, I'd say that Monstro certainly fits the bill on that latter one," Ventus commented as he readied his Keyblade. "Anything in there that we should know about its attack patterns and abilities?"

"Just that it mainly attacks with its tentacles when it's not trying to trap enemies in its mouth, and that it can't move from whatever spot it's in while someone is trapped inside of it," Jiminy replied.

"Which makes it that much more of an easy target," Riku noted, summoning forth his dark sword in a haze of shadows that instantly confirmed Ventus' fears about Riku using dark magic to be true. Riku took no notice of Ven's worried look, but instead just looked to Sora and asked, "You up for this?"

"No problem. Let's do it," Sora confirmed, dropping into his battle stance as he did, prompting Riku to do the same, followed shortly by Ventus, Donald, and Goofy.

The minute the fight started, the five found that Jiminy was right when he said that the Parasite Cage could not move while it had a prisoner, because it did not budge even a single inch from where it was standing aside from swinging its arms at them. That was good news for them since it meant that they had an easier target, but at the same time, they still had to be careful in how they attacked if there was a chance that they could harm Pinocchio. Not only that, but what the Parasite Cage currently lacked in mobility, it made up for in resilience. Despite how hard or fast they hit the beast it did not seem to be injured all that much or that often. They were not even sure they were even making it flinch by the smallest amount at times, but all the same, they were not letting this thing keep its tentacles on Pinocchio, and they were definitely not going to let it stay alive long enough to reach Monstro's heart. If the massive whale lost its heart while they were inside of him, then there was a very likely chance that they would soon follow afterwards, if not because of the Heartless then definitely because they would have been set adrift in the middle of interspace without any form of protection. They just had to figure out a way to really hit the Parasite Cage hard and make it hurt.

They soon found one way to do so when Donald and Sora both blasted the beast with some magic spells, the former with Gravity and the latter with Fire, and when they saw the Parasite Cage lean from side to side a bit because of the blow, they quickly gained the same idea on what their plan for hitting it should be. While Goofy and Riku kept the Parasite Cage busy by hitting it up close with their own weapons, Donald and Sora peppered it with as much magic as they could, with Ventus doing a little of both. It was a pretty easy plan to execute since Donald and Sora did not have to worry about keeping their distance, due to how the Parasite Cage was stuck where it was standing so long as Pinocchio was its prisoner, but that did not mean it could work forever. After all, the energy needed to use magic does run out after a little while, and while he did typically carry a lot of Ethers on his person, even Donald was going to run out of them eventually. As such, the sorcerer of Disney Castle was very grateful for the fact that Goofy always carried so many Potions and Ethers, and that Ventus and Sora were both able to provide him with a little magic of their own, but it was still not quite enough for it to last forever, and it seemed that Riku recognized this, because the next time he jumped back from attacking the beast, he made sure that he was at the same distance that Sora and Donald were so that he could fire off a spell of his own.

That had been Riku's plan, at least, but when the silver haired boy reared his hand back, forming a shroud of dark flames around it, he caught Ven's attention once again, and this time, the Keyblade Master did not stay silent. "Riku, no! Don't use that spell," Ventus shouted, startling Riku a little just as he was about to cast said magic. Riku appeared to ignore Ven's warning, and continued readying his spell, prompting Ventus to continue. "Riku, listen to me! Even if it's one of the simpler spells like the Dark Firaga that you're preparing to use, dark magic is still extremely dangerous! If you're not careful, it won't just consume your heart, it will poison your very being until you become nothing more than a creature of darkness!"

"Butt out, Blondie! I know what I'm doing! I'm not afraid of a little darkness," Riku snapped, while Sora froze in shock at hearing what his friend was doing, until he turned to stare at Riku in disbelief. Riku stopped in his tracks though when Ventus added one last little detail to his warning.

"If you use that spell now though, we won't just hurt Pinocchio, we'll run the risk that he'll be completely destroyed! There will more than likely be nothing left of him to save! No heart, no body, nothing," Ventus shouted.

That got Riku to stop his spell. He could not risk Pinocchio being completely destroyed if he wanted to follow through on his plans, but at the same time, this fight was taking far too long to finish for his liking. Sora was not any happier about the fight's current pace either, but at the moment, what he was more concerned with was that his friend was about to use dark magic, and did not seem to care about what the consequences were. Was that how he had gotten to Traverse Town and here? How long had Riku been using such dangerous powers? Sora was not sure he wanted to know, for his sake, Riku's, and Kairi's, and when he turned to glare at the Parasite Cage again, he felt a new burning desire to finish this fight here and now, before his friend was tempted to use such magic again. When he aimed his Keyblade at the Parasite Cage, he immediately cast a fire spell, but instead of the typical, basic level spell, he ended up firing off the much more powerful Fira spell, and it showed in how much of a fiery inferno had burst forth after the fireball had hit its target.

When the others realized this, they could only turn to stare at Sora in awe, but it did not seem like he was paying much attention to that, because he was quickly unleashing a barrage of Thunder spells soon after, right up until he reached the point where he could unleash the Thunderbolt Command Style. Once he had said power running through him, Sora charged the beast and began hitting it with several, lightning-infused strikes, prompting Ventus to drop back and start peppering the Parasite Cage with a few spells alongside Donald in order to keep the Heartless boss from harming his apprentice. At one point during the fight, Ventus quickly infused a big of time magic into his Keyblade before throwing it at the Parasite Cage, unleashing the power of a finishing move known as Twisted Hours, causing its movements to become much slower than normal. Seeing that his move had the desired effect, Ventus turned to Sora and shouted, "Sora, hit it with the command style finisher now while it's slowed down!"

"You've got it," Sora nodded in reply, and he immediately charged forth before raising his Keyblade upwards and rapidly shouting, "Command Style: Thunderbolt Finisher!"

At once, an orb of electricity sprang forth from Sora's Keyblade and began raining down lightning bolts all around the Parasite Cage, hitting it with a storms worth of lightning and then some, and causing some of the group to turn their gazes away due to how bright some of those lightning flashes were. When they looked back though, they could see that the Parasite Cage was still on its last legs, and they were all preparing to gear up for one last, powerful attack when it suddenly jumped up to hang from the ceiling and spat Pinocchio out, right down into a large hole in the floor that had suddenly opened up. When he saw the puppet fall, Riku immediately raced forward and jumped after him, ignoring any cries from Ventus and Sora to wait when he did, and that prompted Sora to immediately rush after him, with Donald and Goofy hot on his heels.

Seeing the three take off in such a rush without even pausing to think about where they might end up after jumping down, Ventus could only shake his head with a sigh as he said, "Seriously, we've got to do something about this rushing off thing that they keep doing. Can't really blame them this time though. We've gotta catch up with Riku quick before he does something stupid, besides using dark magic. I'm not going to let Sora and his friends go through what my friends and I did with Terra."

With his resolve in place, Ventus rushed after the group, hoping that they would be able to catch up in time, but somehow, he could not shake the sinking feeling in his stomach that they might be too late to do much of anything.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 4**

 **It's still so unbelievable. Even now, I can hardly comprehend it. Oh, I suppose I should explain what is that I'm talking about so that you're not totally lost. Well, it's in regards to a surprise I had during the last visit Mickey and I had to Radiant Garden. We were meeting with Ansem the Wise once again to discuss the topic he had been helping us research, and while Ansem informed us that they had not made any progress beyond determining how dangerous the Heartless and the realm they come from is, I did learn something new that I was not expecting: the identity of Ansem's newest and lead apprentice. When I first saw him, I thought he was Terra, and even after getting a better look at him, I still can't help but think that. The two look so much alike, except for the hair and eye color. It's not just that though; this apprentice even feels a lot like Terra too, almost exactly like him even, but there was also a very strong scent of darkness in him as well, one that I can only compare to that of Master Xehanort's, or should I say Former Master Xehanort. Mickey, Yen Sid, and I all agreed that the old man was not worthy to be called a master any longer, at least as anything other than a distinction between him and…well, that's another matter entirely that involves some things from my first journey, and is a little off-topic.**

 **The really crazy thing about this guy was that, when we asked for his name, Ansem introduced his apprentice as Xehanort. Two similarities is a coincidence, but three of them? I don't think so. I'm sure that this apprentice is definitely the same Xehanort that my friends and I fought all those months ago, and if I were to guess, it would seem that he is definitely possessing Terra's body. It's the only explanation for why I can sense Terra's light and essence coming from him as well as Xehanort's. Still, if that is the case, then why did it seem as though he didn't recognize me? Did something happen to him during his fight against Terra's Lingering Will, or was it something that happened after when he met Aqua? Whatever the case, I'm still not sure. All I know is that it took a huge amount of restraint that I did not even know I had to keep from attacking the man outright. If he was someone else, then I doubt he or Ansem would've been too happy with me raising my Keyblade against him.**

 **When I told him and Isa about it later on after meeting up with them, Lea seemed to think I was crazy and just laughed it off. Mickey on the other hand had a much different opinion. One that agreed with mine, but he still advised me to be cautious for now. After all, if that man is Xehanort in Terra's body, then we will have to be careful of how we approach him in the future. And not just in regards to our topic of research, either.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so not quite as long as last chapter, and I honestly felt like it was pretty close when I was originally writing this, but then again, I was going to split this into two chapters anyways. The reason being: Kairi's Dive to the Heart. Yeah, we're seeing that this time, and as I'm sure you've noticed, like with Sora's, Kairi's is much different from the usual thing. I doubt I really need to point this out, but I'm sure you all noticed how Kairi's dive seemed to center on Aqua quite a bit, namely in terms of the Keyblades she had to choose. The reason for that is that Aqua is the one who passed on the power to Kairi, and also the only one of the BBS trio that Kairi ever met. So...yeah, there ya go on that. There will be a couple other things about Kairi's dive that will be significant, which we will see next chapter._**

 ** _Kairi: Now I'm really eager to see what those things are. Am I going to meet someone like Namine or something?_**

 ** _AN: Namine, no, someone really significant to Kingdom Hearts...you'll just have to wait and see._**

 ** _Namine: Translation, yes._**

 ** _AN: [sighs] Speaking of our blonde artist, Namine, do I really need to say that you're not in this story?_**

 ** _Namine: No, I just wanted to appear here since you've already let Roxas show up. Besides, I've been looking through your notes, and I could've sworn I saw something in here about you planning on a way to at least work me, Roxas, and Xion into the story at least in some small way._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, very small, and not likely to appear for several chapters, and besides, that's just a small idea at the moment. The earliest we'll see you three will still be the sequel to this story, so can you please wait a little bit?_**

 ** _Namine: I make no promises for my boyfriend and his female clone._**

 ** _Xion: Hey! What do you mean your boyfriend?_**

 ** _AN: Oh no you don't! You two are not starting that argument here, understand me?! We've already got enough people arguing about the whole Roxas &Xion vs Roxas&Namine pairing as it is, so let's avoid doing that here, please?_**

 ** _Xion & Namine: [both silently nod while throwing apologetic smiles at each other]_**

 ** _AN: Anywho...I'm sure you all caught when Kairi saw the flashback of when Sora and Riku met Aqua, and yes, I added that in partly because I just wanted Aqua to make at least one appearance besides references and the one guaranteed one she'll be getting much later on in the story. The other reason was to show how much of a connection Aqua has to Kairi, but I'm sure you all figured that out on your own. Plus, it'll serve another purpose for next chapter._**

 ** _Kairi: That seems to be a reoccurring thing for some of the stuff that happened this time._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I noticed. Anyways, with the conclusion of Agrabah, we've also confirmed that Ventus does indeed have other Keychains, likely on his person if not back at Disney Castle from his last journey and training, so Sora will most likely be getting a majority of the Keychains that the team finds in this story, plus they also found another page of the Ansem Reports and the first of the pages from Pooh's storybook, while also mixing in a little bit of stuff on how Genie got his freedom in the movie and how it happened in the game. Am I good, or what?_**

 ** _Aqua: You're good._**

 ** _AN: And now you're here, too...You know what, since you're actually going to be showing up in this story in full, I've got no problem with you showing up now._**

 ** _Aqua: Glad to hear it, but are you sure part of that is not just cause you have a fanboy crush on me?_**

 ** _AN: No! I mean, no, don't be ridiculous. If I were to let my feelings dictate how I do these things, Xion would likely end up in this story more often._**

 ** _Xion: So you have a fanboy crush on me?_**

 ** _AN: I never said that! I just really identify with you and feel like you were a great character who got the short end of the stick when it comes to how your story currently stands, and how it ended in 358/2 Days. Moving on..._**

 ** _Kairi: That sounds a lot like denial to me._**

 ** _AN: We're done with this line of conversation now, and talking about the latest entry in Ven's journal. You all asked, and here's your answer on what happened when Ventus met Ansem's apprentice Xehanort, aka Terranort with amnesia. Pretty spooky how that went, huh? And while we're on the topic of Ventus, it seems he's not likely going to be able to talk any sense into Riku, given how Sora's best friend seems to hate him so much. Though you have to wonder if it's just jealousy talking, or if it has something to do with Riku not really believing Ven's a Keyblade Master._**

 ** _Namine: Why would he not believe that?_**

 ** _AN: A question that shall be answer in due time. Here's a better one though: why are all of you girls the only other ones here right now? Where'd the guys go? I know they were just here at the beginning of the chapter._**

 ** _Aqua: [points to a door that says "Gym/Training Room", where sounds of magic, battle, and playful teasing can be heard coming from]_**

 ** _AN: Oh...Okay then. Why'd I even put that in here? Or better yet, WHEN did I even put that in here? Oh well, let's just move on to the most important part of this ending author's note already so you can all move on with your lives, and I can start rehersals for the next chapter, and future chapters of other stories. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Sora and his friends continue to pursue Riku, who has taken Pinocchio hostage once again, this time right before Geppetto's eyes while claiming its his way of trying to find a way to help Kairi. After learning about his friend using dark magic though, Sora's a little doubtful of Riku's true intentions, but the question still stands as to whether or not he would be able to raise his Keyblade against Riku as a true enemy. Meanwhile, Kairi's Dive to the Heart continues in a way that some may not expect, as she is met with three unique and mysterious individuals, while the mystery woman's voice continues to echo in her ears. Just who is this person that Kairi's hearing during her Dive to the Heart? Can Ventus, Sora, and the others save Pinocchio before its too late? How far is Riku really willing to go in his quest? And when all is said and done, what kind of effect will this all have on Sora's resolve? Answers and escapes are coming soon enough, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	13. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

**_AN: Wow, been a while since I updated one of my stories so quickly. I mean, it feels like it's been a while since I've done so, but maybe I'm remembering wrong. Either way, doesn't change the fact that we are back with another chapter of Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, I know, it's really exciting, huh? Well, before we do anything else, guess what we're going to do first?_**

 ** _Roxas: Add me into the story this chapter?_**

 ** _AN: No._**

 ** _Xion: Add me or Namine into the story this chapter?_**

 ** _AN: No._**

 ** _Riku: Reveal whether or not we will see any characters that appear after the first Kingdom Hearts game was released in this story at all in this story?_**

 ** _AN: That would probably be good for some people, but, still no. We're answering reviews, duh!_**

 ** _Ventus: You ever wonder if it's really all that necessary for you to answer some of these reviews right when you post a new chapter?_**

 ** _AN: A long time ago, yeah, but I do like to show my readers that I am reading these things, and this is just one small way of doing so. Anyways, let's start off with a response to regular reviewer "ronin warriors fanatic". First off, yes, the whole Sora turning into a Heartless thing is still going to happen. I know it might be possible for Xion to still come about, but we can't have Roxas or Namine exist without that happening, and I do plan on those two coming into the story. That time period will have one or two differences to it though, so don't worry about that._**

 ** _Second off, as much as some people may want me to, myself included, I do not plan on doing a different version of Chain of Memories or 358/2 Days. My reason is that neither story would be that much different, well that or it just wouldn't start to change until we had gotten halfway through the story, but that's more so in the case of the latter, so there would not really be much point to writing about something we already know all about. I'm not saying that those adventures will be exactly the same as they were before, because they won't be, but they also won't have enough differences in them to the point where they could be an entirely new story, especially not in the case of Chain of Memories. The events of those adventures will be talked about, but I won't be covering them in an actual story. That doesn't mean I don't intend to at least do something in regards to those stories when we get to the sequel. You'll see what I mean when we do, but if you want a hint, just look at what sometimes follows after the main story of a chapter, and before the ending author's notes._**

 ** _Next up, is another response to a regular reviewer, "Monkey D. Conan". Riku will indeed have to deal with a bit more for his actions in this story, but honestly, I have to disagree with you on how Sora was too forgiving to the guy. I mean, he was a little too forgiving in a normal sense, but then again, if he wasn't so quick to forgive his best friend since childhood like that, he wouldn't be Sora, ya know? To answer your other questions, Ven will be finding the Star Wars charm soon enough. I won't say specifically when, but I can promise you that it will be before the first time they go to Hollow Bastion. Also, yes, Sora's going to make a fool out of himself in regards to at least one of the girls he meets on another world, much to Kairi's jealousy, namely a girl he's going to meet on the next world they visit. It'll make sense what I mean when you read the preview for next chapter. As for the new worlds I'm going to use, I don't want to give away any details, but I will go ahead and say that one of the worlds will be an original one that's likely only found in this story, while the other one is actually a world we saw in Birth By Sleep. Hope that ties you over for now on those questions._**

 ** _Riku: Really? You want to give me more crap than what I already had to deal with to pay for my bad decisions? How's that fair?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, you're the one who let himself get taken over by Xehanort's Heartless. Moving on now, namely to the review posted by "Gary123", glad you're liking the story so far, and don't worry, when we get to Hollow Bastion at last, I'm sure you'll enjoy how things play out there quite a bit._**

 ** _So, I think that covers everything for now, aside from responding this one guest reviewer who commented on how Kairi's Dive to the Heart was happening inside another heart. My answer is simply this my friend: It's magic related stuff, and if you try to make sense out of it, you'll just get one big headache, so I'd just smile, nod, and go with it if I were you. That's really the best explanation I can give you._**

 ** _Aqua: Hey, what's this for? [indicates an album with a picture of her, Ventus, and Terra all armored up and riding their Keyblade Gliders in a dynamic formation]_**

 ** _AN: Oh that, well that's something I was actually going to show off today. You guys remember a while back when I did that little parody of a Power Rangers theme song for this story, well that one's a parody that I thought up for how Birth By Sleep played out, up until the point where it diverged and caused the events of Keyblades of Future Past to happen. So, care to do the honors, Aqua?_**

 ** _Aqua: Sure thing. [pops in the disc and hits play]_**

 ** _AN: Check this out guys..._**

* * *

 **[cue opening theme music of Power Rangers Jungle Fury]**

 **[0:00-0:10] See the armored forms of the BBS Trio flying through the sky on Keyblade Gliders in fancy spins and flips towards the screen, until they slow down for a moment with Aqua in the middle, Ventus on her left, and Terra on her right, while the title appears**

 **"Kingdom Hearts!"**

 **[0:11-0:21] The three are shown armoring up going from Terra to Ventus to Aqua, followed by a montage of them as they're preparing for battle against various foes both alone and together, the latter being when they face the Trinity Armor**

 **"Go! Here comes the Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors!"**

 **[0:22-0:37] Introduce Ventus, Terra, Aqua, and Mickey as the main cast during which they all show off profile images followed by epic poses from their battles, followed by Eraqus, Xehanort, and Vanitas**

 **"Training hard to be the best that we can!"**

 **"Protecting people from the evil Xehanort's plan."**

 **"Stand up for what we know is right, we will never lose the light."**

 **"Unversed go away! We're here to save the day!"**

 **[The rest is a montage of the battles that the main cast faces while the song continues]**

 **"Cause we're the Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors!" (Keyblade Warriors)**

 **"We're fast, we're strong, unstoppable!" [Show Ventus, Terra, and Aqua in the order of the traits mentioned here]**

 **(Keyblade Warriors)**

 **"Here comes the Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors."**

 **"Keyblade Warriors!"**

 **(Go! Go! Go!) "Kingdom Hearts!"**

 **(Go! Go! Go!) "Keyblade Warriors!"**

 **[Repeat last two lines, then cut to title which reads Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors, and end song]**

* * *

 _ **Well, I think that went well. I honestly had a harder time writing that out than the last one, but only because there were more lyrics to the song.**_

 _ **Ventus: Why call it "Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Warriors"?**_

 _ **AN: Well I couldn't call it Keyblade Masters, because at the time, only Aqua was a Keyblade Master, but you were all Keyblade Warriors, and it's also a little show how you guys each thought of yourselves at the time. Or did you forget how Aqua did not even refer to herself as a master until she met Terranort in Radiant Garden?**_

 _ **Ventus: Well considering I wasn't actually there when that happened...**_

 ** _AN: Fair enough. Anyways, now that our little musical moment's over, enjoy the story everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XII**

Considering how often they seemed to be falling from high places, Ventus had to wonder why he had not taught Sora at least a little bit of wind magic so that he was not always cushioning their falls with said power. Really, out of all the magic that he knew, wind spells were the ones that he was best at, so it was a bit of a mystery as to why he had not gotten around to teaching his apprentice any spells in his best element. That may seem like an unimportant thought to some, but it was still one that was running through Ven's mind as he used some of his wind magic to slow their descent back down into Monstro's mouth, just to make sure that they would land on Geppetto's boat. Glancing around, he could see that Chip and Dale had managed to set the clockmaker up with quite an impressive combination of gummi blocks, and from what he knew about gummi engineering, Ventus could tell that the work the two did would certainly guarantee that Geppetto and Pinocchio would be able to get to another world safely if they escaped from Monstro while he was still out in the middle of interspace. That was a small note though, because they had more pressing matters to attend to, seeing as Pinocchio was nowhere to be seen on the boat, and Geppetto was over on the plank calling out the little guy's name in panic while he gazed upwards. That alone sent the four adventurers enough warning bells to get them to race over to where Geppetto was, and they were soon almost as worried as Pinocchio's father when they saw Riku standing above them all with Pinocchio tucked under his arm, looking very lifeless as he hung limply in the silver haired boy's grasp.

"Please, give me back my son," Geppetto desperately begged Riku, confirming that the little puppet had not been taken from his father willingly.

"Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet," Riku denied, though he did not sound even the least bit sorry at all.

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy," Geppetto protested, hoping that he could appeal to Riku's better nature, but Sora and Ven both doubted that would be the case, considering their own lack of success in that department so far today.

The two Keybearers' doubts were proven true, because Riku's only response was to simply roll his eyes a little and say, "He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

When he heard Riku mention helping a person who had lost their heart, Sora instantly found his thoughts latching on to one name, because that was the only person he could think of that Riku would be trying to help right now. "Are you talking about Kairi," Sora asked.

"What do you care about her," Riku demanded, and he then turned and raced away into another passage, one that was right above the one that led to the maze the quartet had been chasing him and Pinocchio through just a few moments ago.

Once again, any attempts Sora made to get Riku to listen and hear what he had learned about Kairi went ignored, and the spiky haired brunette could not help but growl impatiently after Riku had disappeared. A moment later though, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Ventus giving him a sympathetic and understanding look as the blonde said, "Don't worry, Sora. We'll get through to him. Besides, right now, I don't know if telling him what we know about Kairi would help that much. If anything, I think he would just pass it off as some story that we cooked up for whatever reason."

"But why would he do that? Why's Riku doing any of this, including using dark magic," Sora asked, desperate for answers.

"I couldn't say," Ventus shrugged, but this was not entirely true. He did have a small hunch, but considering what he was drawing those suspicions from, he knew he would not be able to tell Sora without there being some form of consequences. Still, he could not just leave it at that, especially given that look that Sora was giving him, so it was a good thing there was something that he could tell the kid. "If I had to guess though, I would say that Riku honestly believes that using darkness like this is the only way to help his friend…Much like Terra had once thought years ago."

"Huh? You mean your friend used darkness," Sora asked, completely thrown for a loop now. He had thought that Terra was being held prisoner somewhere, not that he had been taken over by darkness.

Ventus could see the conclusions Sora was already drawing after hearing that, and he knew that he had to keep that from happening before the kid thought the worst of his old friend. "It's not what you're probably thinking, Sora. Terra may have used darkness, but he did his best to make sure that all he ever did was channel its power without succumbing to it like others have before. To be honest, Terra is probably the first person I've ever known to find a way to harness the power of darkness without losing himself to it, and the reason he did so was because all he wanted to do was help keep his friends safe. He may have ended up being trapped within his darkness in the end, but that was because of the manipulations of another, more powerful master of darkness, and I know he's still fighting now. If Riku really is anything like Terra, then I'll bet he's thinking the same thing that Terra was when he first set out on our journey, which is all the more reason why you need to find a way to reach him."

Sora nodded a little after hearing a bit more of Terra's story. In all honesty, he could see why Ventus would keep this a secret for so long after all that the blonde had told him about the dangers of darkness, but hearing that Terra found a way to use it only as a way to protect his friends and never succumbed to it until he met this other master that Ven mentioned did make him feel a little better about the matter. Besides, considering the admiration that Ventus held in his voice whenever he spoke of Terra, Sora felt like it would be a little hurtful to the blonde if he were to try and judge Terra without even knowing even a little bit about him like Ventus did. Still, that did leave one mystery to Sora, and he was quick to ask about it. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sora, when Terra first started out on his journey, and even when he first tried learning how to control the darkness, he did so alone, partially because he believed that he had to. It did not help that there were others who wanted to either use him or spy on him, though the latter was because our own master was worried about Terra and did not want him to succumb to darkness, but that's beside the point. Right now, Riku is thinking that he's got to do everything all by himself for whatever reason, and that he needs to turn to darkness if it means that he'll be able to achieve his goals. As his best friend, it falls to you to show him that you've got his back despite whatever happens," Ventus explained, showing how strongly he believed in Sora's ability to do this with every word he spoke.

Sora could not help but gulp a little out of nervousness. He did not doubt that he would be able to help his friend, but considering how much was riding on whether or not he could help, it was understandable to feel a bit worried in regards to his chances of success. Still, that did not mean he was going to let fear stop him, because right now, his best friend needed his help, probably just as much as Pinocchio did, so he steeled his resolve, and nodded in agreement, showing he was ready to chase after his friend once more.

Ventus smiled at how quickly his apprentice was able to gather his resolve when it came to helping his friends, partly because it just showed how much alike he and Sora were, and seeing that almost made him lead the charge in chasing after Riku right away. They likely would have gone after him right away too, but they had a few other issues that needed to be addressed first, starting with the condition of both Geppetto's ship and their own. After talking with Chip and Dale, the group learned that they had already finished their work on the clockmaker's boat and were now putting all of their expertise into fixing up the _Kingdom_ for when they were ready to make their own escape. With that reassurance, Ventus then decided that now was the time to show Sora how to use some of the magic Keyblade wielders possessed in order to amplify their own physical abilities, starting with how it would help them to jump higher. It was one of the simpler abilities, yes, but it was also the easiest one to teach, as well as the only one that he felt Sora would be able to learn quickly enough at the moment. He was not wrong, because barely more than three minutes later, Sora was able to jump high enough to reach the top of the large, wooden towers in Monstro's mouth with a single bound, and so, with that done, the team was chasing after Riku once again, and more determined than ever to save Pinocchio before it was too late.

* * *

While everything was going to nearly all the different levels of crazy outside, Kairi was continuing her Dive to the Heart, and aside from the Keyblades she had to choose between, things seemed to be progressing in a similar manner to how they had in Sora's dive, at least, going by what she could remember of what Sora had told her about it, and by what she saw in his memories. Although, she was pretty sure that she had to battle a few more Heartless than Sora did, but she figured that had something to do with the fact she was a Princess of Heart or some other weird reason that she could not think of at the moment. Still, she had to wonder why she was asked to choose between three Keyblades like Sora had. She remembered looking through Sora's memories of his training with Ventus, so she knew that the typical choices were between a sword, a shield, and a wand, yet for some reason, she had to choose between three Keyblades like Sora had. Did that mean she was somehow unique in a way beyond the fact that she was both a Princess of Heart and a soon-to-be Keyblade wielder? And then there was that mysterious voice; not the one that had been running the test, but the woman's voice from earlier. All throughout her fights, the woman had been guiding her in some small ways, like giving her warnings or advising her on how to remain calm during a battle, and it was all in a way that Kairi could only compare to a mix between how Ventus would occasionally coach Sora in his training, and the soothing reassurance of an older sister type of figure. More than that, Kairi was more sure than ever that she recognized this woman's voice from somewhere. She just could not place where she had, and it was starting bug her a little.

That was just a minor detail to Kairi right now, because she had just gotten through to what she knew would likely be the part of the dive where she would end up in a familiar place, where people she knew would ask her some questions, and most likely the same questions that Sora had been asked. When the light finally dimmed enough where she could see where she had landed though, Kairi was surprised to find that she did not actually recognize the place at all. From what she could tell, the place was likely supposed to be some type of garden, with all the various flower beds around it, and the large fountain in the center, and it seemed to rest in the middle of a lake, with the actual ground being shaped like a massive star. Between the lovely flowers, the clear water, and the sunlit sky, Kairi had to admit that this place was indeed very beautiful, and after thinking this for a little while, she found herself being overcome with a sense of familiarity. That was not to say that she actually knew this place, but there was something about it that seemed very familiar to her for some reason. If she had to make a comparison, she figured that it might be related to how Sora had felt like he recognized the castle in that one picture that they had seen back on Deep Jungle for some reason.

Kairi continued glancing around the place, thinking that if she kept doing so, some small part of her might help her to place the reason why she felt so calm and at peace here, when she finally spotted someone over by the fountain, and she immediately raced over to see who it was. When she reached the person, she gasped in shock because she immediately recognized them. Despite losing any memories of her home, there was one thing that Kairi had never forgotten about her old world, and that was the memory of the person who had raised her since she was a little girl. "Grandma," Kairi cried out happily, and she immediately ran up to embrace the old woman in the tightest hug she could muster. "I can't believe it's really you! I…I thought you had died, or that you were gone forever, and…and…" It was at this point that Kairi finally realized that her grandmother was not returning her hug, and she slowly let go so she could back up a little and look at her only blood relative better. When she noticed that her grandmother's smile was as kind and caring as she remembered to the exact detail of her memory, it finally clicked for her. "You're…not really my grandma, are you? You're just a figment of her from my memories that's here to test me or something, like Selphie and the others were for Sora during his dive…right?"

Kairi's grandmother slowly nodded in confirmation, and while Kairi was sad to hear this, she was still happy that she got a chance to see her grandma again after all this time. Still, that did not stop her dive from continuing, and her grandma proved that when she asked a simple question. "Kairi, what are you most afraid of?"

If this were another situation, Kairi probably would have been surprised that her grandmother was asking her that question. She may have been a little thrown off by the fact that she was being asked that question, but it did not stop her from answering as swiftly as you pleased. "Losing everyone and everything that's important to me," Kairi said.

Someone else would have said that she was just copying Sora's answer, but if they did, Kairi would instantly insist that they were wrong, because that really was the one thing that she feared more than anything else. Apparently, her answer was satisfactory to her dive, because the figment of her grandma just smiled at her and then disappeared, prompting Kairi to glance around in an attempt to figure out where the old woman had gone, or if there was someone else around. Naturally, she did not see any sign of her grandma, but what came as odd to her was that there was no one else present in the garden either. When she finally turned around though, she saw that there appeared to be a large structure behind the wall that the garden rested outside of, and there was a gate that appeared to lead inside of it, so she figured she might as well see if there was anyone inside the walls of this place, and raced right in. When she came out the other side, Kairi found herself in the middle of a town square with small houses on the left and right sides of the square, a few flower beds and some trees bordering the inner area, and a gate that lead up to a massive, beautiful castle that towered over the entire town.

Kairi could not help but take a deep breath and then sigh in easy relaxation when she came to a stop in the middle of the square. Just like the garden, the town square struck some strings of familiarity inside of her, and she found a sudden urge to just run up to the flower beds and take a quick sniff of the flowers while picking a few to give to someone. That urge was quickly stamped out both because she knew this place was just part of her test, and because she finally spotted a woman who she believed to be the one who would ask her the next question. Unlike her grandma, she did not recognize this person, but there was something eerily familiar about her, and as Kairi drew closer, she could start to see something of a resemblance between her and this woman, almost to the point where she could have sworn that the two of them were one and the same. In fact, this woman's eyes appeared to be the exact same color as her own, while her hair was long enough to reach her shoulders and appeared to be a darker shade of red. As for the young woman's attire, Kairi saw that she wore a pink, strapless mini-dress that had three zippers over a white halter top with a black hood, along with a pair of silver sleeves that covered her arms, and a pair of grey, fingerless gloves. In addition to that, she also seemed to sport a pair of silver shorts under her dress, white leggings that went up to her mid-thighs, and a pair of steel boots that were lilac in color. To round out the outfit, the woman also wore a black belt that was reminiscent of suspenders with a notebook-shaped bag attached on the left side, three bracelets on her left wrist, and a piece of shoulder armor on her left shoulder that was similar to that of the blue haired woman's that Kairi had seen in Sora's memories earlier, except for the fact that it was colored pink with white highlights.

"Who are you," Kairi asked the woman once she was close enough, feeling like she should know this person somehow. Not in the same way that she felt like she recognized the voice of the mystery woman, but in the sense that she should be familiar to the redhead all the same.

The older woman just stared down at Kairi with a serious expression for a little bit, until she finally smiled in a way that Kairi felt was so similar to how she did, and when she finally spoke, she did so in a voice that, while not quite the same as hers, it did sound much like how she imagined her voice would sound after it had matured a little more. "What's the one thing you care about more than anything else," the older redhead asked.

Once again, Kairi did not even need to think that long about the answer. "My closest friends and the people that I love."

"Does that include the boy whose heart you currently rest inside of," the woman asked, and Kairi instantly felt her face heat up in response, indicating that she was likely blushing up a storm right now. Apparently that was all the answer the woman needed, because she soon laughed a little in response, and then disappeared just like Kairi's grandma had.

"Seriously, who was that woman," Kairi whispered. It was very strange how much that woman had looked just like her, or rather, how she imagined she would look when she got older, and when Kairi thought of that part, she had to wonder if somehow, her dive had conjured up a possible image of her future self. She quickly cast that thought aside, because she remembered Ventus telling Sora that the people they meet at this point in their dives were always people that they had encountered at some point in their lives, so whoever that woman was, she had to be someone that Kairi had met somewhere before. She just did not know where, how, or even who the woman was.

The questions regarding the woman who could have easily been her older doppelganger kept running through Kairi's mind even as she slowly ascended up the stairs that led to the castle, and they did not leave her mind until she was right at the doors to said building. At that point, her eyes immediately located the next person she was likely going to be questioned by, and this time, she instantly recognized the woman who was waiting for her. It was the exact same blue haired woman that she had seen in Sora's memory before this had all started, and she was smiling in almost exactly the same way as she had been then, but Kairi could not help but feel like there was something a little extra in that smile this time; a sense of additional gentleness, pride, and maybe even relief that was mixed in with the simple happiness that her smile already held. As Kairi drew closer to the blue haired woman, she felt a greater and stronger sense of familiarity from her than anything else she had seen in this strange place. It was similar to the redhead she had met, but in a different way, like she should feel a strong connection between them somehow. When Kairi finally reached her, the blue haired woman asked her question, and Kairi was starting to fit a few pieces into place when she heard her voice.

"Kairi, what is it that you wish for," the blunette asked, and Kairi could not help but gasp in shock, because she finally realized why the voice of the mystery woman sounded so familiar. It was because it belonged to this woman who now stood before her, be it as a figment of her Dive to the Heart or otherwise. But if that was the case, then did that mean that all this time, Kairi had somehow been communicating with who she believed to be Master Aqua?

Kairi was not sure what to think, but she did know that she still had to answer the question, so she took a deep breath to calm down, and then answered, "I wish…to protect what's most precious from anything or anyone that would do others harm."

The bluenette smiled a little wider at this, before she said, in the same, distant-sounding whisper as she had been speaking with before, "I had a feeling you would say that."

"Wait," Kairi pleaded, knowing that this might likely mean that the real blunette was speaking through her apparition right now. "Before you disappear, I have to know for sure. Are you really her? Are you…Master Aqua?"

While the illusion of the woman slowly faded away, Kairi could see that her smile was softening even more now, and just before she vanished completely, Kairi heard her faintly whisper her reply. It may have been just one, single word, but it was still the word that made her feel so happy and excited all at the same time. "Yes."

* * *

No one was going to lie and say that climbing their way through Monstro's throat was pleasant or easy, because it was the farthest thing from either one of those two things. Not only was it very disgusting, they also had to deal with Heartless jumping them at the most inconvenient of times. Many times when the dark creatures attacked, it would cause one, more, or even all four of the group to lose their footing and fall right back down to where they had started from when they had come into the chamber, but despite that set back, they were still able to deal with it and pay the Heartless back for their ambush in double the irritation and pain. Even so, it still felt like it had taken hours in order for them to finally reach the end of that road, which turned out to be Monstro's stomach, a place that none of them wanted to be for too long if they wanted to avoid getting digested by the massive mammal. Then again, so long as they watched their footing, they had a feeling that they should not have to worry about that too much, and it looked like Riku was not too concerned about it either, considering how he was just standing triumphantly over Pinocchio's apparently lifeless body without fear. At another time, Sora would tell you that it was normal for Riku to appear unafraid of anything, but given that he now knew his friend was using darkness, even if Ventus did give him a possible explanation for it, he was not entirely sure what to think right now.

Ventus on the other hand did have an idea on what to think and it was a very simple idea to say the least. "Let Pinocchio go, Riku," Ventus shouted, his Keyblade drawn and ready for battle.

Riku just looked at Ven for a minute with a look of mild annoyance before he turned to glance between Pinocchio and Sora. "A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless…Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi," Riku mused, and he then settled his gaze firmly on his best friend as he made him an offer. "How about it, Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together."

If Riku thought that he was going to be okay with this, Sora quickly proved him wrong as he summoned his Keyblade, which was shining brightly in the form of Three Wishes, dropped into his battle stance, and said, "You heard Ven, Riku. Let Pinocchio go!"

"What," Riku chuckled in disbelieving amusement. "You'd rather fight me over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience," Sora retorted. While Riku just quirked an eyebrow at Sora, Jiminy jumped out of Sora's jacket pocket and ran over to Pinocchio as fast as he could, seeing that Riku was distracted by what Sora was saying. "You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

Riku did not even pause to think about his next words or actions, as proven by how he raised his sword as if he were preparing to battle his friend and declared, "Then you leave me no choice."

"There's always a choice, Riku," Ventus argued, pulling the silver-haired youth's gaze to him once again. Despite the irritation in Riku's eyes as he looked at him, Ventus did not waver in the slightest. He had to reach the kid now, while he had the chance, before it was too late. After all, he had already promised he was not going to let Sora lose his friend the same way he lost Terra. "Riku, open your eyes. The darkness you're using is messing with your head, and while it may be powerful, if you're not careful, it won't just consume your heart, it will destroy you entirely."

"Oh please. I'm not weak like that vizier you guys beat back in Agrabah. My heart is strong and I'm not afraid of the darkness," Riku scoffed in retort. "If anything, the darkness is afraid of me and what I can do with it."

"I never said otherwise, but you don't need to be afraid of darkness to be destroyed by it," Ventus pointed out. "I've seen what that kind of darkness can do to a person, and I had to watch as it practically destroyed my best friend, Terra from the inside out."

"Terra," Riku gasped in recognition. His mind immediately went to the tall, brown haired man with strange armor on one arm that he had met years ago as a kid, and he had to wonder if he was the same person as the one Ventus was talking about.

"Terra was a lot like you are, Riku. He cared a great deal for his best friends, and he was willing to do whatever it took to keep them safe, even if it meant using the powers of darkness. What he did not realize at first was that someone was feeding the dark fires of hate and rage inside of him, causing him to go astray from the path of what's right, until it was nearly too late. If weren't for me, Aqua, and a few other friends of ours, he would have been completely lost forever. Yes, he may still be a prisoner of darkness now, but he's still out there, fighting back against the one whose darkness overpowered him, determined to right the wrongs he had committed along the way, and I know that Sora does not want to lose you the same way."

Sora's heart truly went out to Ventus when he heard that story, and now more than ever, he wanted to help his master find and reunite with his friends, but more importantly, he could see what Ven was trying to do. The blonde was reaching out, hoping that he could get Riku to see reason before it was too late, and he was not about to let his master do what was supposed to be his job as Riku's best friend. "Riku, I know you're just trying to help Kairi, but this isn't the way. Endangering Pinocchio, using dark powers that would turn you into a monster, and even fighting against us…None of this is what Kairi would want. It's not what I would want."

"Save it, Sora," Riku snapped. "What does it matter how it happens? As long as Kairi's saved, that's all that should matter, especially to you of all people."

"Riku, please. Listen to us," Ventus pleaded.

"No, you listen! I'm not going to lose myself to darkness, like your friend, 'Master' Ventus. More importantly, if you really were a master, you would have figured out how to save your friend and help Kairi by now," Riku angrily interrupted.

"Now that's going too far, Riku," Sora snapped back in kind. "And besides, unlike you, we're actually doing something that would actually qualify as helping Kairi, and we're able to do it without putting others in danger!"

While this argument continued on, Jiminy had finally made it over to Pinocchio, calling out to the little fellow as soon as he was in earshot, but it did not seem like the cricket had been heard for a while. It was not until Jiminy was right in front of him that Pinocchio finally responded, in a soft, weak voice, saying, "Jiminy…I'm not gonna make it." Jiminy felt like he was about to cry when he heard that, but then he noticed a faint glow coming from Pinocchio, and he immediately looked up in surprise to see that Pinocchio's nose had grown a little longer, much to even the little puppet's surprise. "Oh! I guess I'm okay," Pinocchio happily exclaimed.

Jiminy had to smile a little as well while he jumped for joy. Sure, the little guy had lied to him a bit, but it did seem like it was just meant as a small joke and nothing more. Their little commotion did not go unnoticed by the others, because they all soon turned to see that Pinocchio was all right, much to the quartet's relief, and Riku's slight displeasure. The latter slowly started to change though when he saw how happy Jiminy was to see Pinocchio was not hurt, and Riku suddenly started to feel a slightly bad feeling in his stomach, because he was starting to see what Sora and Ven were trying to tell him. He had been so close to putting an innocent life in harm's way just because he wanted to try and help Kairi, and in the process, he would have inflicted the same worry and hurt on others that he was currently feeling right now, knowing that his friend was in desperate need of help. How could he have not seen that sooner? Were Ventus and Sora right to say that the darkness he had been using was clouding his judgment? No, that could not be the case. He controlled the darkness, not the other way around. They had to have been lying just so that they could keep him from noticing the cricket as he tried to reach the puppet.

Riku's thoughts came to a screeching halt though when he sensed something was about to fall on him from above, and he quickly jumped back just in time to avoid being flattened or captured by the Parasite Cage, back once again to finish what it started. Knowing that there was no way he could finish what he started now, Riku instantly opened a dark portal and escaped, deciding that he should just leave Sora and the others to whatever fate now awaited them. Ventus had instantly sensed the sudden surge in darkness that came from Riku's actions, but he did not have the time to pay it any mind, because right now, his friends needed him more, and he was never one to abandon them. Sora showed that he was the same way when he looked to the puppet who dreamed of being a real boy and shouted, "Pinocchio, run! Get back to Geppetto while we deal with this guy!"

Pinocchio did not argue at all, and he was soon out of Monstro's stomach almost before you could even blink, with Jiminy going along just to make sure that the little guy would get back in one piece. With the other two out of the way, the four adventurers were now free to do what they were quickly becoming some of the best at: fighting and destroying Heartless. Although, some would not say that was something to brag about. "We just can't go anywhere without something like this happening, can we," Donald groaned as he quickly cast a Defensive Aero spell around the others for safe measure.

"Well, considering there's two Keyblade wielders in our group, and that it's our job to stop creatures of darkness like the Heartless, it is a little unavoidable," Ventus shrugged as he summoned out his Fever Pitch Command Style, showing just how ready he was to go at it with the Parasite Cage.

All conversation ceased at that point, but not just because there was a battle to be fought. No, the main reason was because Sora had finally hit his limit on how much he could take today regarding problems. Getting swallowed by a whale, finding out your best friend was using dark magic, having said best friend basically tell you to either get lost or help him hurt someone just because he thinks it will help your other best friend, and then getting this dropped on you all in one day would be a lot for anyone's nerves, and that was especially true for Sora. The only problem with that is that when Sora had finally gotten fed up over something, he tended to act a little rashly and even less thinking. A prime example of this would be how he had just charged straight at the Parasite Cage using both his own strength and that of the Sonic Blade ability, and barely even noticed how Ventus shouted for him to wait. As a result of his hasty attack, Sora ended up getting swatted aside by the Parasite Cage before he could land a second strike with Sonic Blade, and he was pushed further back when the Parasite Cage suddenly lunged forward, its mouth rapidly chomping open and closed like it was planning to chew him up and swallow him like a tiny snack. Luckily the sphere of wind that Sora had been encased in earlier thanks to Donald kept him from being trapped by the Heartless boss, but it still sent him flying into the stomach acid that currently surrounded them.

The minute he felt said acids burning into his skin, Sora jumped out with a yelp and onto the nearest safe platform. Unfortunately, he had to jump clear of that platform as well, because the Parasite Cage had swung one its tentacles at the platform he had jumped to and would have knocked him into the stomach acid again if he had not gotten clear. Before the Parasite Cage could try and attack the kid again, Ventus rushed it with a strong, fast swing of his Keyblade, no doubt partly due to the fact he was still using his Fever Pitch Command Style, but Sora could swear he saw Ven's Keyblade glowing with a slight red tinge as he attacked. Afterwards, every time Ven swung his Keyblade, his strikes were not just fast but powerful as well; faster than they normally were when the blonde was using his Unique Command Style, until finally, Ven finished up by spinning around and unleashing a few final slashes, utilizing acrobatics unlike anything Sora had ever seen before. Unknown to Sora, this was a special attack power known as Ars Arcanum, an ability that Ven had long been proud to say was one of the few that he mastered while Aqua and Terra had not.

Sadly, it turned out that the Parasite Cage was not as impressed with Ven's attack as Sora was, as it proved by swinging both of its arms at Ventus in an attempt to either flatten him or swat him into the stomach acid. Luckily, Ven's Fever Pitch Command Style helped him avoid most of these attacks, and any of the ones he did not were blocked by either his Keyblade, the Aero Shield around him, or by Goofy's shield. That last one was always followed by a hard bash from said knight's shield, and then a barrage of magic from Donald, both of which earned the two a grateful nod from the Keyblade Master before he charged in once again with Sora coming in alongside him to do the same. What none of them expected was that the Parasite Cage would use its tentacles to suck up some of the stomach acid and then release it from its larger mouth as a dangerous breath attack. When it stuck them, Donald and Goofy were both left either dazed or poisoned, despite the protective spells surrounding them, but thankfully, the worst that had happened to the two Keybearers was that their own shields were just blown off. Not that they were any less worried once they realized that.

"Jiminy wasn't kidding when he said that this thing was more dangerous when it did not have a prisoner inside of it," Ventus muttered to himself as he raced away from a few more tentacles swipes, feeling the energy of his Command Style starting to fade as he went. He would have stopped to charge it, but this Heartless was not giving him much of a chance to pause for anything.

Sora was in the same situation, only instead of trying to summon a Command Style, he was busy trying to ready a Shotlock, or one of the special attacks that Ventus had taught him. Every time Sora thought he had a chance to unleash said power, he had to jump clear of a tentacle or another blast of poisonous gas just seconds after he was either gathering energy or aiming his Keyblade. Eventually, Goofy managed to get a couple of remedies out to Donald, who fixed up all of his friends with a healing spell, and they were all scrambling to land a hit on the Parasite Cage while avoiding the nasty gas it spewed out of its larger mouth and the stomach acid. Needless to say, it was not an easy fight, and it only got harder when Donald was suddenly knocked unconscious after taking a particularly hard hit from one of the Parasite Cage's tentacles. That was what ended up getting Sora to break out of his pattern of evasion, because he quickly abandoned all attempts to dodge the Heartless' attacks while trying to make one attempt at attacking, and started rushing over to Donald so he could try and help out somehow, and it did not go unnoticed by anyone.

"Sora! Watch out!" But Ventus' warning was too little too late, because the Parasite Cage had soon blasted Sora with its poisonous breath, and the kid took the full brunt of it right into the back. Not only was Sora seriously hurt and likely poisoned now, but the force of the Heartless' attack caused him to hit the wall near where Donald landed, hard, and he instantly dropped to the ground unconscious afterwards while his Keyblade clattered onto the ground after falling out of his grasp. Ventus was just glad that neither Sora nor his weapon had landed in the stomach acid when the fell, but he barely had any time to think about that, because now, all of the Parasite Cage's attention was on him and Goofy. Seeing as both of their friends were out cold, the two were now doing everything they could think of to protect themselves while searching for some kind of opening they could use to reach the others, but at the rate they were going, they both felt that it was likely going to take a miracle to get out of this mess.

* * *

After Master Aqua had disappeared, the strange world that Kairi was in had vanished as well, and once again, she was on a large platform with a stain glass floor. She was not alone though, because she was soon battling Heartless once more, only these were not the standard Shadows. These were bigger, more muscular, had a more humanoid shape, with large hands that sported five clawed fingers, feet that more resembled boots, and antenna that were much longer, falling back behind the Heartless. To round out the differences, Kairi could also see that its body was lined with faint, blue veins that stretched out all across it. For a brief moment, Kairi had thought that they would not be that much more trouble than a typical Shadow, but these guys quickly proved her wrong when they showed that they were much more strategic in how they fought after they easily evaded and counterattacked whenever she tried to use some simple strikes against them. Kairi ended up having to get more than a little creative in fighting these things, but even that was barely enough to stay ahead of them.

It was not until she heard Aqua's voice once again, quietly telling her how to use magic in her head, that she was able to turn the tide, and she did so using a few light spells that she had not expected to be able to use. She had no idea what the name of any light spells were, let alone how to unleash them, and she knew she could not have gained that knowledge from Sora's memories because he had not learned anything like that either, and yet, she was able to use such magic easily. It was almost a little too unreal for Kairi to handle, but she had to handle it right now, because otherwise she was going to get hurt by these Heartless. From that point on, the fight became so much easier, especially since the Heartless were so vulnerable to the light magic she was throwing out. Add in the fact that Kairi was using said spells so easily, and did not even feel the slightest bit of fatigue after casting so many spells in a row for so long, and she was definitely feeling really confident in how well she would do when she got her body back along with a Keyblade.

When the fight was finally over, Kairi was sure that she would be facing that large Heartless known as a Darkside, but to her surprise, the creature never appeared. In fact, after she had slain the very last Heartless that had been attacking, nothing else appeared at all, much to her confusion. If there was nothing else for her to fight, that would mean that her Dive to the Heart was over, right? But then again, she was not waking up, and she was still on the same platform that she had landed on when this recent fight started, so what was going on? Kairi figured that if it really was not over yet, she should just wait it out and see what happened, and for the first few minutes, that was fairly easy to do, but eventually, it did start to drag on a little. Though she was probably just feeling that because she had all lost track of time after a while.

That was when it finally happened. Somewhere out from the haze surrounding the platform, Kairi could hear some faint whispers that slowly grew a little louder with each passing minute. When they finally reached a volume that allowed her to make out what the voices were saying a little more easily, she instantly recognized them as the voices of Ventus and her two best friends, and it did not sound like they were getting along at the moment. _"Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience. You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"_

 _"Then you leave me no choice."_

 _"Riku, open your eyes. The darkness you're using is messing with your head, and while it may be powerful, if you're not careful, it won't just consume your heart, it will destroy you entirely."_

 _"Oh please. I'm not weak like that vizier you guys beat back in Agrabah. My heart is strong and I'm not afraid of the darkness. If anything, the darkness is afraid of me and what I can do with it."_

As the conversation carried on, Kairi could only feel her worries grow more and more, both for Riku and for Sora. If what she heard Ventus say just now was true, then she had to do something to try and help. She was already able to reach Sora, so maybe if she just concentrated hard enough, she could somehow reach out to Riku and talk to him as well. Sure, she was already unable to reach Sora at the moment because of this little test, but if she could hear them now, then maybe there was a chance she could get through. She was just about to try when another voice spoke up, only this one was directed towards her, and it seemed that the speaker had been reading her thoughts just now, because the first thing they asked was, _"What do you really think you can do right now?"_

Kairi gasped in shock, because she recognized this voice too, and she immediately spun around to look behind her, and she was not disappointed by what she saw standing at the far end of the platform. There, standing just as tall and proud as she had been before, clad in the very same attire that Kairi had seen her wearing up until now and with a small smile on her face, was none other than the very same Keyblade Master she had spoken to earlier when she was being asked those questions. "Master Aqua," Kairi cheered happily, rushing over to the blunette as quickly as she could. Her charge soon came to screeching halt though, because when she got close enough, she realized something about said master that was not quite right. "What's going on here? I can see right through you."

That was not an exaggeration even in the slightest, because Aqua was currently as transparent as a ghost, a fact that made Kairi a little worried. Aqua on the other hand, did not seem too concerned by this, even as she looked herself over a bit. "It's actually not as strange as you'd think," Aqua explained. "I'm not really there at the moment, but I am still able to communicate with you. The only problem is that you don't have something on you that would act as a suitable conduit for me to channel my magic through, like a special keepsake that was exchanged between us, and when you combine that with the details of my current location…well, I'm surprised that I could contact you like this at all. If I'm being completely honest, I really thought that I would only be able to just speak with you. Maybe the fact that I was chosen by your heart to be one of the people who would ask you those questions has something to do with it, but honestly, I'm too happy to just be able to talk to you right now to really care what the reason is."

"If you can reach me like this though, why haven't you tried to contact Ventus? He's really worried about you," Kairi questioned.

Now it was Aqua's turn to be surprised, and it showed when her face lit up with both shock and joy while she asked, "Ven? He's okay? He's awake?!"

"Well…I wouldn't say that he's okay, since he's fighting monsters and bad guys with Sora, but, yeah, he's awake. At least, last I checked he was," Kairi slowly replied, her tone unsure of what Aqua was talking about.

It must have been very evident on her face, because Aqua quickly explained, "The last time I saw Ventus, before I had fallen into the Realm of Darkness to save another friend, Ven's heart had been seriously damaged, and he had fallen into a deep sleep in order to heal. His heart had been sleeping in a place between light and darkness, and I had to leave him in a safe place so that I could go out to find and save Terra. I thought it would be much longer before he finally woke up again, and a small, selfish part of me hoped that I would be able to be there when he finally did wake up from that. Still, to hear he's awake again…Oh, thank goodness. I can't help but wonder how much he's changed since then."

If she needed any more indication aside from what she had heard Ventus telling Sora and the others, then this was definitely it for Kairi. This, more than anything, proved that the bond between Aqua and Ventus was much more than simple friendship, because it showed in the way that Aqua's eyes and smile seemed to shine brightly in the way that was only possible for someone who was in love. Seeing this made Kairi smile a little, but it also reminded her of what was going on outside, and she was quick to return to the matter. "Listen, Master Aqua, I'd love to talk with you more and ask so many questions that I'm just dying to know, but I've got to get out of here and help Sora somehow. He and Riku need my help," Kairi practically pleaded.

At that point, Aqua's loving smile fell from her face, and a neutral expression took over as she said, "I know, and that's why I'm here." When Kairi looked at her oddly, Aqua elaborated, "Before anything else happens, you need to answer my question: What do you really think you can do right now?"

"I don't understand. Don't you remember what I said that I wished for? I want to protect what's most precious from anything or anyone that would do them harm. For me, that's my friends, especially in the case of my best friends," Kairi reminded the blunette.

"I'm well aware of that, Kairi, and I'm glad that you feel that way, but that's not what I'm asking you right now," Aqua clarified. "Kairi, right now, you're in the middle of a Dive to the Heart, a very sacred and important ritual for all potential Keyblade Wielders, and it's not something that can be easily interrupted, if at all. You should already know this since you have not been able to talk to Sora the entire time this has been happening. If you couldn't reach him before, what makes you think you can reach either of them now? More to the point, you had to struggle just to speak with Sora before he found out where you currently are, and that's considering the fact that you're literally inside his heart. Unless I'm understanding wrong, there isn't any part of you inside of Riku, so how do you expect to reach him at all, even without being in the middle of a dive?"

Kairi was not sure how to answer that. Aqua did have a point when she mentioned how she had not been able to talk to Sora at all since the dive had started, but then again, it was not like she had really tried since that first time, which was before she even realized what she was in the middle of. Afterwards, she had not made any attempts, mostly because she did not want whoever was running this whole thing to think she was cheating by getting help from Sora, assuming that was even possible, but also because she had a feeling he was doing something important at the moment, so she did not want to distract him. Not only that, but Aqua was right in saying that she had a hard time interacting with Sora before he learned that she was inside of him, and the few times she did get his attention, she had barely been able to keep her presence known to him for more than a couple minutes at best most of the time. How was she supposed to reach Riku with all of that in mind?

Apparently, Aqua was not quite finished making her point, because she still had more to say. "There's also one other thing to consider: Riku's current condition. He's clearly opened himself up to the power of darkness, as I'm sure you've noticed by now. More than that, Riku's walking a path that's very similar to my and Ven's friend, Terra, and it's one that will not end very well if he's not careful. If you try to reach out to him now, there's a chance his dark powers could pull you from Sora's heart, and that's the last thing that he or any of the worlds need right now: for the heart of the last Princess of Heart to be lost somewhere in the darkness."

As Kairi continued to listen, her self-assurance that she would be able to help her friends right now continued to slowly diminish, and it would likely have disappeared altogether had something else not happened. It was not really something she had taken notice of right away since it was so small and insignificant when she first arrived here, but when she did notice a small flash of light from the corner of her eye, she immediately turned towards the source to see that a faint image was forming in the midst of the dark clouds that surrounded the tower she and Aqua were standing on. When she and Aqua both turned to face it completely, they ended up watching as the image grew larger and clearer, until finally, they were able to see very clearly that it was displaying the battle that was happening outside, namely as it happened through Sora's eyes.

Kairi was sure that she heard Aqua let out a small gasp one of the few times that Ventus had come into full view, and she could not blame the blunette. After all, she and Ventus had both said that it had been a long time since they last saw each other, so she figured that Aqua had to be a little surprised by how much her old friend had changed in the time since she last saw him. The redhead of the two did not pay it much mind though, since she was more focused on what was happening to her own spiky haired friend, and it did not look like the fight was going too well for him from her perspective. When they saw Sora's eyes turn to see that last blast of poisonous gas, the image went completely black, and Kairi instantly knew what that likely meant for her friend, which caused her to panic a little more, and her resolve to shoot right back up to what it had been before.

"That's it! I'm not going to just stand here and watch Sora get hurt like this. I don't care what it takes; I've got to help him somehow," Kairi determined, and she immediately turned to demand that Aqua help her find a way to wake up and help Sora, but the blunette beat her to the punch.

"Kairi, you can't leave now," Aqua preempted, and it was clear from her voice that she was desperately trying to warn Kairi. That alone made the redhead feel a little nervous, and it was a well-deserved feeling, as Aqua revealed, "If you leave your Dive to the Heart now, you won't just lose your chance to gain a Keyblade; you'll run the risk of never being able to call on any form of magic at all ever again. As a Princess of Heart, you need to possess some latent magic so that you can at least be protected against powers of darkness. Without that power, not only will you be more vulnerable than even the simplest of normal human beings, you will also place the worlds at much greater risk."

"I don't care! I won't just abandon Sora just so I can get a fancy sword and a bit of magic," Kairi shouted, her face scrunching up in anger when she did.

Aqua just stared at Kairi for a moment, but she finally spoke again, her tone very even and controlled, while she questioned, "You would rather give up any and all powers you possess and place the worlds at risk just so you can save one person?"

"He's not just one person; he's my best friend…No, Sora means more to me than anything else," Kairi admitted, and she then added one final question that she was sure would help to get her point across. "What's the point of saving all the worlds if the ones you care about aren't in any of them with you?"

Silence hung in the air for what felt like several hours, while the two girls stared each other down, one with a look of determination, and the other with a look that made the first feel like she was being x-rayed, until finally, Aqua closed her eyes for a moment, sighed, and then looked up to Kairi again…with a wide smile on her face. "Well then, Kairi, I'd say congratulations are in order. You passed."

"I…I what," Kairi stuttered, now completely lost.

"This was all part of your final test," Aqua explained. "Normally, you would've had to fight against a very powerful being of darkness to prove you could overcome the darkness, much like how your friend Sora had, but seeing as you are a Princess of Heart, such a test was not going to work. Obviously, you would always be able to overcome darkness simply because of the fact that there is no darkness in your heart, and the light inside of you shines much brighter than anyone else's. Though in your case, it may shine brighter than even another Princess of Heart, but either way, a different test needed to be given. You see, even someone with a heart of pure light can make the wrong choices, and while some would argue in favor of the idea that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, as wielders of the Keyblade, we must always believe that everyone can be saved, regardless of what would happen to others or to ourselves. My own master had forgotten that at one point near the end of his life, and I did not want another person to follow a similar path. That's why, when I sensed a powerful light taking this test, I felt that I had to do what I could to make sure that you would follow the right path. Never forget Kairi, that there's more than one way to fight the darkness than simply with light, and that one should never think for a second that they can't at least try to save everyone if possible. Do you understand?"

"I…I think so," Kairi hesitantly nodded, but it was clear that she was not one hundred percent sure on that.

Aqua must have understood where the confusion came from, because she simply continued to smile in understanding as she said, "Don't worry. I don't expect you to completely understand everything right away. After all, I didn't get every lesson entirely right away either, and you're still young. Just continue as you are, watch over your friends in their journey, and do what you can to help wherever possible." She then glanced upwards and commented, "And now, I think it's time for the closing statements."

 _"The day that the door will open is both far off and very near. The journey will not ever be easy, but don't be afraid. Like the destined chosen one, you hold the mightiest weapon of all. And don't forget: while he may be the one who will open the door, you are the one who gives him the power to continue on."_

Kairi looked around at that, recognizing the mysterious voice that ran most of this test in an instant when it had spoken, and as she did, she could see everything beginning to fade away in a faint light, including Aqua. While everything else was not really something she was concerned about, it was seeing Aqua vanish that made her worried. "Wait! Master Aqua," Kairi called out. "Don't leave! We need you!"

Aqua just laughed a little as she vanished, before she said, "You know, you don't have to be so formal with me, Kairi. I told you before when we last met you can just call me Aqua."

"When we last…so I have met you before," Kairi asked, feeling like this was a huge clue to the part of her past she can't remember.

"Yes, back on your home world when you were just a little girl. You and I both met King Mickey when he helped me to save you from some dangerous monsters, and you gave me flowers as thanks," Aqua revealed. "Even back then, I just knew somehow that I didn't run into you by accident. Don't worry; we'll see each other again soon enough. I promise. For now, do what you can to help your friend, and make sure he always keeps his light burning strong, and that he keeps his promise to me as well."

Even though the blunette was nearly gone from her sights, Kairi still smiled at where she had been standing, and gave Aqua a quick nod in reply, hoping that Aqua saw said action before she disappeared from her view as well. A moment later, Kairi could feel a new energy surging through her, but she paid it little attention because she could also sense that the connection she used to talk to Sora was now wide open once again. With that feeling now back, Kairi took a deep breath and shouted as loudly as she could, "Sora, you lazy bum, wake up! The others need you now!"

* * *

Sora did not know how long he was unconscious for, but he did know that it was not until he heard Kairi screaming in his head that he finally woke up with a start. Thankfully, he was not too shocked by the sudden bit of shouting in his head that he was unable to roll out of the way of another stray blast of poisonous gas, but that did not mean he was not still a little surprised that Kairi was suddenly speaking to him again. More than that, he somehow felt reenergized, like something had taken away all of his weariness and exhaustion and replaced it with boundless energy, and somehow, he just knew that Kairi had a hand in that. He just could not figure out how at the moment. _"Kairi? Why haven't you…what were…"_ Sora started to ask.

 _"I'll explain later. The others need you right now,"_ Kairi interrupted, and just like that, Sora could suddenly feel an influx of energy flowing through him. Combine that with the fact that the world seemed to be slowing down around him once again, and Sora knew exactly what was coming next: another new Shotlock.

At once, all concerns and questions left Sora's mind, as he simply grinned excitedly while letting his Keyblade direct his aim over the Parasite Cage until he was sure it was at full power. A moment later, the energy that was building up was released, and started flowing both around his body and his Keyblade, forming a long energy sword around his Keyblade, and Sora instantly charged forward, shocking Ventus and Goofy a little as he passed. When he had gotten close enough, he immediately unleashed a series of fast, powerful slashes that seemed to cut through the Heartless boss like a knife through butter, all while rushing past it over and over again, much like he would whenever he was using Sonic Blade to attack, only it seemed that the aura of light that surrounded him was dealing a bit of glancing damage as well whenever he passed close enough to the Heartless. A moment later, Sora back flipped away from the Heartless, drew his Keyblade back, and then charged at the Parasite Cage, thrusting his Keyblade forward when he was within reach of the beast. After he had past it, the Parasite Cage suddenly became racked with several explosions of powerful light magic, which did not cease until Sora stood upright again, and swung his sword down. The minute he did, almost as if it were on command, a massive burst of light exploded outward from the Parasite Cage, signaling the end of Sora's attack.

Sora then grinned back to where his target had been, and asked, "So tough guy, how do you like my new Radiant Blade Shotlock?"

You would think that the only answer Sora would receive was silence, but instead, when the smoke cleared, everyone could see that the Parasite Cage was still alive. The only difference was that it appeared to be heavily damaged, right to the point where it was barely able to move all that much, let alone attack right, and that was all the opening that Ventus needed. Moving quickly, Ventus raced up to the Heartless boss, and then dropped back into a stance while his Keyblade seemed to charge with energy as he declared, "Well if you didn't get enough from that, then how about I give you a little taste of Salvation."

A second later, a massive explosion of light seemed to be released from Ven's entire being, and continued to expand outward as he spun around, releasing several columns of light all at once. Getting hit by one powerful, light-based attack was one thing, but two consecutive ones was more than any typical Heartless or Heartless boss could take, and the Parasite Cage was certainly not very special among Heartless bosses, so when it was struck by Ventus' attack, it immediately disintegrated in a blast of smoke, releasing a crystal heart afterwards, even as Ven's attack came to an end, with him raising his Keyblade into the air as a final signal to its end. Seeing their enemy was defeated, Goofy immediately went over to get Donald back on his feet while Ventus prepared to ask Sora what had just happened, and how he seemed to get reenergized so quickly, not knowing that his apprentice was about to try and start questioning Kairi on what had happened to her and what she just did to him again. Out of all of those things though, only Goofy was able to accomplish his task right away, because the whole chamber suddenly started shaking around them, while odd slime seemed to begin spewing out of random points on the walls, making them all wonder what was going on now.

They found out soon enough, thanks to their small chronicler, because Jiminy had come running in at just that moment, shouting as loudly as he could in an attempt to get their attention. "Hey everybody! We've gotta get outta here, now," Jiminy shouted. "Pinocchio and Geppetto started a fire to make Monstro sneeze them out, and from what it looks like, it seems all of your fighting has given him a really upset stomach. This may be our only chance to escape."

Apparently, Donald had woken up right when Jiminy had said that last sentence, because he wasted no time in jumping to his feet again and screaming out one simple command that no one was arguing with right that second. "RUN!"

"There's no time! We'll never make it back up to the ship before Monstro blows," Ventus informed them, and he quickly whipped out his communicator to contact the ship. "Chip, Dale, if the teleporters are working, then get us all out of here, on the double!"

 _"Roger that,"_ the chipmunks squeaked in response, and Ventus was about to lead everyone out of the whale's stomach so that they would be able to teleport to the ship more smoothly when he noticed that Sora was not following them.

"Sora, we've gotta go," Ventus called out.

"No, not yet. Not without Riku," Sora shouted. Clearly he had not realized yet that Riku was already long gone by now. "Riku! Riku, where are you?!"

 _"Sora, it's too late! Riku's already gone, and if you don't leave now, you won't ever be able to find him again,"_ Kairi shouted in his head, beating Ventus to the punch on informing Sora of that without the blonde knowing it.

Sora could not say anything in response to anyone after hearing that, and he then hesitantly turned to rush after the others so they could get back to the ship, feeling the tingling sensation of the gummi ship's teleporter working its magic as he did. That did not keep him from wondering what had happened to Riku while they had been fighting, though.

* * *

Somewhere far away from where the four adventurers were, aboard the pirate ship of Captain Hook, Riku was standing solemnly over the apparently lifeless form of Kairi, feeling a great swell of sorrow at seeing her in the state she was currently in. Ever since he had been brought to her, Riku had tried everything he could think of to wake her up, but so far, nothing had worked. It was not until he had come across Monstro and sensed Pinocchio inside of the whale that he felt he had gained some form of breakthrough on how to help Kairi, but of course, Sora and his new pals just had to go and get in his way. Sure, he might have been a little hasty and extreme in his actions, and maybe they did have a point in saying that Kairi would not have wanted others to get hurt just so she could be saved, but that did not mean he believed he was entirely in the wrong. Despite what Sora had said before he had to retreat, he still believed he was the only one doing anything to save Kairi while Sora was off playing around with Master Ventus. Now, he had lost what could have been his best lead, and he was reduced to his last option, and it was one that he was not too fond of having to use, even if she had done a lot to help him so far, as she kept pointing out to him whenever the chance arose.

After taking a deep breath, Riku finally posed his question to Maleficent, his eyes not leaving Kairi's still form as she continued to rest in a deep, sleep-like state. "So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?"

"Precisely," Maleficent confirmed with a slightly smug smile on her face.

"And her heart was…" Riku started to ask, but he found himself unable to bring himself to finish his question.

Maleficent on the other hand had no qualms in filling in the blank for him. "Taken by the Heartless, no doubt."

This statement was what finally drove Riku to pry his eyes away from Kairi and face Maleficent, his expression desperate and pleading as he begged, "Tell me! What can I do?"

Maleficent merely grinned for a moment, and had to restrain herself from starting the answer by saying that she thought he would never ask, because she knew that would give her away in an instant. "There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call them the Princesses of Heart," the evil fairy explained. "Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart."

Riku thought about all of this for a minute. It seemed simple enough: all he had to do was find the last Princess of Heart for Maleficent, since he knew she already had the other six, and then use their power to reach the heart of all worlds, which would grant him the answer on how to get Kairi's heart back from the Heartless. It all made sense in his head, but he still was not quite sure what Maleficent wanted this place for. Surely, she would not just seek this place out for the fun of it, and Riku did not think she was one to pursue such things for selfless reasons like he was. Okay, so maybe he was also doing it because he wanted to rub it in Sora's face later, but the rest of his reasons were still selfless. Either way, whatever Maleficent's reasons were no longer mattered to Riku so long as he got Kairi's heart back, so he did not hesitate to give a nod of agreement to show that he would do what she was asking of him.

Maleficent was ecstatic to see that Riku was so willing to cooperate, so she decided to finalize his inclusion into her little circle of allies, a fact she informed Riku of right away. "Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift: the power to control the Heartless," Maleficent decreed, spreading her arms wide as she cast a spell that would do exactly what she said she would be doing.

All at once, Riku's vision briefly went black, but it quickly passed, and when he looked down, he could see a green aura surrounding his body, while the dark energies he had been using up until now seemed to surge in a way that it had not before. Normally, one probably would have panicked a little, but Riku on the other hand did no such thing. Instead, he actually felt incredibly calm, almost as if the feeling of this darkness coursing through him veins was soothing every part of his very being. Sure, there was a slight tinge of pain in some parts of him, but it was so small that he barely even registered it, and even if he had, he would doubtlessly have muscled through the pain just to show that he could handle this new power, and he was going to handle it. Up until now, he had always been followed by the Heartless so that Maleficent and the others could keep a close eye on him, while one of them commanded the dark creatures. Being granted the ability to control the Heartless on his own at last gave Riku a great feeling of relief, and made him feel as though he had finally proven himself trustworthy to Maleficent and her cause. Not that he really cared about it that much, because right now, the only thing he did care about was resting in a bed behind him.

"Soon, Kairi. Soon," Riku promised the girl with a reassuring look to her, not knowing that Maleficent was smirking at his back the entire time he did, almost as though she knew some deeper, darker secret about all of this that Riku did not.

* * *

Deep in interspace, Monstro was swimming along until a large cloud of smoke started seeping through the edges of his mouth, while his stomach started churning violently. At first the whale seemed to ignore it, but eventually, it became too much for the vicious mammal, and he let out a powerful sneeze that sent everything inside his mouth flying out at near lightspeed. Two objects in particular went sailing away from Monstro, and while one of them continued flying onwards even after it was well out of sight, the other eventually came to a stop once its passengers were sure that they were far enough away from Monstro. As they glanced out the viewport of the gummi ship in the direction of the other object, the others could not help but feel a little worried about the passengers that had been aboard the other ship.

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay," Goofy commented, worriedly.

"Yeah, hopefully they landed safely somewhere," Donald agreed.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Ventus reassured them. "From what Chip and Dale told me, the gummi blocks they had applied to Geppetto's ship should allow them to fly straight to Traverse Town with little to no problems. I'll bet that they'll have landed there and set themselves up nicely by the next time we go back to resupply."

Goofy and Donald thought that over for a little bit until they both smiled in agreement with Ven, but their moods soon became sad once more when they remembered something else. Upon doing so, Donald immediately turned to another friend and asked, "But are you sure you're okay with leaving Pinocchio on his own like that, Jiminy? You are his conscience after all."

Jiminy did not answer right away, but instead just remained silent as he continued staring after where Geppetto's ship had disappeared. There had not been enough time for the team to get the little cricket back to the father and son before Monstro had blown his top, so they ended up bringing him back aboard the _Kingdom_ with the rest of them. Naturally, they were all concerned about what Jiminy would have wanted to do once he had met Pinocchio again, but if they were being honest, they had been okay with the idea that Jiminy would leave them to be with the little puppet instead of continuing the journey with them. They did not think that Jiminy would lose his chance to stay with Pinocchio as quickly as it had came back to him, and it did seem to bother him a little bit.

After another few minutes of silence, Jiminy finally sighed and said, "I don't mind being left behind as long as they're both safe, but…well, I can't help but think that Pinocchio doesn't need me anymore."

"What do you mean," Goofy asked.

"That little puppet used to have so much trouble telling right from wrong, but he's come a long way since then. I'll bet he's now well on his way to becoming a real boy for sure, so maybe he doesn't need Jiminy Cricket anymore. Seems like he's got a conscience of his very own, so why would he really need me around now," Jiminy explained, his expression nothing short of sad despite how happy he was to see that his friend was so close to achieving his dream.

They all understood what Jiminy was getting at. He and Pinocchio had been together for so long that Jiminy had never really thought about what he would do when the day came when Pinocchio did become a real boy. It had been his job to be Pinocchio's conscience ever since they had met, and sure, they had become really good friends, but Jiminy was not entirely sure if Pinocchio would really feel like he needed Jiminy after he got what he and Geppetto had both been wishing for. It all made the others feel a little bad for Jiminy, and all of their hearts went out to him, but Ventus was not going to let Jiminy go and think something like that.

"Come on, don't go and say that," the blonde told Jiminy, earning a curious look from the little cricket in response. "You saw how happy they were to see you again after so long, right? Well, that just shows that they'll always need you around. Maybe not as a conscience, but definitely as a friend. I'll bet that Pinocchio's already eagerly counting the days until he sees you again."

That brought a smile to Jiminy's face, showing that he was feeling a little better now, and he then said, "You know, you just might be right. Thanks Ven, but don't think I'm going to leave you fellas any time soon. After all, I promised to chronicle your journey every step of the way, and I can't do that if I leave you all just to be with Pinocchio again. After all, we're all friends too."

Everyone nodded in thanks to Jiminy for that, but at the mention of friends, they all found their gazes turning to Sora. He was the only one who had not been watching as Geppetto's ship disappeared into the distance, but instead, just simply remained in his seat ever since they had gotten back onto the ship, quietly sulking about what had happened between him and Riku. He had failed to get through to his friend, and now, there was no telling what had happened to Riku. Had he really escaped, and if so, how did he do it? With more dark magic? Sora did not want to think about it too much, because the more he did, the sadder he felt. The other three all wanted to try and help Sora with this, but none of them were entirely sure how. Ventus had an idea on it, but he was not entirely sure just how much help telling Sora the rest of Terra's story would really help, considering what had happened to Terra in the end. Besides that, despite how much Ventus wanted Sora to learn to not be so overconfident in their mission, he did not want the kid to learn just how bad such ideas were like this.

There was still one person who knew how to help Sora though, and she did not hesitate to get to work. _"Come on, Sora. You can't just give up,"_ Kairi encouraged him. _"Don't forget, Riku doesn't know the full story of what's going on here, and it's not like you ever got the chance to really tell him before something else came up. I'll bet we can still reach him if we keep trying."_

 _"I don't know Kairi,"_ Sora mentally replied while he let out a soft sigh. _"Riku had…he's changed so much since we saw him. He was acting like he didn't even care what happened to Pinocchio or us if we didn't help him. It was like he had turned into something…scary."_

 _"Well then, you're just going to have to work harder,"_ Kairi encouraged, but it did not seem to do much good. Kairi decided it was time to switch to the bigger guns, and asked, _"Sora, do you remember that woman you and Riku met when you were little? The one with blue hair?"_

 _"Huh? Well…kind of. Wait, how'd you know about that,"_ Sora questioned.

Kairi did not answer that, but instead pressed on with her point. _"If you remember her, then I'm sure you remember what you promised her too, right?"_ Even if it was only a few seconds of pause, Kairi still did not hesitate to fill in the blanks when Sora just remained silent. _"You promised her that if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost, or he starts wandering down a dark path alone, you would make sure to stay with him and keep him safe, because that's your job as his best friend. I know you can still help him so long as you remember that promise you made to Aqua."_

At that point, it all came rushing back to Sora. That day on the islands, the person Kairi was talking about, and how he had indeed made such a promise. By the time he had remembered all of this, Sora could feel himself regaining some of his lost confidence, and he was definitely showing that he was starting to feel a little better, much to their others' relief. They all had a pretty good idea why Sora suddenly appeared to be cheering up like that. That still left one thing unanswered for Sora, and he had to ask right now. _"Wait, how did you know that the woman was Master Aqua? More to the point, how'd you know about any of that at all?"_

 _"I saw the memory earlier while you were passed out. And…And I met Aqua as well. In a dream, or rather…in a Dive to the Heart,"_ Kairi answered.

"WHAT?! You had a Dive to the Heart," Sora exclaimed, this time out loud, startling all of the others both from his exclamation and how he had jumped up out of his seat so suddenly.

"Who had a Dive to the Heart, Sora," Ventus asked.

"Kairi did! That's why she wasn't answering me while we were inside Monstro, she was having her own dive," Sora explained. "And get this: she said that she met Master Aqua while it was happening too!"

"What?! Are you sure," Ventus asked. "Are you absolutely sure it was not just an illusion that was created by the test."

 _"It wasn't. She was there with me, guiding me through certain parts of the test as it went on, and even spoke to me after I had answered the last of those three questions,"_ Kairi replied, with Sora relaying it all to Ventus on her behalf. _"She was there. I'm sure of it."_

Ventus could hardly believe it. All of these years of searching, and not once had he, Mickey, or anyone else they had gone to for help found any indication that Aqua was still okay despite being trapped in the Realm of Darkness, until now. The shock of it was so unreal that Ventus was not only speechless, but he had to sit down as well, and it showed when he practically fell back into the pilot's seat of the bridge, a relieved, joyous smile taking over his face. "She's okay," Ventus whispered to himself as his eyes started to water with tears of joy. "By the worlds…She really is still okay, and she's still fighting to get back home."

This was great news to be certain, but there was also something else to consider as well, and as much as he hated to bring it up, Goofy still felt the need to do so, and asked, "Hey, uh, if Master Aqua is close to finding a way out, then does that mean that other things could be just as close to finding a way out of the Realm of Darkness too?"

All at once, everyone sobered up at that thought, because they knew Goofy was right. If Aqua really was able to break through the wall between the realms to do what Kairi said she did, then that meant that other, much more dangerous things could be getting through much more often and rapidly than they had been up until now. It was already a struggle to deal with the Heartless in general, but if even the smallest crack were to open up, then the powers from the Realm of Darkness would no doubt make fighting the Heartless even more difficult than before. They could not allow that to happen, and from the looks on the adventurers' faces, they had no intention of letting it, no matter what happened or who they had to face off with. To emphasize this point, Donald took charge and stood tall as he declared, "Then we've got to make sure, that until she does get out, nothing bad happens to the other worlds. So let's hurry to the next world so we can seal its Keyhole."

"Yeah, and maybe if we're lucky, we'll find a clue about the king, Riku, Kairi's body, or even how we can bring Master Aqua back sooner without anything bad happening," Sora agreed, and with that, everyone was jumping back into their seats, with Ventus gunning the engines to maximum thrust, all of them ready for whatever the next world may bring with new determination burning in their hearts.

Despite how great their determination was though, Ventus still felt that Sora was not quite getting the lesson he thought the kid had learned after their last encounter with Riku. He did not want to cause the boy any undue stress or anything, but at the same time, Ventus knew that Sora had to learn sooner or later that they could not win every battle, both figurative and literal. That was why when he looked to the ship's scanner and saw what the computer was predicting the next world to be, Ventus had to grin a little, because he had a very strong feeling that this next world would definitely help Sora learn that lesson better than any other world out there. He just had to hope that he could convince the necessary people to go along with the plan he was already starting to form in his head when they got there.

* * *

 **Ventus' Journal Entry 5**

 **I still can't believe it. I feel like we were so close, and yet it seems that it was all for nothing. It had been coming close to a year since the start of my first journey through the worlds, and while my training has been steadily progressing, with Mickey constantly praising how well I've been doing almost every other day now, our efforts to find Aqua and bring her home have hit a very serious roadblock. It turned out that Ansem the Wise's research might have brought about a very serious problem. So serious, that it likely would have affected not just the safety of Radiant Garden, but the stability of all the worlds if we had continued with it, and not in a good way. I had seen just how true this could be first hand when Mickey and I traveled to a world I had visited before to train in secret, Enchanted Dominion, only to find it nearly overrun with Heartless. Mickey and I had to fight for our lives just to escape from there, and after taking a moment to recuperate back at the castle, we immediately went to meet with Ansem to inform him of this. After reaching all of these conclusions, Ansem decided that it was best to shut down all of his research on the matter, both current and future. Sure, it left Xehanort and some of his other apprentices upset, and I wish that we could have kept going, but I know that Aqua would not want us risking all of the worlds just for her sake.**

 **The bad news doesn't stop there though, because a few months later, while I was stargazing, I saw Radiant Garden's star become much fainter in the night sky, almost to the point where it had gone out completely. It had not reached that point, but considering how faint its light now is, especially in comparison to how brightly in shined in the sky until now, I have to wonder if that's really a good thing. Either way, I know for a fact that it likely means that the world was struck by a powerful darkness. I didn't bring it up to Mickey the next time we talked because I was sure that it was probably nothing too serious, and if there was something to worry about, he would tell me, but still, it's taking a lot for me to not throw on my armor and fly out there to see what happened for myself. After all, I've got friends on Radiant Garden who probably need my help. Still, I know that whatever's going on, I'm not strong enough to help right now. The fact that Mickey and I were too late to save Enchanted Dominion, Dwarf Woodlands, and even Castle of Dreams from suddenly falling to darkness in little more than three months since Radiant Garden's star had grown faint just proves that fact even more for me. For now, I guess all I can do is hope that nothing else happens that would bring danger to the worlds, and that any other research we do in trying to find a way to save Aqua doesn't lead to something worse.**

* * *

 ** _AN: So wow! A lot of stuff happened in a short span of time. We learned how Ventus reacted after Ansem the Wise ended his research, and after Radiant Garden first seemed to fall in the latest journal entry, Sora's learned a new Shotlock (once again, this is an original ability like the first one, so nobody get on me later on when Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out and Sora doesn't have any abilities like it), and we also covered a few other details as well._**

 ** _First off, let's mention that one little paragraph where Ventus taught Sora the High Jump ability._**

 ** _Donald: And by paragraph, you mean small last portion of a paragraph._**

 ** _AN: Shut it! Ahem, anyway, I did not go into much detail on that, yes, but I did throw it in because I wanted you guys to see how I get abilities like that to work here. It's a simple, light application of magic. Think of it like how in Naruto, they use chakra to walk on the sides of buildings or on water, or how they'll use it to do things like enhancing strength, speed, and other senses, if you need a better idea on that. While we're on the subject, I'm sure you've all noticed by now how I'm having Ventus teach Sora a little bit about special attacks and how they work. Honestly, I just had to do something to explain those, because otherwise, we'd just be seeing them use nothing but basic attacks, Shotlocks, or Command Styles all the time, and we all know that there are other abilities to the Keyblade besides those, like Strike Raid for example, or Ars Arcanum. We'll see Ventus teaching Sora a little more about tricks like that come next chapter._**

 ** _Kairi: How about we mention some of the really big things now?_**

 ** _AN: Fine, fine. We've covered the small stuff, so we might as well get onto the big stuff. Kairi's referring to how even after hearing Terra's story, Riku still won't listen to Ven's warning. Honestly, yeah, this was going to happen at some point: Ventus telling Riku about what had happened to Terra I mean, even if it was just a little bit, but considering the path Riku's on right now, it should come as no surprise that he's too unwilling to listen. Like with Sora and Ventus, Riku and Terra are just way too similar for their own good, and as you may recall, Terra wasn't too willing to listen to his friends when they were trying to reach him in an attempt to help him out._**

 _ **Moving on to what I'm sure all of you will consider the biggest point of all this is the matter of what we saw in the conclusion of Kairi's Dive to the Heart. For those of you who haven't already figured it out yet, yes, the world where Kairi was questioned was indeed Radiant Garden, back in the age of BBS. Kairi may not be able to remember her homeworld, but that doesn't mean the memories aren't buried somewhere deep down inside of her. Oh, and for those of you who can't figure out who the second, unnamed woman that appeared during said questions is, I'll save you the trouble now. That was in fact the future version of Kairi as she appeared during the events of Keyblades of Future Past. I know what you're thinking. "Whoa, wait a minute! Why is Kairi seeing her future self in this thing?" Well, if you are thinking that, I'm guessing you didn't read Keyblades of Future Past, otherwise, you'd know why Kairi saw this future version of herself. I don't want to spoil too much for anyone who skipped that story and came right to this one, but considering that time travel is involved in that one, I'm sure you can figure it out on your own from there.**_

 _ **While on the subject of people who appeared in Kairi's dive, let's get onto the matter of Aqua and Kairi's final test. In case it wasn't obvious, the Heartless that were mentioned to have fought Kairi were indeed Neoshadows, and they appeared because, well, she's a Princess of Heart, and she's going to have to face really strong and powerful forces of darkness, with or without a Keyblade, so why wouldn't she have to fight a tougher opponent? Moving on from that small detail, yes, I know it might not be fair to make Sora fight the Darkside while Kairi did not, but as Aqua had said, a different test was needed here since Kairi was a Princess of Heart, and she's able to defeat darkness even without a Keyblade. In addition to that, Aqua's appearance in Kairi's dive draws a little inspiration from how Mickey appeared to aid Riku during his little trip through Castle Oblivion, so there's your reason as to why Aqua appeared before Kairi in a transparent form when she appeared for the final test. As for the test itself, it just made sense to have Kairi tested like that. As had been stated, even the purest of heart can make a selfish decision, or really any decision for the wrong reasons, so having Kairi decide between saving a friend or losing all form of magic that she possessed which made her immune to darkness seemed like the perfect way to see just how far Kairi was willing to go for others, especially when it came to those she cared about.**_

 _ **Xion: Seems kinda like something out of Star Wars to me. You know, like how Luke Skywalker left his training with Yoda to save his friends in Episode V?**_

 _ **AN: Well, that's kind of the angle I was going for there, or at least, that's what I was thinking about when I came up with the scenario. Don't worry, this won't be the last time we see Aqua, but the next time she appears won't be for a while. It will most likely be after the first trip to Hollow Bastion has concluded, if you need a time frame for that. For now though, you'll have to just enjoy where we end up next. Where is that, you ask? Well, if you didn't get enough of a clue from that last paragraph of the main story, move Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _The team's journey leads them to a world that seems to be almost entirely under water, and while that is concerning at first, a little magic from both Donald and Ventus ensures that none of them end up drowning. What they don't expect is that said magic makes them turn part fish as a result, or that they would end up getting lessons on how to move about in their new forms from a worrywart crab, a nervous fish, and a curious mermaid. Add in some Heartless that are clearly meant for work in the deep sea, and a king who's also a very overprotective father, and the four adventurers may just be in for quite the ride this time around. Dive down under the sea for more fun, next time._**

 ** _Yep, you heard it hear. We're going under da sea next time, so until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	14. Under Da Sea

**_AN: Hey you guys! Who's ready for more Kingdom Hearts fanfiction action from yours truly?!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _All right! So, welcome to 2018, everyone, the year where it seems we will finally, at long last, after all this time, see the release we've all been waiting for: Kingdom Hearts 3!_**

 ** _[roaring audience applause]_**

 ** _I know, right?! And let's not forget what else we're getting this year! Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, just to name a couple of things...Oh, yes. 2018 is certainly filled with a lot of promise, at least for the entertainment industry._**

 ** _Riku: What about Deadpool 2?_**

 ** _AN: ...I said it had a lot of promise, not a complete guarantee. In case you forgot, I do not like Deadpool. At all._**

 ** _Sora: Kinda hard to forget considering how often you blast him out of here, or have anyone in any of your stories do it. Then again, I can't say I blame you that much. Deadpool might be funny at times, but he's not really what I would call hero material._**

 ** _AN: Thank you, Sora. Glad someone agrees with me on that. Now, let's move it along with the story, but before we go under da sea, let's answer a few reviews real quick. It has been a couple months since the last update, so we've got a fair amount to go through._**

 ** _Kairi: Well, where do we start?_**

 ** _AN: Hmm...How about with this one here, from "Dragon Rider 66"? No, the idea that there was going to be something involved between Sora, Kairi, and Ariel if only because the two girls are redheads isn't too weird, but that doesn't really factor into the big reasons as to why in this story. Oh, and don't worry. I'm going to try and make sure I don't leave you guys waiting too long until we get to the chapter where we see Aqua again. As for that parody suggestion, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to pull that off._**

 ** _Moving right along to regular reviewer, "ronin warriors fanatic", I will admit that did have a bit of an influence on how it played out, but Aang's training for the avatar state also draws quite a few similarities from The Empire Strikes Back as well. Though I can understand how you would be able to see more of the former in there than the latter. Glad you enjoyed everything else that had happened in there too, and that I'm still doing great at making sure it all remains so epic._**

 ** _Roxas: Well don't sound too boastful or anything._**

 ** _AN: Really man? You're back again?_**

 ** _Roxas: You say that like it should really be a surprise at this point._**

 ** _AN:...Okay, you have me there. My next answer is to "TrimusicaDrag00n90", no, they did not get any new summons while they were inside Monstro, and the only summon they got from Agrabah was Genie's, but you will see some summoning action this chapter._**

 ** _Running right along with another regular reviewer, not just for this story, but for many of my stories, "Monkey D. Conan", I feel ya on what you're saying in regards to missed opportunities for Sora and Riku to have a heart-to-heart, but really, I think that would be more true in the case of the DDD moment that you mentioned. I too feel like the guys should've had a sit down to air out any grievances or ill feelings that might have come about from Riku being the one getting the Mark of Mastery instead of Sora, or even both of them. Even so, Sora did get sucked into a dangerous trap that caused him to lose a lot of his powers (which does work as a good explanation as to how he could possibly start from the ground up again in KH3, I guess), and you do have to keep in mind that after so much success like the kind that Sora has had over the course of the last few games, it makes sense that he would be overconfident enough to fall into a trap like that regardless of any signs there might've been, so I guess that kinda balances things out...Yeah, I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that. Either way, I do agree that the two did need a little bit more closure than we saw. Maybe they got it off-screen, or maybe the creators just have it so that the characters are that simple by nature. As for the rest of your questions, you'll find out the answers today, except in the case of which new worlds we'll be seeing next. I'm keeping those secret until the time is right. Also, I'm afraid that neither Marvel or Star Wars will appearing in this story as a new world, but they will be appearing in the sequel in said case, which is actually why Spidey and a Star Wars character are appearing here as summons._**

 ** _Next up is "WaywardWind27", or Windy as he told us to him. Glad you find the story so great, dude, and I'm happy to hear that you read Keyblades of Future Past as well in order to fully understand all the stuff here that relates back to that story. To answer your question about Roxas looking like Ven, the reason for that is because while Ven is still around, the heart he currently has is one that he received from a Future-Sora, namely the one who went back in time to help save the future in Keyblades of Future Past, while Present-Day-Sora still has Ven's fractured heart inside of him. That will actually come into play for something else later on in the sequel, so I won't say anymore than that for now. Here's hoping you continue to enjoy the epic that is unfolding here._**

 ** _As for all the rest of you who are new reviewers or saying things like "Update soon", glad you're enjoying the story so much, and as of now...Wish granted!_**

 ** _Genie: Hey! I thought granting wishes was my thing._**

 ** _AN: Just a figure of speech, Genie. Now, cue disclaimer!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XIII**

"Breathe in…and out. Feel the air flowing through your lungs, and the small subtle breeze that blows around you," Ventus softly instructed as he and Sora both sat on the floor in their usual meditative positions. After realizing that their journey to the next world on the map was going to take a few more hours to a day or two at the least, Ventus decided that it was high time he finally started teaching Sora some wind magic. The kid definitely had the magic reserves for at least one of the easier wind spells by now, and it would definitely help if Sora did not have to rely on either him or Donald to cast such spells in order to help him and the others all the time, so Ven figured what better time than now? Besides, considering their next destination, Ventus had a feeling that having so much as one more new spell in his arsenal was going to be a big help to Sora, and he was past due to learn one anyways.

The problem was that, given his current level of magical ability, the only wind spell that Sora could learn right now was the defensive version of Aero, but then again, that same spell could often come in quite handy, and defensive magic like that had often saved Ventus and his friends quite a few times both while they were on missions or when they were just sparring. Of course, like with the other spells, Ventus needed Sora to get a feel for the element he was trying to harness with his magic, and while that was a lot more difficult with some of the other, more advanced spells like Gravity, Magnet, or Stop, wind magic was still one of the more difficult spells to get a feel for. Ventus never really noticed himself since this particular elemental magic came to him so naturally, but he did remember both Aqua and Master Eraqus telling him that others would have a hard time learning wind magic because it involved getting a more noticeable feel for something that they felt everyday without even thinking about it. Sora did not seem to be having that problem so far though, from what Ven could tell, but that idea was quickly cast aside when Sora let out a tired sigh after a few seconds.

"Don't try to force or rush things, Sora. You need to let it happen," Ventus cautioned, but he had a feeling that this was not entirely case. He could not blame the kid, given what had happened while they were all trapped inside of Monstro, but at the same time, he was never going to be able to teach Sora anything new if the kid was too distracted by all of his other problems to focus.

Sora just sighed again and then went on to confirm what Ventus believed had been on the kid's mind. "I just can't stop thinking about the last time we saw Riku, or how he was using dark magic. I know you said he's probably only doing so because he thinks that he doesn't have another option, but I'm not so sure if that's entirely the case, given how he was acting and the things he said."

"Just give it time, Sora, and have faith in your friend. The minute you start thinking badly of him will be the moment when hope starts dwindling for him," Ventus advised, having gone through similar circumstances with Terra. He then paused for a minute before he asked, "That's not the only thing on your mind though, is it?"

"No," Sora admitted, letting his arms droop lazily, feeling like he was not going to get anywhere with learning Aero at this rate. "I just can't help but think about something else that Riku had said while we were chasing after him and Pinocchio. That I only seemed interested in running around with you and showing off my Keyblade. I know we've done a lot of good, saved a few worlds, and made a lot of new friends, or in your case reunited with some old friends…"

"Just two old friends, so far, and you've met up with some of your other friends from your island too, you know," Ventus pointed out with a smile, hoping that would cheer Sora up from this depressing mood he was falling into.

Sora's lips did turn upwards a little at that, but not quite enough for Ventus, and he was slipping into a neutral frown once again as he continued. "Either way, can I really say that I've done all that much to help out, lately? Or that I've even made any progress on finding Kairi's body, or figuring out a way to return her heart to it?"

Ventus was not sure how to answer that, because truthfully, they had not made any real progress on the two goals Sora had mentioned at all. Sure, they had saved a few worlds and secured them from the Heartless, but their main objectives were still hanging by threads as it is. Add in the fact that they were the only thing keeping the last Princess of Heart safe, in a manner of speaking at least, and Ventus did not entirely trust himself to give Sora some kind of pep talk right now. Thankfully, he did not have to give a response right away, because someone else was already listening in and ready to give a response of her own.

 _"What're you getting all depressed for? You do remember that this boat runs on happy faces, right,"_ Kairi asked from inside of Sora's heart. She had decided to start paying a little more attention to Sora's lessons with Ventus now since she had completed her own Dive to the Heart, so it came as no surprise that she was so quick to respond to what Sora was saying. _"Besides, you were just telling me the other day that nothing could stop us right now. Sure, you haven't made much progress in the bigger picture, but you're still doing a lot of good out there in the worlds, Sora. And I know you're going to find my body and a way to get me back into it."_

Sora appreciated the vote of confidence his crush was giving him, but he still not entirely sure. Thankfully, Ventus was now able to give a response to the kid's question. "Sora, just because we're not able to succeed in one field, doesn't mean we've failed completely. We're doing a lot of good by securing the Keyholes and destroying the Heartless as they appear, so take some strength from that if nothing else. We may not be able to win every fight, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying to."

Hearing his master's words, Sora found he could only nod in response, even if he did not entirely understand. Yes, he knew that it was always important to keep trying, but as far as he could remember, they had in fact won every single fight that they had gotten into since they all started journeying together. They would not even be having this conversation right now if they had not won all those fights, so why was Ventus implying that they were not winning all of them? Maybe the blonde was being metaphorical in an attempt to teach Sora something, but the kid was not one to really understand metaphors so easily. After all, Sora did wear his heart on his sleeve, and he also preferred the direct approach in everything, so it was only natural he would not catch onto Ven's meaning so quickly.

Ventus must have understood this, because he did not say another word on the matter after Sora had nodded in reply. Instead, he just returned to the lesson at hand, deciding to leave the life lesson for when they arrived on the next world. "Now, back to what we were doing. Do you think you've got a feel for the wind element, yet?"

"I think so, or at least I'm getting close," Sora nodded as he resumed his meditative stance.

"Good, then focus on that feeling, because once you've gotten a hold on it, we're going to be moving onto learning the defensive version of Aero, which is considered the easier version of the spell," Ventus encouraged.

Sora dropped his focus for a minute so he could cast a confused look to the blonde, because he just had to ask this question. "Why the defensive version? And what's the difference between defensive spells and offensive ones anyway?"

"You mean besides the obvious," Ventus lightly teased, earning a small grin from Sora in reply, along with a playful slap attempt that the blonde easily dodged. After letting out the laughs that had ensued, Ventus dove into the explanation right away. "Well, with offensive magic, you're usually just projecting the spell outwards in one or any direction, like how you shoot a fireball in whatever direction you're aiming the Keyblade when you cast Fire or Fira, while casting Thunder just rains down a shower of lightning bolts on the surrounding area from above."

"Okay," Sora nodded, fully understanding what Ventus was talking about this time.

"Defensive magic, on the other hand, is a much different story, because in order to properly use it, you can't just project the spell outwards. You need to shape it as well," Ventus continued.

"Shape it?"

"Yep. When you want to use a spell's defensive form, you need to be able to form a specific shape around you when you cast, the most common being a sphere of some kind. Take the defensive version of Aero for example: when you cast Aero Shield, it forms a swirling sphere of wind around you or whoever the target of your spell is. The key to fully casting Aero Shield is to figure out the best way to form that sphere around you. Some will picture themselves in the eye of a hurricane or the center of a tornado while the sphere itself is the surrounding winds, while others will just think of the actual thing. Whatever works best for you is what you need to figure out, but only after you finally get a feel for the element in question."

"So are there other kinds of defensive spells, like for the ones I've learned so far," Sora asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is," Ventus confirmed. "There's a defensive version of both fire and lightning spells, Fire Ring and Thunder Roll, but those are both still a bit too far out of your wheelhouse for the moment, since they are both very advanced forms of magic that you're not ready for yet."

Sora nodded in reply and then allowed Ventus to return them to their original goal for the lesson: getting a feel for the wind element of magic. After that point, the only real sound was Ventus' coaching, until Sora finally found what he was supposed to be looking for. Ven was quite pleased to say that the kid even did so much more quickly than most people were said to have. It was not quite as fast as Ventus himself had gained a hold on the feeling of wind magic, but it was still impressive how Sora was able to learn how to feel the element in just a day, give or take an hour. When they moved on to the actual spell, Sora found himself facing a little more difficulty than before. Oh it was not that he had a problem with just the basic casting, but it was forming the Aero Shield spell that he had a hard time with. Whenever Sora attempted a cast, he would summon a bit of wind around him, but it would only last for a few seconds, and it took on a very odd shape sometimes before it just faded out or exploded in a small whirlwind that left a few things in Ven's room scattered about. Thankfully, that was the worst that could happen when practicing this particular magic, so Ventus had no problem with it, especially considering that practicing with any of the other spells in Sora's arsenal would likely cause some serious damage to the ship. Still, it was obviously going to take some time for Sora to get a basic handle on this bit of magic, but Ventus was still confident that his apprentice could pull it off eventually.

By the time the team had reached their destination though, Ven's confidence in Sora's ability to learn Aero Shield was starting to waver a little, because the kid had made very little progress in the time since he had finally gotten a feel for the wind element. The good news was that Sora was able to actually form a shield around him or Ventus, but the bad news was that it was not quite at the level where you could say it was entirely effective. Sure, he could create a sphere of wind around either of them, but the wind in the shield was sporadic and had a few gaps in there that allowed for a good number of attacks to get through as opposed to being completely encompassing like it was supposed to be. In addition to that, the shield could not remain active for a very long period of time, and would eventually just disperse after its time limit was up. Thankfully, they were able to figure out the maximum time limit that Sora's shield could last, but the fact that he could only cast an Aero Shield that lasted for five minutes at best was not very encouraging. After all, most of their more serious fights certainly did not end that quickly, and Ventus had a feeling that the fights they would likely get into on this next world were going to last a bit longer than they usually did when battling with the normal Heartless, so they made it a point to try and get it better for the remainder of their trip.

Unfortunately, the only thing the two could accomplish by the time Donald had announced their arrival was closing up a few of the gaps in the shield, and while it was not perfect, it was still good enough for the moment in Ventus' eyes to say that Sora could probably use it while they were on this next world, so long as he only used it when absolutely necessary. Sora understood these conditions and agreed with them, but he made a note to try and improve on the spell whenever he could while they were here. He had a feeling that having some more defensive magic in his pocket was going to be a big help here, and considering this spell was the only one he had in that area at the moment, it made it imperative that he get it to perfection as quickly as possible. He still put it on the backburner for now, because when he and Ventus came onto the bridge, Sora found something very concerning in regards to their latest destination.

Looking down upon the world, Sora would admit that it was quite beautiful, and saw that it possessed a number of caves and trenches that would be ideal for any explorer worth their salt. Add in the extravagant castle that seemed to rest in the center of this world, and Sora was getting all the more excited about visiting this place. The only problem was that his excitement was easily dwindled by one small factor that he could see being a problem for them all: a good majority of if not the entire world appeared to be underwater, and since none of the team of four were part fish, last Sora checked, that was only going to mean one thing when they attempted to land down there, and he was not too fond of it.

Apparently, that did not seem to bother the others, because they just smiled in relief that they had finally arrived like they always would after an uneventful flight, and after he had parked the ship, Donald jumped out of his seat and declared, "Okay, guys. Prepare for landing on Atlantica."

"Land where? In the sea? In case you guys forgot, we can't breathe underwater! We'll drown the minute we get through the teleportation," Sora exclaimed.

"Not with my magic, we won't," Donald confidently boasted. "Just leave it to me, and I'll have changed us all into forms that will let us get around down there without any problems, and blend in with the locals perfectly."

Donald immediately whipped out his staff and waved it around at himself, Goofy, and Sora, but just as he was turning to Ventus, the blonde waved him off in polite refusal, saying, "I'm good, Donald. My armor and clothes have enchantments in them that will allow me to be able to change without any extra assistance."

"If you're sure," Donald shrugged as he stepped over to the teleporter, with the others close behind him. As they all began to vanish from the ship, Sora could feel a slight tingling sensation coming over him that was different from the ones he felt during previous trips through the ship's teleporter. A minute later, he began to lose feeling in his legs before a new, strange feeling suddenly flew into the lower half of his body right as they all disappeared, making him a little worried about what he would find out when they reappeared on this new world.

* * *

When the teleportation finally completed, the four friends all found themselves tumbling in various directions, only to stop in mid-air, or at least it would have been mid-air if they were not currently underwater. Sora was naturally relieved to find that he was indeed able to breathe properly, despite being underwater, but what came as a shock to him was how his body had changed as a result of Donald's magic. Looking down at himself, Sora saw that his clothes had all disappeared, leaving his bare arms and chest exposed for the world to see, but what was more shocking was that his legs had been replaced by a long tail that was similar to that of a blue dolphin. Looking over his shoulder allowed Sora to see that he even had a dorsal fin resting just below his waist. Seeing this change immediately caused Sora to turn to his friends, and he instantly saw that Ventus had taken on a similar change to him, except that he did not have a dorsal fin and his tail was a steel blue color, similar to the armor he wore on his shoulder. In addition to that, Ventus also seemed to wear emerald armor over his torso that appeared to be made of coral or some other similar material, with his silver badge resting in the center, being held in place by his usual pair of criss-crossing black straps, while his arms were left bare. When he looked over at Donald and Goofy, Sora was surprised to see that the lower half of Donald's body had been replaced by a set of octopus legs, with his upper body being left bare, and Goofy had turned into a large sea turtle, yet still somehow managed to keep his hat on his head. Seeing all of this immediately made Sora reassess the order of strange things he had seen since this journey started, because all of this definitely ranked somewhere close to the top. Not that he was complaining too much.

"Whoa. This is just…whoa," was all that Sora could think of to say.

 _"My thoughts exactly,"_ Kairi admitted, her voice sounding a little dreamy to Sora when she spoke. A minute later, Kairi's voice became a bit more nervous as she asked, _"Wait, did you just hear me say that?"_

 _"Yeah. Yeah I did. Why,"_ Sora admitted, curious as to why Kairi was talking like that to begin with.

 _"Uh…no reason,"_ Kairi quickly stammered, but Sora could somehow tell that she was blushing right now, and somehow, he felt like Kairi's heart had started beating a little faster inside of his own. When he started to think that Kairi might have been taking in the view of his bare chest somehow, and enjoying it, Sora's face gained a bit of a blush as well, which did not go unnoticed by Ventus, if his amused smirk was anything to go by, but he put aside any teasing for the matter later. They still had a job to do.

"All right, let's get to work on finding the Heartless and sealing the Keyhole, guys," Ventus ordered, and he immediately tried to move forward in an attempt to lead the way. "Tried" being the keyword, since he did not really seem to move very far or very fast, and from the looks of things, the other three were not having all that much luck either, because they were just swimming around in circles or barely able to go up or down. Sora appeared to be having better luck than the rest of them, which came as no surprise since the kid did come from an island world where he probably did a great deal of swimming before, but he was still having trouble trying to adjust to having a fin instead of legs to swim around, so it was clear that they had to get a handle on moving around in these new forms before they could do anything. Somehow though, Ventus knew it was not going to be that easy unless they got some extra help.

Miraculously, it looked like they were going to get some extra help after all, because they all immediately heard something moving through the water towards them, followed by a bright, cheerful sounding voice that clearly belonged to a girl. "Come on, Sebastian," the woman called out.

"Ariel, wait! Slow down! Don't leave me behind," another, much deeper sounding, accented voice shouted out a second later, and the adventurers were all immediately turning towards the trench that lead out of their current location to see who was coming their way. They easily spotted a small, red hermit crab struggling to keep up with the two ahead of him, one of which was actually a small, round yellow fish with blue stripes and fins, but it was the third person who made them all stop and stare for a minute. The third individual in question, who was also obviously the person who they had heard speaking first was actually a beautiful mermaid with a sea-green tail, a slender figure, and long, bright red hair that almost seemed bigger than the rest of her body, but they chalked that up to the fact they were all currently underwater, while the only thing she seemed to wear was a brassiere made out of purple seashells. When she finally came close enough, they all caught a glimpse of her bright blue eyes and full red lips, and since all four of the adventurers were guys, you could understand why they were all still staring in awe when she had finally reached them.

The hermit crab, on the other hand, had a different reaction to the sight of them, because as soon as he had gotten right up to Donald's face, who was currently hanging upside down with his arms crossed, the little guy let out a frightened scream and scrambled away as fast as he could, with the yellow fish following shortly behind him, much to the redheaded mermaid's amusement. "Oh relax, Sebastian," she giggled. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?"

"I don't know. There's something weird about them," the little fish whispered to her.

"You know we can hear you, right," Ventus pointed out with his arms crossed, while Sora just nervously chuckled.

Flounder had the decency to look sheepish at the blonde's remark, while the mermaid of the three just smiled in response before taking to swimming around the group, studying them with a curious eye as she did. "Well to be fair, you do seem…a little different than most people around here," the redhead admitted, and they could all tell that she was not saying that to be offensive, while still being incredibly curious. "Where are you from?"

"Uhhh…" Sora started to say, before Ventus elbowed him in the side to help the kid get his head out of the clouds. "We're from kind of far away, and we're not really used to these waters," Sora stuttered with a nervous chuckle, barely noticing a small growl escaping from Kairi as he did.

Ventus just rolled his eyes at the boy a little, even though he could not really fault the kid for acting like any other teenage boy would in the presence of a girl like this mermaid before them, and decided to help the kid out a little in selling their cover story. "We also don't know anyone around here, so we're a bit hesitant to ask around for help."

"Oh, I see," the mermaid giggled in understanding, easily buying into the story. "In that case…Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

"Ariel, King Triton will not like this," the hermit crab immediately protested, leading the redhead he was addressing to roll her eyes in exasperated response.

"Oh, don't worry," Ariel reassured the worrying crab with a small sigh.

"Easy for you to say," Sebastian groaned in response, but he still went on to try and teach the four how to properly swim in their new forms.

"Thanks for the help," Ventus said. "By the way, my name's Ventus, but you can just call me Ven, and this is Donald, Goofy, and my apprentice, Sora."

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Ariel, and this little guppy is my best friend, Flounder. And the worry-wart over there is Sebastian, my father's right hand crab, and one of the best music composers in the entire ocean," the mermaid introduced herself and her friends. "Now, I'll just move over here so that Sebastian can start his lessons."

With introductions and all other formalities out of the way, the four took to learning everything they could about moving around in their new forms from Sebastian, and it came as no surprise to Ventus that Sora and Donald both learned a lot more quickly than he and Goofy did. Like it had been mentioned before, Sora was from an island world, so it made sense he would be so quick to learn, and Ventus knew full well that Donald's iconic sailor ensemble was not just something he wore for show, because the magician had been doing quite a bit of sailing back in the day, both with Goofy and the king, and with his rich, adventuring uncle. Still, that did nothing to help lessen Ventus's hatred of how difficult it was to move around like this, and somehow, he just knew that this was likely going to affect his fighting style more than he would have liked. Sure, that really applied to all of them in many different ways, but considering that his own fighting style relied heavily on speed and moving fast, Ventus just knew that he would probably be the one who would be the most affected until he finally got used to moving around in this merman form.

Despite whatever difficulties that they encountered, it did not take too much time before they were all able to move casually around almost as easily as they would in their normal forms, and some of them even seemed to be doing as well as an actual denizen of this big blue world. You could tell this just from how Sora would often spin and flip through the water like he had been living on Atlantica his entire life, and from the corner of his eye, he could tell that Ariel had noticed as well, because she was just beaming at him whenever he successfully pulled some fancy little trick that the others would stumble over when they tried it. Sora honestly did enjoy getting such praise, but for some reason that he could not fathom, he could still hear Kairi grumbling about it inside of his heart. When his long-time friend suddenly growled a little in response to hearing Ariel cheering at his latest trick, Sora finally decided that he should at least ask her about it.

 _"Is everything okay, Kairi,"_ Sora mentally questioned.

 _"Yeah, sure. Everything's fine, and you're obviously getting real cozy with your new form and new friend,"_ Kairi replied in a short, clipped tone that barely hid her current feelings.

Sora would have called her out on that attitude had Sebastian not announced that they were going to move on to self-defense in their lessons. At least that had been the plan until Ariel suddenly shouted a warning that drew their attention over to where they and Flounder had just come from. Coming from just around the bend appeared to be a number of odd-looking jellyfish with orange, small tentacles dangling beneath them, with larger bright yellow ones in the front, and a reddish-brown iridescent heads which were hidden behind an emblem that the four adventurers were all quite familiar with: the emblem of the Heartless. When Ariel suddenly swam away into cover with Flounder right behind her, the four instantly realized that these must have been the ones that she had been talking about earlier when she said that they did not appear to be who she and her friends were trying to get away from, and it looked like Sebastian finally realized this as well, because he was soon swimming after the mermaid and her fish friend as fast as he could while telling them, "Class is over. Good luck!"

"Thanks," Donald grumbled while summoning his staff, just as the others were summoning out their own weapons, all realizing that they were going to have to learn how to fight in their new forms on the fly. Donald's first instinct of course was to prepare to zap these Heartless away with a Thunder spell, but just before he could finish calling out the name, he suddenly got tackled by Ventus as the blonde shouted for him to stop. "Hey, why'd you do that?"

"Really? We're all currently _underwater_ , and you're asking me why I stopped you from using a _lightning_ -based spell? You do know what would likely happen if you did that right," Ventus asked, rhetorically.

Donald could see Ventus's point. Even if it was magic lightning, there was still a very real chance that using such magic underwater would kill them all in an instant, so that meant that he and the others would have to fight without using one of their main spells. It was not too much of a concern for Donald, being a royal magician and all, but Sora on the other hand did have some concerns. Not being able to use lightning-based magic meant that he would also be unable to use the Thunderbolt Command Style, and that was probably not going to be a good thing right now. Still, he could not let that get him down, so he joined the other three in charging into battle right away. While Sora did not normally fight underwater back on the islands, he did still play a friendly game of Blitzball or two with Wakka and Tidus on occasion, so he did have a few tricks to spin out for this fight, and it looked like the others were quickly figuring out a few tricks of their own as the fight went on, especially since Goofy quickly figured out how to use his shield with his new flippers after a few failed attempts.

The only thing that really threw them all off was the fact that they now had to keep an eye out for enemies in literally all directions, since they now had to worry about an opponent trying to strike at them from below a lot more often. Ventus was able to adapt fairly quickly, having dealt with similar circumstances sometimes when he was traveling on his Keyblade Glider, but Donald and Goofy had to work at it a little more since they were so used to fighting someone on land. Thankfully, there were not too many Heartless to deal with, and the battle was ended fairly quickly, but if you were to ask Ventus, it ended a little too quickly for his liking. Despite the circumstances, it would also have been a perfect opportunity to find out if he and Sora could use Command Styles or Shotlocks in these forms, but since the fight was so short and had so few enemies, they never really had the chance to use either one of those abilities. Still, it was probably for the best, because the middle of a fight was not the best place to find out you were unable to use some of your best moves.

Once they had cleared the area of the last Heartless, they quickly told Ariel and her friends that the coast was clear so they could come out. "I'm guessing that you were trying to get away from them before you ran into us, right," Ventus asked Ariel once she and the other two had rejoined them in the open waters.

"Yeah. Those creatures had been chasing us for a little while now, and it looks like they chased us all the way here," Ariel nodded, tiredly.

"Oh no! Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too," Sebastian suddenly exclaimed in a panic.

"We'd better head back right away," Ariel agreed.

"But, wh-what if we run into more on our way back," Flounder asked.

"Don't worry. You can just leave that to us," Sora promised, getting surprised looks from the other three. "Fighting the Heartless is something that we've become real pros at."

"I wouldn't have put it as boastfully as Sora, but he is right. We do deal with the Heartless enough to say that we can handle them pretty easily, even if we are a little out of our usual waters," Ventus admitted. "You just lead the way to the palace, and we'll follow after you, keeping the monsters at bay."

"Thanks, and if you get lost, the trident markers on the walls will be able to point you in the direction of the palace," Ariel informed them, indicating one such golden marker on the nearby wall when she did.

The four immediately nodded in thanks for that heads-up, and they quickly ventured out towards the undersea palace as fast as they could. The team let Ariel and her friends swim a little ways ahead of them though so that they could talk to Jiminy about the Heartless they just fought. When they did turn to him though, they saw that the little cricket had remained the same as he always was, save for the fact that he was now wearing scuba gear. When asked why that was the case, Jiminy just shrugged and muttered about how he was glad that he made sure his journal would be water proof for just such an occasion as this while flipping through his journal for notes on the Heartless that they just fought. Eventually, he had to inform them that he did not have any notes on the ones that they had just fought, which likely meant that these Heartless were either new ones, or were unique to this world and or others like it, just like some of the ones that they had encountered back on Deep Jungle and Llama Empire.

A narrowing of his eyes immediately let everyone know that Ventus suspected they would be running into more Heartless that they would not be likely to find on any other world, so they all made sure to keep their guard up as they swam out of the trench and into open water with Ariel and the others. As they went though, they could hear Jiminy quickly making a new note on these jellyfish Heartless, naming them Sea Neons, while muttering about how he was going to be making a lot more similar notes while they were here, and hearing that made them all realize just how deeply they had already dived down into trouble after just getting here. They just had to hope they could swim through it before they were completely sunk.

* * *

Getting to the palace probably would have gone a lot faster if it were not for the encounters that the group had with the Heartless. Everywhere they turned they seemed to be encountering the dark creatures, and so far, the only ones that they met which the four adventurers were familiar with were the Search Ghosts, because all the others were new and clearly meant for underwater missions and combat. In addition to the Sea Neons, they also encountered Heartless that held a resemblance to divers, with deep sea and dark green colors, each carrying a blue trident, which Jiminy dubbed as Screwdivers in reference to how their preferred attack style appeared to be spinning, charging attacks and how they seemed to give off the appearance of wearing a diving suit. Dealing with all these different Heartless certainly made things a challenge for the group, but not to the point where they could not handle things at all. More than that, Ventus and Sora did finally discover whether or not they could use some of their other abilities while on this world, but it turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.

While they found out that they could in fact use Command Styles and Shotlocks, they also found out that they could not use certain other abilities like Sonic Blade. Sure, they could still perform abilities like the various forms of Strike Raid, but when it came to anything that had a charging nature to it like that one rush ability, they found it inaccessible. Even the various versions of Strike Raid were not as easily used since they seemed to be much slower than normal, no doubt due to the fact that they were trying to throw their Keyblades while underwater, so they figured it would be better to not bother with it for now, which meant it would be harder for them to use some of the Command Styles, or at least some of Ven's personal ones like Fever Pitch. Even then, using that particular set of Keyblade abilities had a limitation, not just because they were being cautious and avoiding the use of any lightning-based magic, but also because all of their fire magic seemed to be weaker than normal. It was not that surprising, given what one would expect to happen with fire that was underwater, but it was still disheartening to know that the only Command Style they could use most effectively was Diamond Dust and some of Ven's personal Command Styles, assuming he was able to access them. All-in-all, they were going to be having a much more difficult time than usual whenever they got into a fight while they were here on Atlantica.

It was partly due to these new limitations that the team was unable to shake off all of the Heartless by the time they had reached the palace, and why they were swimming as fast as they could to get some distance between them and the Screwdivers that were currently behind them before they could turn and effectively fight them. They may not have stopped them from getting into the palace, but they would be damned if they allowed them any further than they already had gone. Just when the two Keyblade wielders were about to turn and fight though, Ariel shouted for them to move out of the way, and they just barely avoided getting zapped into oblivion along with their pursuers by the skin of their teeth. Although they did note that the blast had a distinctive lightning-like appearance to it, so they had to assume that likely meant it was probably okay to use magic lightning while on this world. That did not mean they were going to try it carelessly though, and certainly not here and now, because it could still likely cause trouble for everyone who lived in the palace, and they did need to say thanks to their rescuer.

"That was too close," a deep voice sighed in relief, drawing a smile onto Ariel's face before she swam into the throne room with the others. When they all came to a stop before a raised throne, they looked up to see a very buff-looking merman with a long white beard, gold gauntlets, and a gold crown, holding a large trident across his lap, while holding a stern expression on his face. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace," the large merman decreed.

"Daddy," Ariel gasped happily, surprising the four off-worlders when she did. If their hunch was right, and this large merman was the one in charge, then that would mean that Ariel was likely a princess, and she definitely did not strike them as the royalty type.

"Oh, Ariel! When will you listen? It's dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside," the king scolded, instantly wiping the smile off Ariel's face and replacing it with a sheepish, slightly ashamed one. The sheepish look quickly disappeared though as she was soon rolling her eyes again, indicating that she had heard this all before, and was a little sick of it. Even so, her dad did not appear as though he would just drop the matter, at least until his eyes found the four individuals he did not recognize, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy both had to flinch a little at the suspicious glare he was settling on them.

Sebastian was quick to ease everyone out of the tension in the water by swimming up to the side of the throne and clearing his throat so that he could properly announce, "Behold! You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton!"

With the crab's declaration, Ventus finally remembered his manners and quickly gave a quick bow, while motioning for Sora and the others to do the same, at least as best as they could, while he said, "Your lordship. Thank you for the timely rescue just now."

Triton seemed to be a little impressed with Ven's show of respect, if the small nod was any indication, before he asked, "And who are you?"

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel immediately replied, hoping that she could get her new friends some more favor from her father.

The sea king took that in while studying before he finally mused, "They don't look familiar."

"We're from an ocean very far away," Sora immediately explained, remembering the cover story that Ventus had spun up for them earlier when they first met Ariel, hoping that they could keep things simple and still remain in the king's favor.

That plan went a little ways out the window when Goofy revealed, "Yup. We came to find the Keyhole."

"The what," Triton gasped in shock, a fact that seemed to escape the notice of everyone other than Ventus.

"What's that," Ariel asked.

Before Goofy could say anything, Ventus immediately shoved the knight-turned-sea-turtle aside so that Sora and Donald could clamp his mouth shut, and explained with a nervous chuckle, "You'll have to excuse Goofy. He has a bit of an overactive imagination."

"I should hope so, because there's no such thing, and certainly not here," Triton angrily insisted, a little too harshly one might add, and everyone easily realized this.

"But Daddy," Ariel tried to protest, but she was quickly silence when her father gave her a very stern look.

"Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear," Triton then demanded. Apparently, he had been a little too harsh when he spoke, because Ariel immediately turned and swam away in a huff, with Sora and the others chasing after her, likely hoping to try and cheer her up, while only Sebastian remained behind. After watching his daughter race off in such an upset state, Triton found he could not help but sigh tiredly in a bit of sadness. "Oh, perhaps I'm being too strict," Triton mused. "I'm just concerned for her safety."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Sebastian wholeheartedly agreed, not that he would do otherwise even if he had grounds too. He had been right there with the sea king watching Ariel grow up, so he knew just as well as Triton did that the little mermaid was a very curious girl, and how it would sometimes lead her into trouble. All the same, there was something that was brought up earlier that he could not help but wonder about, and he admitted it too. "But I must admit, now I'm quite curious about this Keyhole that the sea turtle had mentioned."

"That need not concern you, Sebastian," Triton immediately waved off with a warning glare, making it clear that the crab should drop the matter if he knew what was good for him. Besides that, there was something else he needed to ask Sebastian about that he considered far more important at the moment. "Have you anything to report?"

"Just as you suspected, Your Majesty, they seem to be coming from Ursula's grotto," Sebastian moaned in slight despair.

"I knew it," Triton practically roared angrily, dropping all signs of tiredness he was showing just seconds ago. "That sea witch is up to no good again. I see exile from the palace has taught her nothing."

"Yes, she poses serious danger," Sebastian immediately agreed, but he quickly flinched away when he saw his king fix him with a small glare.

"And I told you to keep Ariel _away_ from such danger, did I not," Triton questioned, even though it was clear he was not really intending it as such.

Sebastian was instantly trying to stutter and scramble for any excuse he could think of for his defense, but he was soon putting it on hold when someone suddenly said, "To be fair, Your Majesty, and with all due respect, I somehow doubt that a little crab would be able to do much in keeping your daughter out of trouble. After all, people who are as adventurous and curious as Ariel seems to be are always finding some way to land in trouble no matter how careful they are trying to be, or how safe others are trying to keep them. Trust me, I know because I was very much like her when I was younger."

Turning to the speaker, Triton and Sebastian were both a little surprised to see Ventus swimming back into the room towards them, with a serious look on his face. "I had thought you and your friends had left with Ariel," Triton admitted.

"I told them that I would catch up later, because right now, there's something I need to speak with you about, Your Majesty," Ventus admitted, and his tone served as all the more indication as to how important this matter was.

Seeing how serious Ventus was, and hearing the heaviness of his voice just now, Triton somehow felt that he would be doing a great disservice by not hearing out the blonde before him, and as a result, he actually leaned forward a little bit to hear what the young merman had to say, silently prompting Ventus to begin his tale when he did. When he saw that he had the king's attention, and that Sebastian had used this chance to scurry away in order to look after Ariel like he was supposed to have been, Ventus began by saying, "I supposed the best place to start would be with what you already suspect about myself, my apprentice, and our two friends…"

* * *

After following Ariel out of the throne room, Sora and his two companions soon found themselves following her out of the palace as well, making it clear that she had no intention of listening to her father. Not that any of them could blame her. Even from just that one encounter with him, Sora could easily tell that King Triton was the type to be too overprotective even if his heart was in the right place. Sure, he could understand Triton's desire to keep his daughter safe, mostly because Sora thought all parents should be like that, but from what he saw, it looked like Triton was going a little too far in his efforts in trying to look out for Ariel. The girl obviously wanted to follow her heart, but she could not do that because of how protective her father was. It honestly made Sora feel a little bad for Ariel, and while she would not say that she did not feel the same way, knowing that Sora was able to sympathize with the mermaid so much was honestly making Kairi feel more irritated than anything else.

Sora fully intended to call his friend out on that again, but right now, he needed to focus his attention on keeping an eye on their surroundings. Since Ventus had told him and the other two to go on ahead and stick with Ariel, Sora was the only Keybearer in their group, and he knew that meant most of the defense against the Heartless was now resting on his shoulders alone. That was not to say that he was discrediting Donald and Goofy's skills in battle, because they were certainly effective in a fight against the Heartless, even in their current undersea forms, but even they had admitted that as a wielder of the Keyblade, Sora was the best defense against the creatures of darkness, so Sora knew that he had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility now. Knowing this made Sora a little nervous, since this was the first time he would be doing something like this on his own, but at the same time, he was also kind of excited. In his eyes, this seemed like Ven's way of showing how much his master trusted him to handle things, so Sora was taking it as quite the boost to his confidence and pride. The only downside was that he had a hard time concentrating due to the excited nature that Ariel was giving off after he and the others had managed to cheer her up a little. It just reminded him so much of how he was back before everything with Keyblades and Heartless had started, when traveling to other worlds was just a dream that he and his friends had shared, that Sora could not help but grin a little at Ariel's enthusiasm.

Part of that eagerness might have had something to do with the fact that she had something that she wanted to show the three in her grotto, and she had indicated as such once they had gotten well enough away from the palace before swimming towards said location. Thankfully, they did not encounter any Heartless along the way, so the three gave a silent bit of thanks for that as they watched the mermaid pull aside the boulder that hid the entrance to her little hideaway. When they were all inside, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to let out simple words of awe and surprise at what was inside. Ariel's grotto was a small cave, but it seemed to tower upwards quite a bit, and all along the walls they could see various different items and chests that they could assume Ariel had placed here herself. They even spotted some books, paintings, and old clocks that seemed to be in very good condition despite being underwater for so long, and it all quickly told them that Ariel had a bit of a treasure hunter spirit in her.

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected," Ariel declared proudly with a smile that proved their suspicions true, just as Sora's eyes came to rest on a small crystal that had a trident-shaped indention in it. Still, they all found themselves unprepared for what Ariel said next. "I think it's all from the outside world."

"The outside world," Donald asked in surprise, with Goofy and Sora's expressions matching his own astonished one.

Ariel nodded happily in reply. "I know it seems a little silly to think like that, but I know that there are other worlds out there," the mermaid explained. She then let out a dreamy sigh and said, "Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds so much." She then paused for a minute, realizing that the others might not quite understand her dream that well, and asked, "Does that sound strange?"

"No. Not at all," Sora immediately told her with a smile of his own, showing that he really meant it. "I used to feel the same way."

"Used to," Ariel asked, honestly a bit confused as to how he could have lost that feeling. To her, the desire to see a dream like hers through was not something one could easily discard without actually following through with the dream. Sure, some people have said that she would grow out of the idea of traveling to other worlds, but Ariel thought that meant they had just given up on their own dreams because they never found a way to make them happen, and they were trying to keep her from feeling too disappointed if she ever ended up the same way.

When he realized his blunder though, Sora quickly corrected himself in the hopes of keeping Ariel from getting suspicious of their true origins. "I mean…I still do. It's a dream that my best friends and I have all shared since we were kids."

That seemed to perk Ariel up a little bit, proving that she had not seen through them just yet, and she then went on to let the three tour her grotto full of treasures for a little longer. As they were doing so, Sora found one treasure chest that did not seem to open, or even have a key. Thinking Ariel was not going to mind if he had a small peek inside, Sora immediately gave the chest a small tap with his Keyblade, and when it opened up, he was surprised and slightly confused to find a single piece of paper inside of it. Upon closer inspection though, he noticed that the paper looked like it had been torn free of something, prompting him to pick it up and study it a bit more just as Jiminy swam up to a position just above his shoulder. "Hey, isn't that another one of the missing pages from Merlin's book," Jiminy asked.

"…Yeah, I think so," Sora realized after another minute. He easily spotted several similarities between this page and the one that they had found back in Agrabah, but that did not answer the question of how it had ended up in a locked treasure chest down here in Atlantica, or how it was still in such good condition despite being underwater. Either way, Sora was not complaining too much, as he had Jiminy quickly store the page away for him for the moment, while making a mental note of how they now only had three pages left to find.

Just as Sora and Jiminy were about to look around a little more, Ariel suddenly swamp up to them with a bright smile on her face that Sora knew was similar to the one he had when he felt like he had just come up with a great idea. "Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole your friend was talking about," Ariel suggested.

"What? Uh, why would you want to do that? Ven and your dad said that it didn't exist, remember," Donald pointed out.

"Hey, give me some credit. I know when someone's trying to cover up a big secret, and especially when it's my father," Ariel disputed, making the three adventurers a little more nervous about keeping their cover intact. "Besides, if it's really so important for you to find it, then why not let me help?"

"But your father said…" Sora started to say, only for Ariel to interrupt him part way through with a small huff of annoyance.

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl. He never lets me do anything," Ariel complained, and they could all tell that it really bothered her quite a bit. It became especially apparent when her face fell into a sad look as she finished, "He just…He doesn't understand."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy could certainly sympathize with her a little on that topic, and if what Ariel said was true and not just a case of her being a rebellious teenager, then they probably should not feel too bad about letting her help them out on their quest since it would be a chance for her to follow her heart like she wanted to. Besides, it would help if they had someone else around to guide them in Atlantica while showing them places where the Keyhole could be located, so how could they really say no? What none of them realized, even as they left the grotto was that they were being watched. Both by a very worried Sebastian, and a pair of eels with intentions that were just as evil as their master's.

* * *

Following Ariel turned out to be something of a good idea, considering that they were able to avoid some of the more dangerous areas a lot more easily, but at the same time, it also drew them into at least one of those dangerous areas too. Namely, the area of a sunken ship that a shark had made its hunting ground. Thankfully, said beast did not notice them before they had gotten into said sunken ship, but he certainly took notice while they were in there, and made it a point to try and take a bite out of them. Luckily, Donald managed to discourage the shark from doing so by giving it a hard hit on the nose using his staff, and the shark swam away, allowing them to approach a treasure chest it had inadvertently blocked afterwards without worry.

When they did and found the chest locked, Ariel was quickly thinking that they needed to go and look for the key, but Sora disproved that idea with a simple flourish of Kingdom Key, which he easily used to open the chest, revealing the item inside. What they found was actually much more impressive than the missing page that Sora had found in Ariel's grotto, even if said page was part of a special, magic book. The item in question was actually a shimmering, crystal trident that did not appear to have lost its shine at all in the time it had spent inside of the chest, making Sora, Donald, and Goofy think that it had not actually been in there for all that long. Ariel on the other hand could not help but think about how the crystal looked very familiar to her, until it finally struck her as to why that was. It looked just like that one crystal in her grotto, which meant that this must be a part of that same crystal.

When she told the others this, they all had to admit that they were curious as to what the gem would look like when it was completed, so they instantly plucked the crystal out of the chest and swam back to Ariel's grotto. Their trip back was not without problems though, and not just the shark from before wanting to take another go at them before getting chased off by both Sora and Donald once Goofy had stopped it from chomping down on them using his shell and shield. No, they also had some more Heartless to deal with as well, including a very large one that acted like a carrier for up to three different Screwdivers with a jagged stripe pattern that alternated in purple, white, and navy blue colors. They could also see that the large Heartless also had a lure on its head that had a greenish-yellow tint due to the yellow light on the end, while the Heartless emblem rested on its belly, right below its jagged mouth. This one was a bit more difficult to deal with since it came with Screwdivers that it could deploy at any time and fought a lot like a Large Body, aside from the fact that it would use powerful lightning blasts against them, but thankfully, the trio proved that they could handle it, with Sora finishing it off with a quick burst of the Thunderbolt Command Style, just to add a little insult to injury on the giant Heartless which Jiminy dubbed as Aquatanks.

Heartless related hiccups or otherwise, they still made it back to Ariel's grotto in one piece, and were quickly putting the crystal trident into the stone inside. It turned out to be a perfect fit, and for a moment, Sora could swear that he sensed something happening, like something was about to be unveiled before their eyes. The moment was quickly interrupted though when someone announced their presence to them in a loud, booming, and _very_ angry voice that made them all cringe away a little since they knew that it meant they had just been busted.

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again! I told you not to leave the palace," Triton shouted as he swam into the grotto with Sebastian close behind, looking slightly ashamed of the fact that he had been the one to tell the sea king about this. Before Triton got any further though, he noticed the crystal trident that had just been placed into the gem, and he immediately grew wide-eyed at the sight. The next thing anyone realized, Triton was narrowing his gaze once more, and raised his trident towards the item, leaving no mystery as to what he was intending to do.

"Daddy, no," Ariel pleaded, but it was too late, and Triton quickly destroyed the crystal, leaving the gem now completely void of its presence, and his daughter in tears. "How could you…?"

Ariel did not stick around to hear any explanation from her father, but instead just swam away as fast as she could, leaving Sora and the others unsure if they should go after her or just stay here to give Triton a piece of their minds. Right then, they did not really care if he was king of Atlantica. All that mattered was that he had upset their friend for apparently no real reason. Even Kairi was encouraging Sora to chew the sea king out, and Sora knew that it was a big deal if she was sticking up for Ariel right now. Unfortunately, none of them got the chance, because they soon found that Triton had a few things to say to them right now, or more specifically, to Sora.

"Young man, you're not from another ocean. You're from another world, aren't you," Triton immediately accused, surprising Sora and his friends when he did. Their stunned silence seemed to be all the proof that Triton needed, because he immediately went on to add, "Then you must be a Keybearer."

"How…What makes you think that," Sora asked, trying to salvage whatever he could of this situation.

"Don't bother hiding it, boy. Your master already confirmed my suspicions, and told me everything," Triton revealed, and he moved aside to reveal Ventus slowly swimming into the room with an ashamed look on his face.

"Sorry guys. He…squeezed it out of me," Ventus admitted, doing his best to avoid his friends' gazes. "Besides, he already had a hunch about all of this anyways, so it was probably only a matter of time before he figured it out on his own."

"But…How did you even know," Donald asked, wanting answers from the sea king, despite feeling much smaller at the moment due to how intense Triton's glare was on them right then.

"You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail," Triton angrily revealed, earning a sigh from Sora that acknowledged they could not hide the fact that Triton had just pointed out. Sadly, he was not quite done yet. "As a Keybearer, you must already know, be it because of your master's teaching or even your travels, one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Of course I know that, but…" Sora tried to protest, more than willing to point out what good that they had done since their journey had began, along with everything regarding the Heartless and Maleficent, but Triton was not going to hear anything that Sora would say in his defense.

"You have violated this principle. The Keybearer shatters peace and brings ruin," Triton determined.

"Aw, Sora's not like that, and neither is Ven," Goofy tried to say in his friends' defense.

Triton seemed to listen to that at least a little bit, but apparently, it did little to change his mind, because he only offered one final decree before leaving the grotto. "I thank you for saving my daughter, but there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys."

When Triton finally disappeared from view, Sora could not help but summon his Keyblade in order to gaze down at it in thought. Was Triton right in what he was saying? Sure, Ventus had reassured him earlier that they were doing all that they could to make things better for everyone, but if that was the case, then why did Triton believe otherwise? And not only that, but if they were working to make things better, then they should have been able to do more to help Ariel just now, right? Sora just was not sure anymore, and since his mind was now thinking back to Riku's earlier accusations once more, he found himself becoming all the more confused about how much difference they were making again.

Ventus must have seen this, because he was quickly moving to float beside his apprentice, albeit with some hesitance. There was no doubt that the others were not going to think too fondly of him revealing who they really were to Triton, but he still had a job to do as Sora's teacher. "I know what you're thinking, Sora, but you can't let that get to you," Ventus tried to tell the kid.

"But what if he is right? What if we are just making things worse despite the fact that we're trying to stop the Heartless? Or what if the reason why the Heartless are so bad and getting worse is because we're fighting them and interfering on other worlds," Sora pointed out.

"Didn't we already have this conversation," Ventus asked in a non-serious tone. "Sora, even if that were true, we can't let that stop us from doing what we know is right. Besides that, this is something that you need to really understand if you want to be able to become a Keyblade Master someday. Not everyone is going to be appreciative of our actions, and some will even call us the bad guys simply because they misunderstood our intentions, or even for no real reason at all beyond needing someone to blame for their troubles, but if we let the harsh words of others affect our judgment, then we might as well just throw in the towel now. Understand?"

Sora wanted to say that he did, but he really did not. How could he really help people if they were so determined to not accept his help? It did not really make sense, and it was making his head spin. Despite that though, Ventus could see that the gears in the kid's head were at least turning a little in an attempt to help him understand, so that counted as something in his book. The kid just needed time to really process things, and he had to hope he was able to do so quickly, because there was no telling what this Ursula that Triton had told him about was planning. Add in the fact that she seemed to revel in taking advantage of people who were in the state that Ariel appeared to be in when she ran off, and anyone could see why Ventus was worried about what might happen if they left the poor mermaid alone for too long.

"Just think on it for a little bit. Right now, we should probably check on Ariel, and see if she's okay. She looked like she could use a few friends right now," Ventus suggested.

"Yeah…Okay," Sora agreed, but he paused for a minute when he actually processed when Ven had said. "Wait, shouldn't we leave though? I mean, King Triton made it pretty clear that he doesn't want us here."

"You know it's not that simple, Sora," Ventus reminded the kid. "We still have to find and seal the Keyhole if we want to ensure that this world will be safe from the Heartless, and while Triton did squeeze some information out of me, I was able to get a little bit of info from him as well. It turns out that the Heartless are being led by someone who used to be a friend of the king's: a sea witch named Ursula. No doubt she wants payback for being banished from the palace, and if what I learned about her is any indication, Ariel might be a target for her."

"Then we'd better hurry and go make sure that Ariel's okay, before this Ursula person gets to her," Goofy determined, with Donald nodding along in agreement.

Sora was quite for a minute before he decided, "You're right. Besides, Ariel could definitely use some friends to help cheer her up right now, so let's go and find her."

Everyone gladly agreed with Sora, and they all quickly swam out of the grotto. Well, almost everyone that is. _"You seem awfully eager to go and find your new best friend,"_ Kairi bitterly observed. Sure, she was all for making sure Ariel was okay if there was a chance that she could be Ursula's next target, but that did little to help the ugly feeling that she was getting right now in regards to the little mermaid.

 _"Okay, that's it! What is going on with you, Kairi,"_ Sora demanded, coming to a stop as he did, just to make absolute sure that his full attention was on this matter.

 _"I don't know what you're talking about,"_ Kairi immediately denied, a little too quickly, one might add.

 _"Kairi, I know you better than that. You've been acting really moody ever since we met Ariel, and every time she comes up or even talks to me, you start appearing as though you hate her or something. You never act like that with anyone,"_ Sora laid out for her, making it clear that he was not going to buy that.

Kairi knew that she had been backed into a corner just now, but she was not going to go down without a fight, even if it was just a verbal one (or mental in this case). _"Like you really care. Don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been looking at her ever since you two met, or how you seem to already be forming such a strong friendship with her,"_ Kairi hotly accused.

 _"What? Look, Kairi, I'll admit that Ariel is pretty and we became friends pretty quickly, but I've made friends quickly with other people too, like Aladdin, Jasmine, Alice, Hercules, Cloud, and a whole bunch of people. What's so different about Ariel,"_ Sora questioned.

 _"Well I don't know. Maybe it's the fact you seem to be so set on finding things that you two have in common, or how you're not even having to try that hard to do so,"_ Kairi retorted.

Needless to say, Sora was not enjoying this at all. He never enjoyed arguing with his friends like this, but he especially hated arguing with Kairi, and right now, he really did not need such a distraction on his shoulders. After all, there was a dangerous sea witch out there and Heartless, all of whom could be after their newest friend. Add in the fact that Sora was still trying to figure out what it was that Ven had been trying to tell him earlier, and you could see why the boy just wanted to put an end to this conversation so he could focus for the moment. He just wished that he could do so in a more peaceful way, or at least in a way that did not cause any ill feelings to form between him and Kairi for the moment.

 _"Look, can we…Can we talk about this later? We've still got to stop the Heartless and their supposed leader for this world,"_ Sora reminded his best female friend/crush.

 _"Fine. Go on, do your big hero thing, and then celebrate with your new girlfriend. See if I care,"_ Kairi snapped in response, cutting off any further communication with Sora before he could get a word in on that last comment.

Now Sora was confused on a number of levels. What was Kairi talking about with that last bit? Did she think that he was developing romantic feelings for Ariel or something? Sure, she had a lot in common with him, but that just made her a better friend in his eyes, and besides, he liked to think that he and Kairi had a lot in common too, along with a lot of his other friends as well. He would have pondered the matter a little further had Donald not started calling out for him to hurry up, so he decided to take his own advice and table the matter for now. Kairi would still be in his heart when this was over, and besides, maybe giving her a little space would help her to cool down a bit so that they could approach the subject with calmer heads when it came up again.

* * *

After swimming away from her grotto, friends, and father, Ariel just wanted to be alone in her misery, and finding a place where she could be was no problem for her, so it was not long before she had started crying her eyes out. She never understood why her father was so strict and harsh with her, and now, after what he just did, she honestly felt like he had gone too far. Not that there was anything she could do about it. After all, her father was king of the seas, and even without that, she would never really be able to go against his wishes and follow her heart's desire to see other worlds, but she really felt like she had been much closer than ever this time. Spending time with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Ventus had made her feel like the way to other worlds was within her reach for the first time in a long while, but after that little outburst of her father's, she was no longer sure of anything. All Ariel wanted right then was to be left alone, but her wish was not quite granted, because she ended up with some unexpected company.

A pair of eels suddenly swam around her, sounding almost as though they were mocking her until they revealed that someone might be able to help her, and that someone turned out to be Ursula, the sea witch herself, who instantly appeared before Ariel in a puff of black smoke, almost as though she had been expecting for this to happen. Naturally, Ariel was not so desperate that she was willing to listen to the sea witch, given what she knew of Ursula's reputation, but Ursula had a bit of a silver tongue that just drew her in to whatever promises that she could make.

This was proven all the more true when Ursula revealed that getting Ariel to other worlds was not going to be too hard, but what the mermaid did not expect was for the sea witch to reveal that her newest friends had already done so because they were actually from another world themselves. Hearing this shocked Ariel, and made her feel a little betrayed. How could Sora and the others have kept such a big secret from her, especially after finding out about her dream? If they could go to other worlds, then surely they could have taken her along with them so that she could see those worlds too, right? Ursula already had an answer for that too, because she revealed that they had special help from the strange keys that Sora and Ventus used, and while Ariel was disappointed to hear this, she immediately perked up again when Ursula told her that she had something special as well. When Ariel made it apparent that she had no idea what Ursula was referring to, the sea witch was more than happy to enlighten her.

Ursula explained that the Keyhole that Ariel's new friends were looking for was most likely somewhere in the palace, and all the little mermaid needed to do to reach other worlds was try and find it. Ariel was skeptical about that, since her father had said that the Keyhole was not in the palace, but then again, it was not like her father would not lie to her about something like that because he was being overprotective of her. Still, that did not mean that Ariel knew how to find this Keyhole, or even how to use it in order to reach another world, and when she mentioned as much, Ursula was quick to offer a simple solution: all Ariel needed to do was get Ursula into the palace without her father knowing, and Ursula would help her get to the other worlds that she wished to see. While she was still skeptical of that plan, at this point, Ariel felt like she did not really care. She was tired of always being treated like a little girl and being lied to by the people she trusted, and she wanted to follow her heart to her dream so badly, that she was willing to do whatever it takes at this point, so she readily agreed.

That turned out to be a huge mistake on Ariel's part, because the minute that Ursula was in the palace, she had immediately seized the trident, and used it against Triton, severely wounding him, much to Ariel's horror. "The trident is mine at last, and I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear," Ursula cackled as Ariel quickly rushed to make sure her father was not too injured.

"Ursula, no! I didn't want this," Ariel pleaded, only now realizing how grave a mistake she had made.

"Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders," Ursula asked, clearly mocking the poor girl, while Triton just did his best to glare at Ursula for how she had manipulated his own daughter to use against him. Ursula's smile then became far more cruel as she then remarked, "Oh, yes. We had a deal, didn't we? Time for a little journey…To the dark world of the Heartless!"

Ursula was now fully prepared to unleash the trident's power on both father and daughter, or to leave them to the Heartless, until her faithful eels, Flotsam and Jetsam reported something that made her stop short. "We cannot find the Keyhole. The Keyhole is not here," the two eels said in near perfect sync.

"WHAT," Ursula exclaimed. She had been so sure that the Keyhole would be somewhere in Triton's palace, and yet her two precious eels were telling her it was not? If the Keyhole was not in the palace, then where in the ocean could it be?

Ursula's question was quickly answered by an unexpected source when the four adventurers from another world came swimming into the throne room, with Ventus shouting, "Guess Maleficent didn't tell you. When it comes to the Keyhole of a world, they're never where you would most expect them to be."

The sea witch glared at both master and apprentice, as well as their two companions before she just chuckled and said, "Be that as it may, I'm afraid you're still a little late, handsome. Even without the Keyhole, I still have the trident, and all of its power is now mine to command!"

With that, Ursula enshrouded herself in black smoke and disappeared from the palace, just as Sora was about to take a swing at her with Kingdom Key. The young boy glared at where the sea witch had just been, but he quickly became concerned when he noticed Ventus had paused and raised a hand to his mouth. "Are you okay, Ven," Sora asked.

"I think…I think I just threw up in my mouth a little," Ventus admitted, and you could not blame him. How would you react if someone like Ursula had referred to you as handsome, even as a mocking insult?

They put that aside for now, because the injured King Triton was more important right now, and Donald was immediately setting to work with using some healing magic in order to help. Sora and Ventus were quick to follow in that action as best as they could, but Triton just waved them off, all the while muttering, "The trident…We must get it back…All the ocean is in danger…As long as Ursula has it in her hands."

Realizing that Triton was not going to budge on this matter, Ventus immediately swam up and said, "Sir, you're too injured to do anything right now."

"Ven's right. We'll get the trident back and stop Ursula for you," Sora promised, having already started thinking along the same lines as his master.

"Even after what I said to you before? Why would you still help despite my making it clear that you are not welcome here," Triton asked, honestly surprised by Sora's declaration.

Sora paused for a minute, but he soon found that his answer was actually quite simple. More than that, it was the same thing that Ventus was trying to teach him earlier, and he felt like he was beginning to understand it better. "Because helping people is what we do. Even if others hate us for it, I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I know is right, and that includes helping out those same people despite how they might feel about me."

Triton studied the boy for a minute, as if trying to sense any sort of deceit in him, and when he found none, he sighed in resignation and nodded, before he said, "If you truly intend to face Ursula, then you should know that she draws power from her cauldron. You must strike it with magic if you wish to defeat her."

"Got it," Ventus nodded, and he then turned to his three friends. "Come on, guys. We've got a sea hag to stop and an ocean to save."

"Wait, I'm going with you," Ariel called out, swimming up to the others when she did.

"Are you sure about, Ariel," Sora asked, not wanting Ariel to put herself in anymore danger for their sakes than she already had.

Ariel could appreciate what Sora was trying to do, and while she would admit that she was still a little hurt that he and the others had not told her the truth about where they were from, she was not going to just sit back and let them do this on their own. "Yes, I'm sure," Ariel confidently replied. "My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"

"That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel," Sebastian cheered in agreement, showing that he was going to be coming along too.

Ventus and Sora were not entirely sure just how much help the two could be in this fight, but they would admit that they would probably never make it in time without one or both of them to guide them to wherever Ursula's hideout was, so they really had no choice but to nod in agreement with them, and with that, they all swam off, knowing that Triton was watching them go with worry in his eyes and heart. It was not just for his daughter and friend though, but also for the four brave souls from another world as well, and he was honestly hoping that they would return safely so that he could properly thank them and apologize for how he had treated them from before. Of course, there was also another reason why he was wishing for the group's safe return, but he felt it would be best to keep that a secret for now.

* * *

Getting to Ursula's grotto proved to be a challenge, but not because it was hard to find. Thanks to guidance from both Ariel and Sebastian, the team was able to find her hideout very quickly. No, the part that made it difficult was that in order to get there, they had to battle their way through an army of undersea Heartless, all of which were making it clear that they were not going to get through without a very serious fight. Since he had not been with Sora and the others when they had gone looking for the crystal trident earlier, Ventus was still learning and adapting his fighting style to his merman form, but thankfully, the various battles did help him learn all the more faster. He was just glad that Sora, Donald, and Goofy did not have to worry about that too much, because they seemed to be doing much better than they had been after they first arrived on this world, and Sora proved it by unleashing his Radiant Blade Shotlock on a small group of Aquatanks that were supported by some Search Ghosts, all of which were standing guard outside the large cavern that Ursula made her home. The thing that really concerned some of their group though, was that Ursula's grotto appeared to be inside the skeletal remains of a massive sea creature that none of them could identify, while down on the floor, they also saw a number of strange, shriveled up creatures moaning and gazing upwards in despair. When he saw the creatures, Sebastian immediately revealed that they were most likely some of Ursula's victims who could not pay up on their part of the bargain that they had made with the sea witch. That not only gave them another reason to stop the sea witch, but also made some of them even more creeped out than they already were.

"Hey fellers, how come bad guys always seem to live in really creepy places like this, anyway? Why can't they ever live some place a little nicer," Goofy asked.

"Well, the creepy places probably don't cost all that much, if anything to live in, so there's that for one thing. Plus, if the place is creepy enough, it's likely to keep most people away so that they can plot in peace," Sora suggested with a shrug.

"You really think so," Ariel asked.

"Well it does make sense to me," Sora replied.

"While that may be true, Sora, there is one reason that I think might be a little more likely," Ventus told the kid.

"What's that?"

"Because they crazy," was the simple reply that the blonde gave his apprentice, and everyone had to nod in agreement and consent of that point.

All conversation came to halt when they finally reached the center of Ursula's hideout, and when they saw movement in the shadows, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was the sea witch herself, lying in wait for them. While some of the others were a bit hesitant in challenging Ursula to step into the light, Donald and Sebastian were both feeling much braver at the moment. Braver, or likely still running on adrenaline from the fights that they had been in earlier as well as the anger they felt at the sea witch's earlier manipulations. "Come out! You can't run," Donald shouted.

"Your time has come, Ursula," Sebastian declared in full agreement.

A minute later, all bravado that the two had been showing vanished in an instant when Ursula granted their request, and launched herself into the open with a sneer on her face that could have killed, making both duck and crab scream in fright. They soon had a much better reason to be afraid, because Ursula immediately tossed a potion into her cauldron, and somehow, they could all sense the magic that was moving from it to the sea witch. Ventus and Sora both immediately summoned their Keyblades, while Goofy jumped in front of Donald to block one of the eels from taking a bite out of Donald before batting it away with his shield. Using that new opening, Donald immediately gathered his courage and aimed an ice spell at Ursula's cauldron. The effects were instant, as it released a small wave of energy that seemed to cause Ursula to pause for a minute in her own charge, but she quickly shook it off and swung her tentacles at the two Keybearers. Thankfully, Ventus was able to summon out a Reflect spell just in time to save them, but he was not expecting another one of the two eels to suddenly chomp down on his shoulder from behind.

The eel did not stay on Ven for long though, because it soon let go so it could holler in pain after Sebastian snapped down on its tail with one of his claws. Ariel then swam in to bat it away from her friend with her tail, giving Ventus an opening to start analyzing the battlefield in an attempt to figure out the best strategy for dealing with the sea witch and her two little helpers. The blonde ended up not needing to do so though, because it turned out that Sora had already beaten him to it, and come up with a plan of his own. "Ven, you and Donald focus your attention on the cauldron," the boy called out. "Me and Goofy can handle Ursula while Ariel and Sebastian keep her pets off you guys."

Ventus nodded, glad to see Sora taking charge like that so easily, and immediately turned his attention to the cauldron as the kid suggested. With a plan now in place, the team was able to deal with Ursula much more easily. Sure, Sora and Goofy could not really do all that much against the sea witch, but they did figure out how to keep an eye open for when Ursula was most vulnerable, and that was always following a moment when Ven and Donald's magic attacks caused an explosion of energy to erupt from the cauldron. Meanwhile, the two who were fighting with magic made sure to keep an eye on both the eels and their master, since they knew that none of the others could make absolutely sure that the three enemies would leave them alone, and as such, they were almost always ready to lend a spell or two that kept Ariel and Sebastian out of danger, while leaving Sora and Goofy with less to worry about.

That did not mean that Ursula made it any easier for them, because every time it seemed like the magic in her cauldron was weakening, she made sure to toss another potion into it in order to strengthen its power. To make matters worse, many of the times when she did so, it was usually followed by a small explosion of magic that blasted Ventus and Donald away from the cauldron, while throwing everyone else off-balance and open to attack. Seeing this happen was what gave Sora all the reason he needed to try out his newest spell, and not for himself, but for his friends. So, after closing his eyes to better concentrate on how to shape the sphere of wind that he wanted to create, Sora aimed Kingdom Key towards Ventus, knowing that the next attack was likely going to be aimed at the blonde, and cried out, "Aero Shield!"

When the next explosive wave of magic was released, Ventus was already raising his arms in front of him in order to brace against the impact, but when it came, he was surprised to find it was significantly lessened. This caused Ventus to lower his arms and gaze at his immediate surroundings in awe, only to gaps in shock when he realized that a perfect Aero Shield had been formed around him, and he knew that he had not cast the spell, and last he checked Donald was currently firing ice spell after ice spell on the cauldron, so that could only leave one person. Glancing over to the person in question, Ven's suspicions were confirmed, as he saw Sora aiming his Keyblade towards him, and the blonde could only beam with pride afterwards before cheering, "Sora, you did it! You managed to cast a perfect Aero Shield!"

"Too bad it won't help save you," Ursula remarked, ending the small celebration and revealing that she was about to spin several tentacles into Sora.

Thinking quickly, Sora immediately raised his Keyblade in defense, while summoning up another Aero Shield, this time around himself, and just like before, the sphere of wind that he created was completely perfect with no gaps at all. He still felt a bit of a sting from Ursula's attack, but he knew that was nothing compared to how much injury he would have taken without the shield, so he still had to smile in relief at that. While Ursula just fumed at how stubborn the two Keyblade wielders were being in this fight, Ariel took the opportunity to rush Ursula and slap the sea witch in the face with her tail, before tossing one Ursula's own potions at her and the eels, and unleashing a chilling bit of ice magic as a result, freezing all three in place and giving Sora and Ventus just the chance that they needed.

A quick exchange of nods was all that the two needed before aiming their Keyblades over the three villains, until they both leapt back while glowing with a faint aura of energy, and shouted the names of their attacks in quick succession. "Pulse Bomb," Ven cried out.

"Typhoon Barrage," Sora shouted immediately after, and the two were soon raining down the powers of both Shotlocks on Ursula and her pets, peppering them with exploding energy blasts and mini whirlwinds that sent the three flying. When the two both released the finishers of their respective Shotlocks, it proved to be too much for Flotsam and Jetsam, and the eels both quickly vanished in a puff of black smoke, indicating that they had somehow been formed through the use of dark magic. That did not make Ursula's reaction to the destruction of her pets any less worrisome though, because she went from horrified to viciously angered in a matter of seconds, especially when she saw the heroes swimming up to show that they now had her cornered. Or so they believed.

"You'll pay for this," Ursula promised, and she immediately swam away into the shadows again, no doubt attempting to flee with the trident before they could secure it.

"Come on, after her," Ventus shouted. "We can't let her escape into open water, or we may never get the trident back!"

"Follow me! I know a shortcut," Ariel called out, immediately taking the lead.

"Hold on, Ariel. This might get a lot more dangerous, so you should probably stay back when the fighting starts again," Sora cautioned.

"I already told you that I'm going to help. I can't let you all fight my battles for me," Ariel insisted.

"Who said anything about you not helping," Ventus asked, and from the look on his face, Ariel just knew that the blonde had already cooked up quite the plan.

* * *

In the end, the team was not able to stop Ursula from reaching open water, but fortunately, she did not use that chance to escape, so they were sure that they had her cornered. At least, that was what they were thinking until they saw her brandishing the trident in her hand while it glowed and crackled with power. Clearly the old hag was not going to go down without a fight, and to be quite honest, that was fine with Sora. He had been hoping for a chance to go all out against an opponent ever since they got here. Add in the fact that Ursula had used Ariel for such selfish gain, and Sora was more than happy to take down the sea witch any way that he could, a feeling that was shared by the entire group.

When she saw them coming, Ursula's eyes narrowed into a glare, but she did have to chuckle a little when she shouted, "You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!"

"Well I guess it's a good thing we're here to dethrone you, because any ocean ruled by you has to suck," Ventus quipped in reply as he summoned his Keyblade, with the others summoning out their own weapons in quick succession afterwards.

Ursula just snarled in response before shooting upwards above them as the whole area suddenly became enshrouded in a black mist that seemed to accompany a great deal of Ursula's spells. "The sea and all its spoils bow to my power," Ursula roared as she suddenly began to grow larger and larger, making the team swim upwards and back just so they could make sure they remained close to eye-level with her. "And through its wrath, you will all soon be sent to the dark world of the Heartless!"

When the smoke finally faded, the team turned to see that Ursula was now massive, and was wearing a crown on her head that was very similar to the one that Triton wore, along with a sinister grin that spread from ear to ear. Seeing this new transformation made Donald and Goofy both very nervous, while Ven and Sora could only glare up at the sea witch, proving that they were not about to back down. Still, that did not mean they were not worried. "Gawrsh, how are we gonna beat her now," Goofy asked, slowly moving his shield so that his head was hidden behind it.

"She's not only bigger, but more powerful too as long as she has the trident," Donald agreed as he quickly cast as many Aero Shields as he could on the team, along with any other defensive magic he could think to add in.

"Exactly. As long as she has the trident. We just need to pry that away from her, and we'll be able to take her down without much problems," Ventus pointed out to them, raising his Keyblade so that he was ready to strike. "Besides, like the old saying goes: the bigger they are…"

"The harder they fall," Sora finished, and he punctuated that statement with a blast of Typhoon Bombardment that immediately struck Ursula right in the face.

Apparently, the sea witch found that to be mildly irritating, because she simply shrugged it off before raising an arm upwards while her fingers glowed. The reason why came a moment later when the four found themselves having to swim every which way in order to avoid being struck by several lightning blasts, but that did not stop Donald or Ventus from firing a few spells at Ursula every chance that they had. Goofy then spotted an opening that he could use to get in close, and immediately did so, bashing both his shell and his shield right into Ursula's eye, making her flinch a little when he struck. While she was disoriented, Ventus took the chance to make a charge for her as well, but found himself unprepared for the moment when Ursula suddenly opened her big mouth and started sucking everything into it. As a result, Ven was unable to turn and swim in the opposite direction as fast as the others, and ended up being sucked in, much to the others' horror.

"Eww…Not very tasty," Ursula mocked with a grin, and she quickly prepared to unleash another round of magic on the remaining three.

Fortunately for the team, Ursula's next attack never came, because she was soon lurching forward as if she suddenly had an upset stomach and was about to throw up. This continued until suddenly, an explosion of light erupted from her mouth, knocking a few teeth out, and freeing Ventus, who turned out to be right in the middle of using the Meteor Shower Shotlock in order to escape being swallowed and then digested by the massive-sized sea witch. The blonde Keyblade master then turned around and charged forward once again, this time using the power of his Multivortex Shotlock when he did, and Ursula was quickly assaulted by multiple energy blades, followed shortly after by the star-filled whirlwind that was the finisher for Ven's personal Shotlock. Ventus then swam back from Ursula, peppering her with a couple blasts of Blizzaga, until he sent a quick look in Sora's direction that served as Sora's cue to act.

Working quickly, Sora immediately aimed his Keyblade at Ursula, focusing all of his aim on her, until he had finally charged up all the power he needed for Radiant Blade, and he instantly charged forward. Ursula was barely able to keep up with Sora's fast movements, and therefore was unable to do anything to block the numerous slashes that the boy had unleashed upon her. She was sure that she could stop him with a quick storm of lightning bolts like the one she had used earlier when Sora suddenly stopped, but that proved to be false, because Sora instantly rushed forward while thrusting his Keyblade through her. A second later, Sora appeared behind Ursula, and she found herself getting struck by multiple explosions of light magic that did not cease until Sora swung Kingdom Key downwards. When he looked back at Ursula, Sora honestly wished he could say that he was surprised that she was still upright, but after all that he had experienced on this journey and considering the power that the trident granted someone, he knew that was a wish that was not likely to be granted, so he immediately prepared to fire off a couple shots of ice magic like Ventus had a moment ago.

Sora never got the chance though, because Ursula suddenly took a deep breath, and released a blast of lightning from her mouth that made the four scatter once again, for what little good it really did. Even though he had only ended up being right on the edge of the beam, Donald still found himself being racked with severe pain that almost knocked him out of the fight had Goofy not rushed over to give him a quick potion or two in order to heal his wounds. The only downside was that it also left Goofy open to get hit by another blast of lightning showers from above, and Sora and Ventus were soon doing everything they could to both avoid that same shower while trying to reach their friends in an attempt to use Cure on them. Unfortunately, they were barely able to remain still for more than a few seconds, let alone long enough to cast even the simplest of spells, and at the rate they were going, Sora knew they would not last much longer on their own. That simple thought was what gave him the idea to reach into his belt that he only recently realized he had been wearing and pull out a summon charm, intending to use it to call in some backup.

When Ventus realized this, he immediately panicked a little, and shouted, "Sora, no! We can't use summon charms here! Anyone you call won't be changed like we were and instantly drown!"

"Not if we summon the right person, and I think this guy should be just fine," Sora replied, and he then raised the charm into the air while calling out the name of the person he was sending an SOS out to. "GENIE!"

A moment later, blue smoke filled the water as their big blue friend from Agrabah burst onto the scene, looking as though he had just been taking a shower or something since he had a shower cap on, while a scrub brush and a rubber ducky were in his hands. "Never fails! Ya get in the bath, and there's a rub at the lamp or a ring at the summon charm," Genie groused as he squeaked his ducky real quick with a smile before turning to Sora. "Hello?"

"Hey Genie, we need a hand," Sora greeted with a quick wave.

"You name it, you got it, Sora, my buddy," Genie declared, discarding his bath accessories as he did while taking in Sora's current appearance. "By the way, what's with the merman look?"

"Long story short, we're on a world where we needed to change to different forms both to survive and fit in, and right now, we need to stop Ursula from taking over," Sora explained as quickly as possible, indicating the sea witch at the end. "Any chance you could give us a little magic backup so that we can knock the trident she's holding out of her hands?"

"Are you kidding? That'll be a piece of cake," Genie declared, already spinning up a bit of magic to throw at Ursula.

The next thing Ursula knew, she was being hit by several magic beams along with some magic-filled torpedoes as Genie raced around her, occasionally splitting into two so that he could be himself and change into the submarine that was shooting the torpedoes. She would have shot back, but Donald and Ventus were quick to distract her from doing so by blasting her with a combination of ice and lightning magic, while Sora continued to race around and hit her with regular attacks with Goofy supporting him. At this point, with the added support from Genie, it was all Ursula could do to just raise her arms in a feeble defense, right up to the moment when, finally, one last powerful blast of combined magic from Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Genie caused the sea witch to lose her grip on the trident. Ursula immediately scrambled to retrieve it, but Goofy's thrown shield made her retract her arm before she had reached too far, and Genie and Donald did the same by throwing out some spells in her path as well. Just when she was about to reach for the trident again, she ended up being able to only gasp in shock upon seeing that someone else had gotten their hands on the trident first.

There, a little ways down below Ursula, with the trident now back to normal size and clutched firmly in her hands, was none other than Ariel, who was glaring up at Ursula with as much courage and determination as her two Keyblade wielding friends. Ursula was a little concerned at first, especially since she was clearly having trouble maintaining her gigantic size without the trident's magic, but she shrugged it off and somehow managed to maintain something close to that size as she smirked down at the little mermaid. "Just what do you think you're going to do with that, girl," Ursula asked. "You should really give it to someone who knows how to handle its power before you get somebody hurt."

"I intend to, but it won't be you who receives it, Ursula. After all, this belongs to my father," Ariel immediately retorted, and a second later, she was aiming the trident at Ursula, and unleashing its powerful magic on the sea witch in full.

When the powerful beam of magic struck her, Ursula could only howl in pain as she shrank down, her entire being seeming to course with uncontrollable electricity, until finally, she completely vanished in a plume of smoke and a powerful explosion. When everything cleared up again, the five looked every which way that they could in an attempt to find some trace of the sea witch, only to find absolutely nothing. It was almost as though she had completely evaporated or just simply vanished after Ariel had blasted her. Considering that Ariel was not her father and did not really know how to handle the trident's power, they could reason that the mermaid had unintentionally vaporized Ursula completely, but somehow, Ventus just knew that it was not likely to have been that easy, because villains like Ursula always found a way to survive, especially when others thought they were gone for good just because there was no trace left of them.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all shared the blonde's sentiment, but at the moment they were more excited for Ariel than anything else. "Ariel, you were great," Donald praised once he had swam over to her.

"Yeah! That was a really good shot just now," Goofy agreed with his signature chuckle.

Ariel could only beam in response, even as a small blush formed on her face at the praise, until she finally said, "I guess it was okay, but I think I see why Daddy doesn't want just anyone to get their hands on this thing."

"Because he's the only one who can really handle its power and the responsibility that comes with it," Sora guessed.

"Well yes, there's that, but also because he's the only one I know who would be able to use the trident without being sent flying backwards. It really has a lot of kick behind it," Ariel joked in admittance, earning a round of laughter from everyone.

They all continued to laugh and joke until Ventus pointed out, "Well, I don't think that we can relax just yet. We still have a lot do here before we can more on, and there's still a chance that Ursula might have survived. If she did, she may come back again."

"Then I guess we'll just have to be ready for her," Ariel decided with a firm expression. "For now though, we should get the trident back to where it belongs."

Everyone had to agree with her on that, so after Sora had dismissed Genie, they all immediately turned tail towards the palace, where they knew that Triton would be waiting for them, and the good news that they would be bringing to him.

* * *

It took very little time to get back to King Triton's palace, and they were all happy to say that they did not have to worry about any Heartless on the way back. No doubt this was because of the fact that Ursula had been beaten, and given that the dark creatures acted on an animalistic instinct, it would only make sense that the rest of the pack would disperse once the alpha had been defeated in battle. Even so, it did not make Sora, Donald, Goofy, or Ariel any less nervous being in front of Triton again, because they were all sure that the sea king was going to get angry with them once more. Ventus on the other hand kept up a calm, neutral expression the entire time, giving away no indication of what he was feeling, but they all assumed he was hoping for the best outcome, so they all plucked up their courage and decided to try and have as much faith as the wielder of the Guardian Wind Keyblade seemed to have. That did not mean that Ariel was feeling any less guilty about how her actions had lead to all of this.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry," Ariel immediately said once she had given the trident back to her father.

"Please, don't be angry with her," Sora tried to plead, already forming a case for Ariel's defense in his head. Admittedly, it was one where he would be taking the fall for her, somehow, but he did not want Ariel to bear the brunt of her father's anger alone.

Surprisingly, Triton was not angry at all, but instead, he actually gave them a softer, understanding look that had a touch of remorse in it. "Why would I be angry with Ariel? After all, it's my fault, really," Triton informed them, his tone just as somber as his expression was, even as he directed all of his attention onto his daughter. "You followed Ursula because…I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it."

"Oh, yeah, the crystal! Why did you destroy it," Goofy asked. That had been bothering him for quite a while now, because he was sure that Triton did not do so without a good reason.

"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole," Triton revealed. "The Keyhole is dangerous, and I had to keep others away from it at any cost, especially those who I believed would use it to do harm to this world." Triton then paused for a moment to let that sink in, and he could see that they all appeared to understand where he was coming from in saying that, so he immediately looked to Ventus and Sora and said, "Keybearers, I have one more request of you: Seal the Keyhole. My trident also holds the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?"

"Of course! That's what we had in mind from the start," Sora happily proclaimed.

What came next proved to be shocking for most of the group, because the next thing they knew, Triton was smiling a little more widely as he revealed, "Yes, I know."

"You what," was the shared exclamation of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ariel.

"But…But how did…When did you," Donald stuttered, being the only one who actually could form even that much of a coherent sentence.

This time, Triton sported a full-blown grin when he replied, "Don't you remember? I already told you that your master already told me everything."

When he saw the four turn surprised and slightly suspicious gazes at him, Ventus could no longer keep up his attempts to appear unassuming, and allowed a large, sheepish yet slightly mischievous grin to cross his face. "Okay, so…I may have told a little bit of a tiny fib when I said that he had squeezed it out of me," Ven admitted.

"Then why didn't you tell us? And why did it look like King Triton didn't believe you when he destroyed the crystal," Donald questioned.

"Because I asked him too," Ventus replied, and he immediately dove into his explanation. "I'm sure you already know this, but after you guys left with Ariel earlier, I hung back to speak with His Majesty, and I spent that time telling him our whole story…"

* * *

 _King Triton was silent with wide-eyed shock when Ventus had finished telling him about the mission that the Keyblade master and his friends were on. Truly, the struggles that this young man had gone through up until now were something to be admired, and that was without accounting for the fact that he was having to teach a new student as much as he could and as quickly as possible while it was all happening. Still, what he found more shocking was the idea that Ursula would actually go so far as to align herself with someone like Maleficent. Oh yes, Triton had heard of the Mistress of all Evil; her dark powers and reputation was well known throughout many different worlds, especially since it had long been said that Maleficent was the one who had doomed her own world to eternal darkness. The fact that this young man, his apprentice, and their two friends were willing to face both her and these Heartless while doing what they could to keep the other worlds safe from harm truly showed their true intentions far more than anything else to Triton, and it made his next decision very easy._

 _"It would seem that I was too quick to judge you and your friends, Master Ventus, and if you truly are a student of Mickey's, then I can only offer my deepest apologies, for what they are worth," King Triton began to say._

 _"Wait. Do you mean to say that you know Mickey," Ventus asked._

 _Triton merely chuckled in reply before he said, "I doubt I need to tell you that you and your apprentice are not the first Keyblade wielders to ever come into my ocean. Though I will admit that Mickey is the only one who I actually respect and consider as a friend. That said, allow me to make up for my earlier harsh treatment of you all by showing you just where the Keyhole is. I would much rather have it sealed up before Ursula and these Heartless can get their claws on it."_

 _"Actually, Your Majesty, there's something else I'd like you to help with first. It's in regards to something that I'm trying to teach my apprentice," Ventus revealed._

 _"Oh? And what would that be," Triton asked, now very curious. It was not often that one had a chance to help teach a future Keyblade master after all, let alone by request of said prospect's own master._

 _"You see, there's a specific lesson that I'm trying to teach Sora, but I don't think it's really going to be able to sink in for him unless he has first-hand experience in dealing with the situation involved with it. And if you'll pardon me if I seem to be stepping out of line, given your earlier display to both your daughter, myself, and my friends, I believe you may be the best person to help with that," Ventus explained._

 _"No offense taken," Triton waved off. He was well aware of how harshly he had treated his visitors earlier, and was none too eager for any reminders. "What is it that you would have me do though?"_

 _"I simply ask that you appear as though you would prefer it if we were not welcomed here. Basically act as though you believe that Keyblade wielders are nothing but trouble, and right to the point where it might make Sora question if he's actually helping," Ventus started to explain, while Triton nodded along in understanding, gaining a small smirk of excitement the entire time the blonde spoke._

* * *

"So then, everything that happened back in Ariel's grotto, from destroying the crystal, upsetting Ariel, and basically telling us to get lost was all just an act," Sora asked in disbelief.

"Uh…Not _everything_ ," Ventus sheepishly admitted while rubbing the back of his head in a similar manner. "The plan was simply for King Triton to reveal that he found out our secret and wanted us gone. That whole scene with the crystal and making Ariel swim off in such sadness was definitely not part of the plan. To be honest, I had not really thought about what would happen if Ariel was there to even witness the whole thing or how she would react afterwards, so that was my bad."

"Don't shoulder all the blame onto yourself, Master Ventus. As I said before, I am just as much at fault here. My anger did indeed become much more real when I saw and destroyed the crystal, along with seeing that Ariel had disobeyed me, but I must admit, I do feel like it made the whole thing a little more convincing. If I had known that Ursula would have used it to her advantage though, I would not have gone along with it," Triton admitted.

"But just what was this lesson that Sora needed to learn so badly, anyway," Goofy asked.

"Yeah, what did you make him go through all that for in the first place," Donald added.

Ventus just smirked as he said, "I believe Sora already answered that earlier with what he told King Triton before we left to face Ursula." While everyone gave him a small look of confusion, Ven immediately turned to his apprentice and explained, "Sora, the whole point here was to teach you that there will be times where you will encounter people who will not be thankful of what actions we must take as Keyblade wielders in order to protect the balance between light and darkness. Triton's little stunt may have been…partially an act, but there will be people out there who will hate us for the simple reason that we are Keyblade wielders and will refuse our help no matter how good or noble our intentions are. Despite that though, we can't do any less than what you decided to do here today. Like you said earlier, no matter how people feel about us, we shouldn't let that stop us from doing what we know is right and helping out, because the minute we do, we start proving them right. It doesn't matter what anyone else says, be it our enemies, our friends, or even a random stranger. They don't decide who you are; you do, and not by words alone, but by our choices and the actions we take. Even if an entire world hates us, we can never let that stop us from doing our duty as Keyblade wielders. Or Keyblade wielders who fight for what is truly good and right for the worlds at least."

Sora let all of that sink in for a minute until he finally managed to let a true smile cross his face, and said, "I understand, Ven."

"I know you do. What you told King Triton earlier served as all the proof I needed to show you understood," Ventus informed the kid with a proud, slightly teasing smile, even as he rubbed Sora's spiky head of hair with a chuckle. After getting a couple more laughs out of his apprentice, he then turned to the others and said, "All right, now that the big lesson moment is over, let's go seal up the Keyhole."

"But where is the Keyhole," Ariel asked.

"You should know better than anyone, Ariel. It's in your grotto," King Triton chuckled knowingly.

"Really? Well, let's get going then," Goofy declared.

 _"Why am I not surprised? Everything on this world seems to revolve around her,"_ Kairi groaned, having finally spoken up since her little spat with Sora earlier.

When Sora heard her, he knew that he was not going to be able to put this conversation off any longer, and told his friends, "You guys go on ahead. There's…something I've gotta do first real quick."

While the others gave Sora a confused look, wondering what he could possibly have to do before sealing the Keyhole, Ventus just stared at him knowingly before asking, "Let me guess: you have to gather your thoughts?"

Sora was about to say that was not the case when he saw Ventus throw a subtle wink at him, indicating that the blonde already knew what Sora was going to actually be doing and had given him an easy cover story. "Yeah. I mean, with everything that's happened, I would like a moment to just slow down and process it all."

"Take your time," Ventus reassured him, and the all swam off once Triton had passed his daughter the trident once more, since he was still not quite well enough to reveal the Keyhole himself just yet.

When he was sure that he was alone, Sora took a deep breath and immediately put all of his concentration onto the topic at hand: clearing up this whole misunderstanding between him and Kairi. _"Listen, Kairi…"_

 _"Save it. I get it, Sora,"_ Kairi interrupted. _" You don't like me bad-mouthing your new girlfriend, and I'll admit that Ariel does seem really cool, but how do you think I'm going to react to all of this? Especially since I'm…"_

"Kairi, I don't like Ariel like that! She's just my friend," Sora shouted, feeling like he could not keep it contained in his mind. Once he realized he had shouted that out loud for all to hear, Sora immediately ducked out of sight and checked to see if anyone had noticed, sighing in relief when it seemed that no one had. _"I told you before, yes, I do think that Ariel is pretty, and I like that we have a lot in common, but I only think of her as a friend. Besides, if my feelings for her did go any deeper, I'd honestly say that she would be a bit more like a sister than anything else."_

 _"You…You don't…Really,"_ Kairi asked, stuttering a little in shock, and a bit of embarrassment, considering what she had almost admitted a second ago. There was no need to rush into revealing that her feelings for Sora might be more than friendship just yet, after all.

 _"Yeah, really. Besides, I can't like Ariel that way, because…Well, because…"_ Sora was now stuck. Not because he was unclear of the reason as to why he could not like Ariel in the way that Kairi had been suggesting, but because of who he would be explaining that reason to. As had been mentioned before, when it came to admitting his feelings for Kairi, Sora was just too shy to actually do it, even though pretty much everyone other than the girl in question already knew about it. _"Know what? Never mind."_

 _"How about no,"_ Kairi denied. _"What other reason is there besides just thinking that she would be more like a sister to you than anything else?"_

 _"I-it's nothing. Just forget about it,"_ Sora insisted a little too quickly, feeling heat rising to his cheeks already. Kairi must have noticed this, because she continued to persist in getting an answer, until Sora finally found a compromise that would pull his ass out of this. _"How about I tell you after we finally get your body back, knock Riku back to his senses, and save the worlds?"_

Kairi hummed in thought, considering this for a minute, until she finally asked, _"Why can't you tell me now? Is it some big secret or something?"_

 _"Not exactly, but I feel like this is something that I should only tell you face-to-face, and that it's not something I should be telling you if we weren't on the verge of losing all the worlds to darkness or something, because it would only spoil it."_

Hearing Sora say that was all that Kairi needed to know that she was not going to get any more out of Sora than that, but she had to admit, it did have a certain appeal to it that made her excited for when she finally found out the big secret, so how could she possible refuse. _"Okay, you win. But I expect you to spill all the details the minute all of that happens."_

 _"Deal,"_ Sora agreed, albeit with a little nervousness. Now on top of everything else, he had to start planning on how to confess his feelings to the girl he loved?! Some days, it was just too much for Sora to even get out of bed, and he had a feeling that he was going to have a hard time planning anything for that. It was not going to be made any easier since any plans he came up with would instantly clue Kairi in if he was not careful about when he was thinking about them, since she could hear all of his thoughts while she was inside his heart.

* * *

By the time Sora arrived in Ariel's grotto, the others had already revealed and sealed up the Keyhole, and from the blush and small smile on his apprentice's face, Ventus had to guess that the boy's conversation with Kairi had gone well. It was actually right at the moment that Sora had swam in that Ariel remembered what she had learned from Ursula, and her curiosity just demanded that she ask her friends whatever she could about it. At that moment though, only one question really came to mind. "Tell me, Sora, Ven. Your world, what's it like?"

"Oh, right. Almost forgot you found out about that," Ventus admitted with a small cringe.

"Yeah. About that…Sorry for lying to you, Ariel," Sora added, knowing that was likely where Ven was going to be leading into with this part of the conversation.

Ariel just chuckled with an understanding smile and said, "It's okay. Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too." She then let out a small sigh as she added, "So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."

"Good," Ventus smiled, surprising Ariel a little. She had thought that he was going to tell her to forget about it or something, but from the smile the blonde was wearing, which matched the one that Sora was giving her, he really meant it. "Never even think about giving up on your dreams, Ariel, because as long as you believe in them, anything can become possible."

"Just do us all a favor, and try to avoid going to anymore sea witches for help in the future," Sora cautioned, half-jokingly.

Everyone immediately got a good chuckle or two out of that, until they heard a small moan from the entrance to the grotto and saw Sebastian sitting there with his head in his claws, no doubt still keeping a watch on Ariel for her father. The man may have been more willing to let Ariel follow her heart now, but that did not mean that he was going to stop being so protective of her. "Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it," Sebastian practically begged.

That caused the chuckles to turn into full, good-natured laughter, and they were all grateful for it. Moments like this may not come up very often in the days that were to come for any of them, and the roads ahead of them all may have been long, but they were all more than happy to just stop and take in moments like these: times when they could just relax and enjoy a bit of happiness with friends. There were the moments that they would all know to treasure most, no matter what happens.

* * *

 ** _AN: I'm gonna be totally honest here. I honestly thought this would be a world that I would split into two chapters, at least until I got halfway through the entire Atlantica adventure and realized that the chapter was still really short. So, now the whole thing is here, and like that, we've got the Keyhole sealed, Kairi's jealousy issues appeared and became resolved, another bad guy is down, and Sora's now learned a very important lesson. I know it's just a lesson that anyone can learn from most Spider-Man media, but this is a fanfiction where Spidey comics don't exist, while the web-head himself is a hero from another world._**

 ** _Kairi: I kinda liked how things were between me and Sora at the end. [blushes a little]_**

 ** _Riku: Yeah, you would. You basically haggled him into hurrying the f..._**

 ** _AN &Kairi: RIKU!_**

 ** _Riku: What? I was going to say freak. Haggled him into hurrying the freak up and confessing his feelings to her._**

 ** _AN: Oh, that's okay then. And yeah, that may technically be true, but don't think that he's going to come right and say "I love you, Kairi!" the minute she's back to normal. He will allude to it very heavily though if nothing else. Moving on, everyone caught that little Aladdin reference when Sora summoned Genie, right?_**

 ** _Sora: Speaking of which, I don't remember being able to summon anything at all during the game when we were on worlds like Atlantica._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, in all honesty, that made sense for all the summons except Genie. We all saw in Aladdin that the guy can survive underwater, so you have to wonder why you could not at least summon him while everyone else was a no-go? Must've been too hard to code or something, plus, like it was mentioned before, Genie would be the only thing that they could summon since all the others they have would instantly drown while they were on Atlantica._**

 ** _Ventus: How about the fact you added in that Triton knew Mickey? Do you think that's true in the canon series as well?_**

 ** _AN: Honestly, it would not surprise me that much. Everybody loves Mickey, and the guy definitely gets around a lot, even without being a Keyblade master. Aside from that, we've now got another page from Pooh's storybook, and just to be clear, we also got another Ansem report as well, which will be mentioned and referenced in the next chapter, btw. And let's forget that Ventus finally taught Sora the defensive version of Aero, and I went into a little explanation on the difference between defensive and offensive magic, or at least how that works in this story, so there's that little technical know-how for you all._**

 ** _Donald: You're just grasping at straws on what to talk about now, aren't you?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah pretty much. What do you want from me? Nothing really changed that much here this time around, and I couldn't really do that much to change things even if I tried, and I did. Sometimes things can't really be altered to a great extent though. Give me a break. Well, hopefully we'll see a lot more excitement on the next world._**

 ** _Goofy: Does that mean we're going to see Halloween Town and all that spooky stuff next?_**

 ** _AN: Nope, not yet._**

 ** _Goofy &Donald: [sigh in relief]_**

 ** _AN: Don't get me wrong, you guys will be going there, but you're going to go a more roundabout way first, because the next world is one that I've just been itching to get to for some time now. Jack Skelington will make his Dual Keys debut, but before he does, we're going to set sail on a different ship. Want to know what I mean by that? Then get Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The gang may no longer be hanging out under the sea, but they're not going to be able to get rid of their sea-legs just yet, because their journey onwards through interspace is met with an unexpected interception once again. This time though, it comes in the form of a pirate ship, aboard which Sora finds Riku and the thing that he had been searching for all across the worlds for all this time: Kairi's body. But that's not the only thing that Sora will find on this vessel of scurvy dogs, and he's not the only one who's going to find some friends aboard the ship, either, because Ventus is going to be having a little reunion or two of his own, too. Want to find out what's coming for them next? Just think of any happy little thought, next time._**

 ** _Yep, you've likely guessed it right by now. Next world is none other than the one at the second star to the right, and straight on till morning: Neverland! And I'm sure if you all know BBS, you know what that means for our boy, Ventus. Until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	15. Second Star to The Right

**_AN: Wow, we got this one out pretty quickly compared to the last few updates that some of my stories have seen lately, but either way, it's time for the next round of adventures in Dual Keys!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Sora: Wait, if you're updating this story so soon, doesn't that mean..._**

 ** _AN: Yes, yes it does. We're getting close to the end, and this story is starting to enter its ending stages! Exciting, huh?_**

 ** _Ventus: Yeah, and it also means that a lot of stuff we and other people have really been waiting for are soon to come._**

 ** _Roxas: Like mine, Xion, and Namine's return to the action, for example._**

 ** _Xigbar: Or some real bad guys getting to tear the Key-boys apart. Assuming they have been good boys. [suddenly gets zapped by a few thousand volts of electricity before getting blasted out of the room]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, heroes appearing early are one thing, but that wannabe pirate? No way he's gonna stick around._**

 ** _Xigbar: [from somewhere in the distance] I'm not a pirate!_**

 ** _AN: I know, that's why I said "wannabe pirate". Anyways, let's get into some review answers really quick. First off, to "ronin warriors fanatic", I'm afraid that the whole image training thing in DBZ just doesn't really fly here, mostly because in this story, I view the Keyblade training being a bit more involved than just something of the mind. In essence, it's something that requires a great deal of physical involvement, so having them do something that only happens in the mind kind of...detracts from that._**

 ** _Xion: I kinda think it could look pretty cool._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, there's actually another reason why I'm not going to be doing that, which will be revealed in the sequel._**

 ** _Moving on, "Dragon Rider 66", the main reason as to why I can't do the parody you requested is because it's just not up my alley. I honestly did try, but I couldn't really pull it together effectively. Sorry, but if I could do it, I would most likely go for it._**

 ** _Next up to our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", for starters, let me just say that yes, I have indeed seen Hook, it's one of my favorite movies, and you will likely see one or two things from that in here. As for your other questions regarding events in Neverland, you'll find out today, and you'll find out the answers to the questions regarding Hollow Bastion events in a couple chapters or so. Rounding it out, the matter of what will happen after that final point you mentioned, we will be ending at the same point as KH1, and you might be surprised by what happens in the end._**

 ** _Riku: And that's without mentioning what you're including in the epilogue for this story, right?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, Riku, that is correct. Now, let's wrap up with an answer for "Mr. Nobody or YARN", Present-Day aka Young-Sora does in fact still have the fragmented version of Ven's heart inside of him, however, the heart that Future Sora returned was a fully recovered version of Ven's heart. So our favorite blonde master is indeed complete, and we are in fact going to see Roxas come to be due to Sora having the fragmented version of Ven's heart inside of him. Of course, it's still going to have a purpose, just not the original one that it had before in canon. You'll see what I mean soon enough._**

 ** _Now enough chit-chat. We've got some action to get to, a codfish to sink, and some happy thoughts to think of._**

 ** _Xigbar: [finally makes it back into the room] My happy thoughts normally involve shooting people, like little Keyblade wielding brats. [suddenly gets swallowed by a massive inferno, which then dies to show one specific thing] MY BUTT IS ON FIRE! MY BUTT IS ON FIRE! MY BUTT IS ON FIRE! MY BUTT IS-[gets frozen solid by Elsa, Roxas, Xion, Ventus, and Sora]_**

 ** _AN: Thanks you guys._**

 ** _Elsa: Always happy to help._**

 ** _Sora &Xion&Roxas: What the snow queen said._**

 ** _AN: Now then, as Peter Pan said, come on everybody! Here we go! Off to Neverland!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XIV**

"Whew! As much as I liked being a merman, I have to admit it feels good to have my legs back again," Sora stated as he and friends teleported onto the _Kingdom_ , having just left Atlantica a minute ago. The team had not left right away because they felt they should inform King Triton that they had sealed the Keyhole, and they wanted to say one last goodbye to Ariel and the others before they headed out again.

Ventus just grinned in agreement with the boy, and had to smile a little wider when he noticed Sora stumbling a little as he walked around the room, showing was not quite used to the feeling of walking around on land again instead of swimming around like a merman. "I have to agree with you, but try not to rush into things just yet. It always takes a bit of time to regain the feeling of your normal form after the first time you go to a world where a form change like that is necessary."

"You mean there are other worlds where I could become part fish," Sora gasped, only to suddenly trip over his large feet as he tried to walk forward again.

Thankfully, Ventus was able to catch the kid before he face-planted onto the deck, and then answered, "There may be one or two out there, but there are other worlds where similar changes could occur. Worlds where you could even turn into a full-fledged animal, or something that doesn't walk at all, for example. The number of worlds is endless, Sora, so the possibilities on what you may find on each of them or what you may have to turn into in order to protect the world order has to be just as so."

"Wow," Sora breathed in awe, his excitement growing a little more, even though he still needed to let Ven guide him up to the cockpit. He was a bit relieved to see that Donald and Goofy were just as wobbly as he was, but then felt a bit downcast as he asked, "So does that mean we'll feel like this every time we go to a world where we need to have a form change of some kind?"

"No, not every time. Besides, you only feel this off-balance because this is the first time you've gone through a change like that, so don't worry too much. You'll get used to it eventually," Ventus reassured the kid while settling into the pilot's seat. After pulling the gummi ship away from Atlantica, he prepared to set the ship on course for the next world when Sora suddenly remembered something that caught his attention.

"By the way, we found another page from Merlin's book while we were in Ariel's grotto," Sora exclaimed, holding out the page for Ventus to see.

Hearing that, Ven immediately set the ship on auto-pilot, and moved to get a look at the page. After a few seconds, he grinned in confirmation, glad to see that they had in fact found another one of the missing pages from Merlin's storybook, and making the same mental note that Sora had before on how they now had three pages left to find. He was about to jump back into the pilot's seat again and request a destination from Goofy, when the knight in question actually revealed something else. "Hey, fellers, just before we left, Sebastian gave me this. I think it might be another one of the missing pages from Ansem's report."

"What? Where did he find that," Ventus asked in surprise as both he and Sora jumped up from their seats to see the page that Goofy had just taken out of his vest pocket.

"He said he saw it in Ursula's lair and thought it might be important," Goofy explained, handing the page over to Ven.

"Well, what does it say? What does it say," Donald demanded in excitement, thinking that this might tell them something important about the Heartless.

Ventus quickly took his seat back, with the others quickly gathering around him, and then looked at the page so he could read its contents aloud. "The shadows that crawl beneath the castle…Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination? All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts…I will call them the Heartless." He then paused for a moment, looked to the other three to see that they were waiting for something else, and then sighed as he said, "That's it. That's all there is in this report. Just how Ansem had decided to start studying the Heartless and how he first named them."

"So then it's no more helpful than the other pages that we found so far," Donald moaned in despair, while Goofy let out a sad sigh of his own.

Sora looked a bit downcast as well, but he quickly took notice of the pensive expression on Ven's face, and quickly became curious. "What is it, Ven," Sora asked.

Ventus hummed in thought for a minute before explaining, "This doesn't make much sense. Remember what Leon and the others told us, about how their world was ruled by someone named Ansem?" When the others nodded in reply, Ventus went on to add, "Well I only know of one world that's ruled by someone who goes by that name, and that was Radiant Garden, yet they said that their world is Hollow Bastion. Not only that, but the more of these reports that we find, the more that this doesn't seem like the Ansem I know. This most recent report actually says that he was experimenting with the Heartless, but I know for a fact that while Ansem did discover the Heartless, he didn't go so far as to experiment on them, at least not more than what was necessary for discovering that most of them do in fact come from the Realm of Darkness. Add in the fact that he had shut down his research into the Heartless and the realm they come from when he found out it was too dangerous, and I can't help but wonder if these reports might have been written by someone else using Ansem's name, or if this really is another person who goes by the same name."

"Hmm. That is very strange," Jiminy mused while the others assumed their own thinking poses. "Maybe you're right to think that it's someone else, but are you sure that the Ansem you know really stopped his research when he said that he did?"

"Well that's what he told both me and Mickey on one of our last visits to Radiant Garden, and we didn't really get much of a chance to double check on that because I was still in the middle of my training. By the time we did get another chance to go and visit, something had happened to Radiant Garden. I'm not sure what exactly, but every time I've looked at the star that I know to be that world, I've always felt cold…dread…and several other feelings that you would associate with darkness," Ventus explained. "I'll admit that you do have a point to be suspicious like that, Jiminy, but Mickey and I know Ansem the Wise. He wouldn't do anything to endanger his people even for his own scientific curiosity."

"Well maybe finding another one of these reports will help clear this up for you," Goofy suggested. "After all, Aerith and Leon did say that Ansem's report was very detailed, right?"

"Yeah, so that must mean that there's still some missing pages left to find that will clear up any confusion left," Donald offered.

"But how come so many of the bad guys we've fought had the pages," Sora asked.

Everyone had to pause and think for a minute, until Ventus theorized, "Maybe because Maleficent found it first, or at least most of the report. That's probably how she learned to control the Heartless in the first place."

"Do you really think so, Ven," Jiminy asked.

"It's the only thing that I can think of that makes sense," Ventus shrugged in admittance. "Either way, it doesn't matter that much for now. We've got to focus on our mission and head for the next world. Goofy, if you wouldn't mind giving me the coordinates."

Goofy immediately nodded in reply and turned to his monitor so he could find those coordinates. While Goofy was doing that, Sora suddenly felt a sudden spike of anxiety coming from Kairi's heart, and he quickly became concerned for his friend. So, once he had settled back into his seat again, he closed his eyes for a minute and mentally asked, _"Kairi? Is everything okay?"_

 _"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, Sora,"_ Kairi tried to reassure him.

 _"Are you sure? I can feel that you're getting a little…tense or something,"_ Sora questioned, not wanting to take that easy answer so quickly. He may be oblivious to a lot of things, but Sora was not stupid. He could always tell when something was bothering his friends, especially in the case of his best friends.

Kairi did not say anything for a moment, and Sora had to wonder if she had cut off the connection so that he would not question her too much, but eventually, she did say, _"It's nothing really, but…for some reason, when Ventus mentioned that Radiant Garden place just now, I felt like…like I had heard of that place somewhere before, and not just by name either. Not only that, but the more I hear about him, or at least his name, the more I feel like I've heard the name Ansem the Wise somewhere before too. I can't really explain how or why."_

Sora had to admit, that had him a little stumped too. How could Kairi have heard of either of those things? Neither of them had so much as heard the name of one other world until after Sora had first landed in Traverse Town, and this whole adventure began. Then Sora remembered that Kairi did not remember anything about her homeworld, and had a possibly crazy idea follow afterwards. Could it be that Kairi was originally from Radiant Garden? If both the name of the place and its ruler felt familiar to her, then that certainly was a strong possibility. He was actually just about to suggest that idea to Kairi when he realized that the level of anxiousness he was getting from her heart was not just limited to a sudden feeling of familiarity. _"Is there something else, Kairi,"_ Sora immediately asked.

 _"Well…I feel like I can sense something is coming for us. I can't really tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's definitely coming at us, and its coming fast,"_ Kairi explained.

Sora was about to ask if she was sure about that, even if he knew that it was probably a redundant question since Kairi's ability to sense things was supposedly unmatched due to her nature as a Princess of Heart, but the ship's proximity alarms going off quickly answered the question for him. "Incoming off the port stern," Goofy reported.

"What is it," Ventus asked, his hands already switching off the autopilot and grasping the manual controls so he could move the ship out of the way at a moment's notice.

Goofy looked at his sensors for a minute before he reported, "It looks like a big ship is catching up to us."

"The Heartless," Sora asked, already reaching for the weapons controls.

The young Keybearer got his answer a minute later, when a massive ship suddenly flew right past them, and from the quick look they all got, it was clearly not a Heartless ship. "No! That's a pirate ship," Donald squawked. Indeed, a large, brown sailing ship with the skull-and-crossbones flag that was common among all ships of such nature had just flown right past them, and when they saw the back of the ship, they all quickly spotted another skull on the back, along with a name plate that read _Jolly Roger_. Seeing that ship immediately started striking a few bells of familiarity for Ventus, but what concerned him more was the fact that the ship was coming back around towards them. "Uh-oh," was all Donald could say after that.

"It's going to ram us," Ventus shouted. "Sora, open fire!"

"I can't! It's too close to us," Sora protested, knowing that any damage inflicted on the other ship would end up cascading back onto the _Kingdom_.

"Everyone brace yourselves! Maximum power to the shields," Ventus ordered.

"Here we go again," Goofy hollered as he ducked down with his hands over his head, just seconds before everything went black for the team right when the two ships collided with one another.

* * *

The sound of gently crashing waves was what eventually roused Sora from his unconscious state, but when he finally came to, he found himself wishing he was still knocked out, because he found out that he had been knocked off of the _Kingdom_ and onto the deck of the pirate ship that had just rammed into them. His worries only increased when he saw no sign of Ventus, Donald, or Goofy anywhere around him, and he immediately jumped to his feet so that he could look around the rest of the deck, hoping that they were just somewhere he could not see them at and not being held prisoner somewhere down below. Sadly, by the time he had reached the front of the ship, Sora was sad to see that none of his friends were anywhere in sight, which meant that they had to have been captured by the pirates who commanded this vessel. Well, to be more accurate, he did not find any of the friends that he had been traveling with up until now.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," a familiar voice commented, drawing Sora's attention back to where he had just come from, and he was shocked to see Riku standing up on the deck just above him, and his friend was clearly glaring down at him despite the small smirk on his face. "Good to see you again."

"Where are Donald, Goofy, and Ven, Riku," Sora demanded, not in the mood to play any games right now, and after their last encounter inside of Monstro, Sora was intent on making that very clear to Riku this time.

Riku's smirk quickly turned into a full-blown scowl as he asked, "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…about her."

Sora was a little confused what the older boy meant by that, until Riku stepped aside to reveal the limp, practically comatose form of the girl he had been searching for all this time. Or to be more accurate, the body of the girl whose heart was currently resting inside of Sora, and while Sora was glad to see this, the fact that said body was resting next to Riku had him far more worried. "Kairi!"

 _"My body,"_ Kairi exclaimed from inside of Sora, and he could feel her heart start lightly reacting from being so close to it, almost like it was trying to push its way out of him and back into where it belonged.

"That's right. While you were off goofing around, I finally found her," Riku boasted.

Sora just glared up at Riku, and he could feel Kairi was doing the same as well from inside of him, so it was no surprise that he tried to rush forward so that he could scoop Kairi's body up and carry it away from the danger it was obviously caught in. What was surprising was when a hook hand suddenly flashed in front of Sora, making him stop short and look towards the red-clad, dark haired pirate that it belonged to. "Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy," Captain Hook grinned as a number of Heartless that looked like pirates with large cutlasses suddenly materialized all around Sora just seconds later.

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless? You know you don't need their help. We can save Kairi together," Sora pleaded, hoping to reach his friend.

"I don't need your help to save anyone," Riku practically growled. "The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."

"Will you stop being stupid and just listen to me for five minutes?! Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart," Sora snapped, his patience finally running thin with Riku.

"Not a chance. My heart's too strong," Riku scoffed in disbelief, and the conviction in his voice showed how much he truly believed that.

"Riku, I wasn't done talking. If you really want to help save Kairi, then you need to let me help, because…" Sora started to say in an effort to reveal what he knew about Kairi and where her heart currently was. He knew that doing so was probably a bad idea with someone like Hook standing right there, but if this was going to be his last chance to reach his friend somehow, he had to take it.

Kairi on the other hand, was of a different opinion. _"Sora, no! You can't reveal that my heart's inside of you with all of these Heartless around!"_ Even as she said that though, she could feel her heart continue in its efforts to burst out of Sora and reenter her real body, but she knew that she had to resist for the moment. Not that she was having to try too hard, because it seemed like her heart was not strong enough to break free on its own for some reason.

Kairi's protests were not all that necessary though, because Riku interrupted before Sora could get much further in his explanation. "How about you listen, Sora! I don't need your help. Now that I have the Heartless, I'll be able to save Kairi's heart all on my own," Riku stated. He then smirked a little, waved his hand in Sora's direction, and said, "I've picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this for instance."

Sora was not sure how else he could react after that, because one minute he felt an odd, cold feeling sweeping over him, and the next, he was jumping back in shock as his shadow suddenly jumped up from beneath his feet like it had a life of its own. The next thing he knew, Kairi's heart seemed to finally cease in its efforts to reach her body, and Sora looked up to see Riku was carrying said body away while he remarked, "You can go see your friends now."

Right when Riku had said that, a trap door opened beneath Sora's feet, and both he and Kairi were letting out screams of surprise as they dropped down into the ship, leaving their best friend with the Heartless and the pirate captain. "Let's get under way, already," Riku ordered. "And keep Sora away from Kairi until we're ready to land."

Hook refrained from saying anything until Riku was out of earshot and sight, but when the kid was, he immediately let out an indignant huff and irritably said, "That scurvy brat thinks he can order me around!"

"What shall we do, Captain Hook," the captain's first mate, Mister Smee questioned.

"Nothing," Hook exclaimed. "The hold is crawling with Heartless. Let them keep an eye on that bothersome Ventus and the brats."

"B-but, Captain, you-know-who is also down…" Smee started to protest, only to be hushed by his captain a second later as Hook started glancing around nervously.

"Did you hear that, Smee? Oh, that dreadful sound," Hook whispered, fear clear in his voice.

"No, Captain."

"Are you quite sure? Did I imagine it," Hook demanded, giving Smee a small shake after grabbing his first mate by the shoulders. When Smee nodded in reply, Hook released the short, chubby pirate and sighed, "Oh, my poor nerves!"

Smee could only offer his captain a comforting pat, because he knew just what Hook was referring to after that little jump scare. After all, there was only one thing that Captain James Hook was afraid of, and Smee could certainly understand why, so he settled for just doing as his captain ordered and left the Heartless to watch the prisoners. Hook was a far more important priority for Mister Smee.

* * *

While he may have landed in the ship's brig after dropping down through that trap door, Sora was glad to see that he had landed in the same place as the rest of his friends, but that was not the only reason why he was in such a good mood. The other three quickly took notice of this, and they were all quickly becoming just as excited as Sora when they learned the reason for his joy. "You don't say," Goofy asked.

"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi, or Kairi's body. I finally found her," Sora confirmed, grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

"All right! Then let's go up and get her so we can put her heart back in her body," Goofy declared, sounding just as excited as Sora.

"Yeah," Sora cheered.

"Sounds great," Donald agreed, but there was something else that he needed to mention to the other two first. "Okay, but first…how about getting off!"

"Oh, sorry," Sora chuckled. You see, when the kid had landed in the brig, he ended up dropping down right on top of the other three, and as a result, the four had found themselves in yet another pile-up.

"Well, look on the bright side, Sora. At least you're not the one on the bottom this time. Speaking of which, perhaps all of you guys could hurry up with that matter of getting off," Ventus requested, partly teasing and partly annoyed, since he was the one on the bottom this time.

"Sorry," all three of the others chorused in reply.

Once they had untangled themselves and gotten back on their feet again, Ventus immediately moved to the door so he could take a peek outside the locked room. Granted the window in question was too small for him to really get a good view on whether or not there was anyone standing guard, but he could still see that the room appeared to be empty for the most part. Ventus was not going to take any chances though, so he quickly asked Sora, "Did you happen to get a good look at our captors? I know you said that Riku was here and that he was controlling Heartless that looked like pirates, but was there anything else we should know about?"

"Well there were two other pirates," Sora recalled. "One of them was really short and wore a striped shirt and a red cap, while the other one was clearly the captain. He was dressed in red and had a black mustache and long black hair, and had a big feather in his hat."

Hearing the description of the captain made Ventus pause for a minute before he quickly turned back to Sora and asked, "Did you ever see him freak out because he thought he heard the sound of a clock, or something?"

"Uh…no, but he did have a hook for a hand," Sora revealed.

"A hook for…Oh my Kingdom Hearts," Ventus exclaimed with a grin on his face before he broke out into a small bit of laughter. "Of all the bad guys in all the worlds, Maleficent actually recruited that old codfish? Now that is too funny!"

"Do you know who that is, Ven," Donald asked, watching as the blonde continued laughing.

"Yeah, his name's Captain Hook, and I think I know where we've landed too. I've been to this world before, years ago when I was on my first journey," Ventus revealed once he managed to calm down enough. "And if Captain Hook is here, that can only mean that at least one other person isn't too far behind."

Before the others could ask Ven who he was talking about, another voice suddenly spoke up, surprising them all. "How ya doin' there? Looking for a way out," the person asked, and the four all turned just in time to see a young boy who was probably about twelve years old at most dressed in a green outfit with a red feather pinned into his hat flip out from behind the crates that were stacked near the back of the room.

"Who're you," Goofy asked.

"I'm the answer to your prayers," the boy boasted with a smile, drawing doubtful looks from three of the four.

"All these years, and it looks like you haven't changed a bit, have you, Peter," Ventus chuckled.

The green-clad boy immediately turned to the blonde, finally taking a good look at him, and then gasped, "Ven? Is that you?"

"The one and only. It's been way too long, Peter Pan," Ventus confirmed with a grin.

"Yeah, you can say that again. You've really changed a lot since I last saw you," Peter grinned in reply, exchanging a high-five with Ventus as he did.

"Not really, and not ever," Ventus told Peter with a smile, making Peter grin a little wider when he did. Ventus then heard Donald let out a small cough, and remembered that the others were in the room with them. "Oh right. Peter, I'd like to meet some friends of mine. Donald, Goofy, and my apprentice Sora. Guys, meet the hero of Neverland, the leader of the Lost Boys, and the ultimate pain to all pirates, Peter Pan."

"Apprentice, huh," Peter asked as he looked Sora over. "What's an apprentice?"

"Well…I guess you could say that he's kinda like my own lost boy, at least in the sense that I'm teaching him everything he needs to know about how to handle himself in a larger world," Ventus explained as best as he could, or at least in the best way that he felt Peter could understand.

"Oh, I get it," Peter nodded. "Well it's nice to meet you guys."

"Same here. We haven't really had a chance to meet too many of Ven's friends just yet, so it's really cool to meet you," Sora admitted as he shook hands with Peter. "But what're you doing here?"

"Hook captured someone very important to me, and I'm here to rescue her," Peter revealed. When he saw the worried look on Ven's face, he quickly revealed, "Don't worry, Ven, it's not who you're thinking of. It's a girl named Wendy. She's really awesome and tells great stories about me. I would often fly over to the window of her house to listen in so I could tell the stories to the Lost Boys later. On one of my last trips, I got separated from my shadow, and when I went back to get it, I finally met her face-to-face. That's when I learned she was going to be growing up the next day, so I brought her to Neverland, since she would never grow up here. Besides, she told me she had dreamed of coming here for a long time, so I figured why not?"

"That's really cool of you, Peter, but how are you going to rescue Wendy if you're stuck in here with us," Ventus pointed out.

"Ha! Come on, Ven. You know me better than that," Peter laughed in response. "I'm not stuck in here. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who," Sora asked, and his answer quickly came seconds later when a small ball of light suddenly flew into and around the room, making Sora turn this way and that in an attempt to keep up with it, along with Donald and Goofy, while Ven just grinned at the sight of the small orb of light, having already figured out what, or rather who it was.

A minute later, the orb came to a stop, floating right in front of Peter before it changed into a very tiny woman with blonde hair tied into a bun, pale skin, blue eyes, and a pair of transparent wings, clad in a short green, strapless dress and green slippers, and it was easy for Sora to figure out the tiny girl was actually a fairy, much to his disbelief. "Hey, Tinker Bell! It's so good to see you," Ven cheered happily.

When the fairy heard her name being mentioned, she immediately turned to Ventus and lit up with a bright smile of her own that seemed to make the light around her glow brighter than it already was, and to further showcase her happiness at seeing the blonde, she immediately flew around Ventus in excitement leaving a trail of sparkles behind her while the sound of rapid ringing bells filled the air, much to Ven and Peter's amusement. "What's she doing," Sora asked.

"Talking of course," Peter replied, knowing that Sora was referring to the bell sounds that Tinker Bell was making.

"So what's she saying," Goofy asked.

"She's basically just going on about how happy she is to see Ven again," Peter shrugged. Tinker Bell then flew over to tell Peter something else, and he quickly replied, "Relax. I was getting to that. Tink also wants to know if Aqua and Terra are here too, and I've gotta admit, I'm a little curious about that, myself."

Ven's smile immediately fell when he heard that, and it did not go unnoticed by either one of the Neverland locals. Still, he could not keep this from his two old friends, so he ended up giving them a reply after a minute. "I actually don't know where Terra is. He just disappeared somewhere into the darkness after a battle we all had against a very dangerous enemy. As for Aqua…well, she's lost in the Realm of Darkness. I've spent most of the last ten years trying to find her while finishing my training and helping Sora with the start of his."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, Ven," Peter offered in condolence, while Tinker Bell gave a sad sounding ring to him to show that she shared the feeling.

"Hey, don't be. Besides, after meeting Sora, I think we've gotten closer to finding an answer on how to get Aqua back, and I get the feeling that he's going to be a big help in saving her," Ventus revealed.

"Well that's good news. Speaking of people that need saving though, how'd your mission go, Tink," Peter asked, getting the fairy's attention. Ventus did not miss how Tinker Bell seemed to frown a little bit at being reminded of whatever job she was given, but she did still give her report all the same. "Great job. So you found Wendy," Peter asked, clearly getting good news. Tinker Bell nodded in reply, adding something else in when she did that caught Peter's attention. "Hold on. There was another girl there, too?"

"That's gotta be Sora's friend, Kairi," Ventus exclaimed, getting confused looks from his two old pals. "Long story short, Sora got separated from his two best friends too, and we're helping him look for them. One of them is most likely the girl that Tink said was with Wendy. The other one…well, let's just say that he's making it a little difficult to help him and Kairi as well, by extension."

"I see," Peter nodded in understanding. A minute later, Tinker Bell let out an obvious huff and crossed her arms as she said something that clearly got Peter a little upset, given his reply to her. "Are you crazy? There's no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there! Besides, if that other girl really is the friend that Sora's looking for, we've gotta help him out, if for no other reason than the fact that he's pals with Ven."

Donald on the other hand seemed to notice something that Peter had either missed or was just ignoring, and he could not help but call the little fairy out on it, despite the silent warning signals that Ventus was trying to give him. "Aha! She must be pretty jealous," the royal magician teased with a laugh, not knowing the fire he had just set upon himself.

Tinker Bell did not find Donald's comment funny at all, because she immediately spun around and glared at the duck before flying up and giving a big kick to his beak to end his laughter at once, and kick-starting Ven's. "I tried to tell you, Donald. Tink may be small, but she's got a spirit that's larger than life," Ventus revealed. He then lowered his voice so that only his three traveling companions could hear him, and added, "And a temper to match."

"Thanks a lot," Donald grumbled, while Sora and Goofy quickly joined Ventus in laughing at their friend's misfortune.

Thankfully for Ven, it seemed that Tinker Bell did not hear the latter half of his statement, because she flashed him with a glowing smile before sending a frustrated look in Peter's direction and flying off. This clearly went against Peter's plan, because he quickly started looking a little worried as he begged his little friend, "Come on, Tink! Open up the door!"

Tinker Bell did no such thing, and Peter knew that likely meant he was now in hot water, no doubt thanks in part to Donald's earlier comment, but he was soon reminded that he did have another way out aside from Tinker Bell when Ventus made a show of clearing his throat while he and Sora both summoned their Keyblades. "Forget something about what these babies could do," Ventus teased Peter.

Peter just rolled his eyes a little before saying, "Okay, you guys can open the door. Besides, I was already planning on helping you all out, anyway, but only 'til we find Wendy."

"I guess that's fair," Ventus conceded with a nod. He then turned back to the door, pointed his Keyblade at it, and with one little bit of magic later, the five were free to step out of the brig and roam the ship.

It came as no surprise to any of the four world-jumping adventurers that a small platoon of Heartless appeared the minute they stepped out the door, but they did still have to adjust their fighting styles in order to deal with the new pirate-like Heartless. It did not help that, once again, Jiminy did not have any information on their enemies, but he did make a few quick notes while naming them Pirates, and he soon figured out the pattern to the attacks that the Pirates used. The one key thing to be noted in fighting Pirate Heartless was that they would almost always rear back quite a bit before launching their attacks, so they always found themselves with plenty of warning to either dodge, parry, or deflect an attack from them, and not only that, but they would also stumble or even fall over depending on how the team responded to the attacks. They also tended to leave themselves open to attacks from behind, since they always focused on any targets directly in front of them, and for someone who used a speed-based fighting style, that gave Ventus quite the advantage. The same could be said for Peter, since he would always bounce around the room, swooping through the air as light as the feather in his hat, and he proved to have no trouble at all in getting behind these tricky swash-bucklers.

Of course, there was one other thing that had grabbed the attention of Sora, Donald, and Goofy in regards to Peter's fighting style. For the most part, every second that Peter was fighting, he was floating in the air, his feet almost never touching the ground. Sure, they had seen Ventus fly across a battlefield, but that was usually through the use of things like Shotlocks, Command Styles, or some other form of magic. Peter was actually flying without any assistance from such things, and he was using this aerial capability to its full extent as he stabbed and slashed at the Heartless that appeared before them as they navigated their way through the ship, be they Pirate or Shadow variety. They knew that they should probably have been focused on getting through the ship to both Peter's friend and Kairi's body, but the fact that Peter was always up in the air, even if it was only a few feet off the ground was a bit distracting for them.

Eventually, Goofy's curiosity won out, and the next time they had caught a break while traversing an empty hallway, he looked to Peter and asked, "So, uh, how come you can fly, Peter?"

Everyone paused at the question, and Peter gave Goofy an amused smile as he revealed, "It's easy. Anyone can fly."

"Really," Sora gasped, looking to Ven when he asked that question.

Ventus glanced over to Peter for a minute, wondering if it was okay to talk about other worlds around his friend or not, until he figured it was better safe than sorry. So he lowered his voice and replied, "Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, there are certain Command Styles or Shotlocks that can allow a Keyblade wielder to gain a bit of flight, and there are also special magic abilities that can allow one to glide through the air, but here on Neverland, actual flight is indeed possible for anyone."

Sora winked to him in reply to show he understood that, and it looked like Peter had missed everything that the blonde had said, because he had just carried on like nothing had been said there. "Are you guys saying you've never flown before?"

"In a ship and with special magic, yeah, but not like you are," Donald revealed.

"Well do you wanna try," Peter asked. The three immediately gave eager nods in response, while Ventus just grinned to show that he wanted to get the chance to fly again too, and when he saw that, Peter quickly whistled for Tinker Bell, getting the fairy's attention. Unfortunately for him, it looked like Tinker Bell was still a little upset with him. "Aw, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?"

Tinker Bell's only response was to cross her arms, and turn away from Peter with her nose turned up, so Ventus took it upon himself to help his friends out. "Come on, Tink. We just want you to help so Sora, Donald, and Goofy can fly like Peter or anyone else in Neverland. And I wouldn't mind being able to do so again too, so could you do it for me," Ventus asked, pleading to Tink's better nature. Tinker Bell seemed to think this over for a bit, until she eventually smiled and gave Ventus a nod. She then flew up and around the four friends, while Ventus turned to his three companions and explained, "Like Peter said, here in Neverland, it's easy to fly. All you need is faith, trust…"

"And a little bit of pixie dust," Peter finished, right when Tinker Bell began sprinkling some of said dust on the four, and they each began to sparkle a little with the same glow as Tinker Bell when it had gathered on them. "There. Now you can fly."

Donald was the first to make an attempt at flying, and he did so by leaping up into the air and flapping his arms like wings. Naturally, it did not work, as he soon found out when he fell flat on his face, much to Tinker Bell's amusement. Donald fixated a small look on the laughing fairy, not finding it nearly as funny as her, but it was not until Ventus spoke up that Tink stopped for a minute. "Now Tink, just because he does technically deserve it, doesn't mean you should be rubbing it in Donald's face," Ventus lightly scolded. He then waited a second or two before he grinned and added, "Too much."

Donald just gave a deadpan look to Ven as the blonde and Peter both joined Tinker Bell in laughing at him, but all of Peter's laughter ended when he saw that Sora and Goofy were not doing any better than Donald when it came to making an attempt at flying. "Hm, that doesn't seem right," Peter mused to himself. "Maybe you should show them how it's done, Ven."

"Well I am already trying to teach Sora how to be a Keyblade master. I doubt teaching him how you do things here in Neverland should be much harder," Ventus grinned, eager for the chance to fly once again. When he leapt up into the air though, he found himself dropping back down to the ground again a few seconds later, just like the others. This surprised both the Neverlanders and Ventus, and the blonde immediately made another attempt at it. This time, he actually did stay up in the air and even seemed to easily fly along like Peter, much to Sora's excitement, but Ventus had to let the kid down when he revealed that he was not flying like Peter, but instead, had just simply used the Glide ability. "I don't get it. I could fly easily the last time I was here on Neverland, so what's so different this time?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Peter admitted while he and Tinker Bell both assumed thinking poses. "I feel like there's one more important detail that I'm forgetting about, but I can't think of it. Can you, Tink?"

The fairy just shook her head in the negative, showing she was just as clueless as Peter was on why Ventus was unable to fly right now, but the blonde was not going to let it bother him too much. "We'll worry about it later," Ven said. "We've still got a couple of rescues to make and a codfish pirate captain to sink."

"Right, then let's hurry," Peter agreed, immediately leading the charge once more, with Tinker Bell flying off ahead of them to lead the way, while the other four followed from behind, each hoping that they would be able to get to their captured friends before it was too late.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the captain's quarters, Hook had been boasting about how they had finally managed to achieve their ultimate success to Riku, until the boy revealed something that the captain had not been expecting. "What? So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones," Hook demanded in disbelief.

"There are seven, supposedly, and Maleficent says she's not one of them," Riku calmly explained to Hook. He could understand why Hook would think that this Wendy girl was one of the Princesses of Heart, given what he had heard about the girl from Smee and the captain, but if Maleficent said that Wendy was not one of them then there was nothing he could do about it. Well, almost nothing. "Hoist anchor as soon as possible. Leave all the dead weight behind, including her."

"After the trouble of capturing her," Hook demanded, incredulously. Sure, Wendy was not one of the chosen ones, but that did not mean getting her had been any easier. Besides, she still had a great deal of value as a hostage, because he knew that Peter Pan would likely be coming for her, so he could use that to bring an end to his wretched foe. He would have explained that to Riku, but the boy did not seem like he would care, so Hook went for another angle and decided that it was time he tested the boy. Maleficent may have welcomed him in and given him the power to control the Heartless, but that did not mean Hook was willing to accept Riku just yet. "And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning, anyway?"

In truth, Hook's question was not entirely a test, because Maleficent had not shared the full scope of her grand scheme with all of them. She had explained that she had her reasons for doing so, even though she did not give those reasons, but that did not mean that Hook was so foolish as to blindly trust her without question. He had been looking for any opportunity to gain some insight to what that evil fairy was planning, so this served to both test Riku's loyalty to their group and Maleficent, while also giving him the answers that he needed on their dark leader's plans.

Sadly, Riku did not seem to really know, and if he did, he was clearly too loyal to his promise to Maleficent to tell Hook, because the boy's answer was not one that Hook found satisfactory. "Who knows? As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

It may not have been the answer Hook was hoping for, but he did still notice something that could easily turn the boy to his side, since it seemed that Maleficent had neglected to tell Riku the full truth about what could have happened to the girl's heart. "You're wasting your time! The Heartless have devoured that girl's heart. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

Even though he did not know where Kairi's heart was, Riku knew that Hook would lose that bet. Kairi's heart was out there somewhere, not that Riku was going to tell the captain that. Instead, he just settled for simply promising, "I will find it no matter what."

Hook had to admit, the boy certainly had a resolve that would have made him a fine pirate, but he still felt that Riku's promise would be one that he could not keep. Hook honestly believed that Kairi's heart was gone for good, much like the hearts of all the others had fallen prey to the Heartless. Sure, he was not one hundred percent sure that someone could come back after losing their heart to those animals, but he was still sure enough of the fact that no one had before, so why start thinking differently? Either way, they still had a job to do, and despite Riku's request, he had no intention of dropping Wendy off the ship, not while she still had value as a hostage to use against Pan. That did make him wonder a little about who the seventh Princess of Heart could be if it was not Wendy. Sure, there was no shortage of girls in so much as one world, let alone all of them, but finding one specific girl out of all of them was going to be a great deal of trouble if they did not know for sure who they were looking for.

Hook's concerns about how to find the last of the chosen seven were eventually interrupted when Smee's voice suddenly buzzed over the ship's intercom, and it did not sound like he had good news. _"Uh, Captain…"_

"What," Hook asked, his tone making it clear that Smee should not beat around the bush.

 _"The prisoners have escaped. What's more, Peter Pan is with them."_

"Grr…Blast that Peter Pan," Hook swore when he heard that, but still, this was a perfect opportunity to prove the point as to why it was better to keep Wendy aboard for the moment. "All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee! Hop to it!"

* * *

Despite the disappointment at not being able to fly like Peter, the fighting capabilities of the four adventurers did not suffer in the slightest. Sure, it would have been cool to fly, but they figured that adapting that to their fighting style would have taken a little bit of practice, like how doing so on Atlantica had, so they were more than happy to stay grounded for the moment. At least, most of them were okay with it, because to be quite honest, it seemed like Ventus was more disappointed about not being able to fly than the rest of them. From an outside perspective, that certainly seemed to be the case, but in reality, he was a little preoccupied with trying to figure out why he was unable to fly at all, with exception of being able to use the Glide ability. He had been able to do so just fine the first time he came to Neverland all those years ago, and he had all three things necessary for it in abundance now, thanks to Tinker Bell's supplying them with pixie dust, so what was it that he was missing? Ventus was sure that whatever it was, it had to do with that last detail that Peter could not remember, but he was having just as much trouble thinking of what it could be as the boy who never grew up appeared to be having.

Flight or no flight, it still took them a while to fight their way through the various decks of the _Jolly Roger_ , and the Heartless definitely did not make things easier for them. It also did not escape Ventus or Sora's notice how so many of them seemed to be focusing on Sora all of a sudden, and they both had a good idea why that was. Since Kairi's heart had already reacted from being near her body before, there was strong chance that the creatures of darkness had sensed the strong light inside of Sora, and that must have made the kid seem like a five-course meal in their eyes. Despite this sudden increase in attention, Sora did not make it easy for the Heartless to take him down and consume his and Kairi's heart, and he proved that through a continuous use of his Shotlocks and the three common Command Styles. Watching his apprentice work, Ventus could not help but note that Sora was starting to be able to summon any of the three Command Styles he knew much more easily than ever, and he knew it was not just due to adrenaline rush. Sora was definitely improving, as evidenced by how the kid easily flowed from one Command Style to the next after unleashing the previous one's finisher. Sure, it was not quite to the same level as Ventus or his old friends would have done so, but Sora was definitely getting to the point where it was no longer a struggle for him to call upon any of the powerful techniques anymore. His skills with the Shotlocks were still much better in comparison, but Ventus could still see the improvement, and he knew that it likely meant it was only a matter of time now before Sora discovered his Tier One Unique Command Style. Knowing this, Ventus had to wonder if he would even need to teach Sora about the next level of Command Styles before they finished this journey, or if he would even have the chance or time to do so, but he put a pin in it for now, knowing that he could start working on future lesson plans later.

He was quickly reminded of the more important matters when Tinker Bell suddenly lead them into a room and floated up to a grate in the ceiling, ringing excitedly as she pointed up to it, and getting everyone's attention. "What is it, Tink," Peter asked, floating up a little closer to where his small friend was pointing.

Instead of the fairy, another girl's voice actually answered Peter's question, and hearing her voice definitely seemed to brighten Peter's day. "Peter? Peter Pan?" A minute later, they all saw a girl with brown hair in a blue night dress kneeling over the grate and looking down at them, looking both relieved and worried at the same time, and they did not need Peter's excited exclamation to know that this had to be his newest friend, Wendy. They did become more concerned when they found out why she looked just as worried as she did relieved though. "Please hurry! The pirates are coming!"

"What?! I'll be right up there! Just hold on," Peter reassured Wendy, and he immediately started looking for a way to get the grate open so he could fly up and help her.

While Peter was doing that, Sora suddenly felt Kairi's heart surge inside of him, and he knew that could only mean one thing: Kairi's body was somewhere nearby. Looking around the room showed him no sign of the redhead, so that could only mean that she was somewhere on the deck above them, so he quickly looked up and asked, "Wendy, is there another girl in there with you?"

"Oh, why, yes," Wendy replied, glancing up to Kairi's lifeless body, which was still in the dazed state that Sora had last seen it in. Not that he could see from where he was, but he could figure it out from what Wendy said next. "But she seems to be asleep. She hasn't budged an inch."

Hearing that, Sora figured that he had to take the chance and see if there was some way he could get Kairi's heart back into her body. It may have been risky since he was not in the exact same room as her, but if her heart had reacted from being in close proximity to her body before, maybe he could somehow use that to return her heart to where it belonged. Add in the fact that he knew she had been through a Dive to the Heart, and he figured that there was also a chance that she could end up getting a Keyblade the minute her heart returned to her body as well. With that reasoning, how could Sora not at least make something of an attempt at trying. Then again, his attempt was not really anything too spectacular, because he just ended up calling out her name while letting Kairi's heart continue to try and get free of his heart. "Kairi? Kairi," Sora called out, reaching for the girl's hand when he saw that it was lying at her side. Then again, her side and one of her legs was all he could see of Kairi's body, but that was good enough for Sora at the moment.

Ventus knew what Sora was trying to do, but he doubted it was going to be as simple as calling out to the girl, and he would have told Sora as such too, had he not seen Kairi's fingers suddenly jump a little in response to Sora's cries. For a minute, he thought he also saw her hand move a little closer to where Sora was standing too, and it seemed that maybe Sora's idea was going to work. What he did not know, was that he was not the only one who had seen or sensed something from the girl's body, as Kairi had felt it too. _"Sora, I think it's working! I can feel my heart getting stronger and my body calling out to me,"_ Kairi cheered. _"Keep going! I think I'm almost there!"_

Sora grinned happily in response to that, and was about to do as requested, when they heard a long bang come from the deck above them, and a minute later, Kairi's body was dragged out of view from him once again. The pirates must have arrived just then, because they also heard Wendy let out a gasp of fright, and that seemed to spurn Peter into taking much more hasty action. The minute he heard Wendy cry out, Peter had spun his dagger up into his hand and started hacking away at the grate above them in an attempt to break through it. "Come on! We've gotta get up there," Peter growled as he hacked and chopped at the grate.

"Move back, Peter. I've got this," Ventus ordered, and once Pan was clear of the line of fire, Ventus aimed his Keyblade up at the grate, and fired a blast of Fira that blew it open with a bang.

Peter immediately flew up into the room above them, with Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy all jumping up to join him seconds later by focusing some magic into their feet in order to jump higher, but all they found when they arrived was an empty room. Peter immediately slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, hating how he was just too late like that, but he quickly calmed down when Ventus placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, while giving him a matching look to show that they would get to Wendy before he knew it. Peter smiled in thanks for that and started scanning the room, knowing that they could not have gone too far, until he spotted a ladder hanging on the ceiling above them, and immediately smirked in recognition of what it could do for them.

"Hey, that ladder goes right up to Hook's cabin! I'll bet that's where he had Wendy and your friend taken," Peter informed the others as he pointed up to the ladder.

"Good eye, Peter," Ventus complimented. "Think you can fly up and get it down for us?"

"I don't know. It looks like it might be locked into place from here," Peter admitted.

While the two of them were talking, they failed to notice Goofy, Sora, and Donald were stacking themselves on top of one another to form a human totem pole, and then reach up to unlatch the ladder from its place on the ceiling, until it had dropped down to the floor that is. "It's open now," Donald announced after he had jumped off of Sora's shoulders.

Ventus and Peter just looked between the three and the ladder before they both eventually just shrugged and said, "Well that works too."

They wasted no more time with idle chit-chat, and all immediately clambered up the ladder to the cabin above them. Despite being an old codfish, Ventus would admit that Hook did have some tastes when it came to interior decorating of a personal space, because Hook's cabin, while nothing too extravagant, was still impressive to look at. The captain had set things up so that he had a very nice sofa of a bench against the far window, while the bed looked like something you would find in a very nice hotel with four posts at the corners that reached up to the ceiling. Over in front of the window, he could see a very nice looking desk and chair that had a large assortment of items resting upon the former, including a quill pen, several parchments, some of which Ven assumed were maps of various varieties, and a couple of small chests. The blonde had to pause for a moment when he felt as though something were calling to him from one of those chests, but it was quickly forgotten when Sora took notice of who else was in the captain's cabin with them, and called out the one of their names, sounding a little desperate and tired when he did.

"Riku," Sora called, seeing his best friend holding Kairi's body in his arms, and the young Keyblade wielder could feel Kairi's heart reacting even more strongly to being near the girl's body than ever in that one moment.

"You never quit, do you, Sora," Riku growled, irritably. No one was expecting him to draw a mocking smirk in the next second though, as he turned to the blonde and said, "But at least now, we have a chance to prove once and for all if we really are in the presence of a true Keyblade master."

"What's that supposed to mean," Ventus demanded, not liking how Riku had phrased that in the least bit.

"I'm sure you can figure it out on your own, but I guess I'll make it easy for you," Riku replied. "If you really are a Keyblade master, then prove it by returning Kairi's heart to her body. I've been told that you know where it is, so it shouldn't be any problem for you to give her back her heart right here and now, should it?"

Ventus and Sora both had to pause in shock. How did Riku figure out that he knew the location of Kairi's heart? Did they slip up when talking about it on one of the other worlds, and not notice a time when he was close enough to hear them? Or had someone else found out and told him? Of course, there was also the third possibility of someone, most likely Maleficent if they were to take a wild guess, merely guessing that and telling Riku as a way to lure him to their side while driving a wedge between him and Sora, but whatever the case might have been, it did not matter. What mattered right now was that Riku was finally calling Ventus out on his claims to be a Keyblade master, confirming that the silver haired boy did not ever seem to believe the blonde about that in the first place. Knowing this, it was time to finally get to the bottom of the mystery as to why that was, and Ventus did not hesitate to question the kid on it.

"Why should I have to prove anything to you or anyone else," Ventus asked, the look in his eyes making the question both simple and demanding at the same time. "I know who I am, what I am, and that should always be more than enough."

"Oh really? Then where were you when other worlds were falling to darkness, when Kairi lost her heart, or when your own friend, a woman that you claim to care about more than anything, threw herself into darkness to save another one of your friends," Riku demanded, shocking Ventus with how much he knew. "I've met real Keyblade masters before, and I could feel the power that they wielded just by standing there, and this was back when I was just a kid. You, I only feel and see failure, so if you expect me to believe you, then you know what you have to do to prove it: give Kairi back her heart."

Ventus would have questioned Riku on how he knew so much about him and his friends, along with what other Keyblade masters the kid could have met besides Aqua, but he was honestly too stunned by the revelation of what he knew to really think or speak clearly at the moment. When he finally did, he was only able to answer Riku's demand to return Kairi's heart to her body, and it was not an answer that he wanted to give to anyone. "I can't. I don't know how to get her heart back where it belongs."

"Humph. I thought so. Just some worthless pretender, like I thought," Riku scoffed, and he immediately began to step back as a swirl of shadows began to form around him, and seep through the crack at the bottom of the door he was standing in front and beneath his feet.

"Riku, wait," Sora pleaded, hoping he could explain Ven's reasoning better than the blonde, but he had to stop short when the shadows that had seeped into the room suddenly sprang up in front of him and took on a form that was almost identical to his own, except with the glowing yellow eyes of the Heartless being the only distinguishing feature on its dark face. A minute later, the dark copy of Sora had summoned a duplicate of Kingdom Key into its hand and took up Sora's battle stance, showing that it was ready for a fight, while Riku simply vanished into the shadowy vortex that had opened behind him with Kairi's body in tow.

Seeing this dark copy of his apprentice appear was what finally snapped Ven out of his daze, and he quickly summoned Guardian Wind forth so that they could deal with this new obstacle. The minute that the blonde had drawn his weapon, the others took that as their cue to take up arms and attack as well, and they all immediately charged Sora's evil twin. Peter and Ven made the first strike, having reached what they heard Jiminy dub Anti-Sora first, but they were a bit thrown off when it actually parried their blows in the same way that Sora would. Not only that, but when it charged forward and attacked Goofy, they all quickly spotted more than a few similarities to Sora's fighting style. Luckily Goofy was able to bear the brunt of the attacks with his shield, and it gave Donald an opening to try blasting the thing with magic, only for it to suddenly dive down into the floor like a Shadow would and avoid the attack. When it came out of the ground again, it struck Sora from behind in a powerful sneak attack that sent Sora flying across the room and into the window. Thankfully, it seemed that the window was made of rather strong glass, because Sora did not go through it and into the water surrounding the ship.

Peter immediately dashed over for another attempt, but Anti-Sora just jumped beneath the floor again to try the same trick as before. It failed to hit Peter in a counterattack though, because Pan managed to fly up just enough that he was out of its reach, and it was at that point that Ventus noticed something about this dark copy of Sora. While it did possess some of its own abilities, it only seemed to have Sora's basic combat skills and none of his new ones. It never once used anything resembling Command Styles or Shotlocks, and the closest thing to magic that it seemed capable of was that little shadow sinking ability, and that drew a grin to Ven's face that showed his realization of their advantage. The next time that the shadow sank beneath the floor, avoiding both a strike from Goofy's shield and a blast of Fira from Donald when it did, Ventus immediately started tracking it by sensing its darkness. When he pinpointed where it would spring up, Ven quickly jumped to a safe area from its attacks, and unleashed the power Salvation on the dark being. His blow struck true to its target, and he could see Anti-Sora stumbling after being hit by the light magic, right into Sora's waiting Keyblade.

What they did not expect, was that when Sora struck his shadowy clone, was that it would end up splitting into three, much to their surprise. Peter, Donald, and Goofy were all completely thrown for a loop at this, and from where they were standing, it seemed that anyone of these things could have been the real Anti-Sora. They certainly fought just like him, but Sora and Ven could both sense that only one was the real thing, while the other two were simply copies. They just needed a moment to pin down the real thing, but that was a moment that they were not likely to get, since the three copies were proving incredibly vicious in their attacks on both the two of them and their friends. Realizing this, Ventus immediately told Peter and Donald to tag-team one copy while Sora and Goofy handled the other, leaving the third one for Ventus alone, and they all quickly set to work on taking out the three dark copies of Sora. It took very little time for them to realize that Peter and Donald had ended up with the real Anti-Sora, because the other two were quickly taken down by the other three, and when they saw that it was now cornered, Ventus and Sora immediately charged over to their two friends, Keyblades drawn back for a powerful strike, and sliced through the evil twin of Kingdom Key's wielder in one fluid motion just seconds after Peter and Donald and jumped clear.

At first, they all thought that Sora and Ventus had missed when they swung at Anti-Sora, but that idea was quickly shattered when Anti-Sora finally dropped down into a pool of shadows beneath its feet and then vanished without a trace. Considering that it had dived into the floor for sneak attacks so much, none of them were so quick as to relax their guard right away, but after a few minutes of nothing happening, they all had to breathe a sigh of relief and assume that it was gone for good. "Déjà Vu," Ventus muttered under his breath, having been reminded of something similar happening to him a long time ago, and if the others heard him, they did not show any sign of noticing. He pushed that aside for the moment, because they still had something that they needed to do. "Let's get moving and see if we can find Wendy, or maybe even some small sign that Riku's still aboard with Kairi's body."

"Why do you think that he wouldn't be," Donald asked.

"Dark portals like that one can lead to anywhere, and I do mean _anywhere_. For all we know, Riku's probably long gone from Neverland by now, but if there is a chance that we can get Kairi's body away from him, we have to try. This may be our only chance to get it to somewhere that we can return Kairi's heart to where it belongs without worrying about getting ambushed by villains or Heartless," Ventus explained.

"He's right. I've finally found Kairi again after all this time. I'm not going to let her slip away from between my fingers," Sora agreed.

 _"Um, Sora? You do remember that I'm right here, don't you,"_ Kairi questioned from inside of his heart.

 _"You know what I mean,"_ Sora retorted.

 _"Yeah, and I also feel as though it's too late to stop Riku from getting away. I already can't sense my body anymore, so I think he's already taken it away,"_ Kairi revealed.

 _"That could just mean that it's not on the ship. Maybe it's on whatever counts as mainland here on Neverland, and you're just out of range. If your body's still here, then we will find it, Kairi. I promise,"_ Sora reassured her, but he could still feel a doubt or two creeping into his heart, and he knew that Kairi could probably feel it as well.

The mental conversation between the two came to an end there so Sora could help the others with searching Hook's cabin for clues on where Wendy could be. They were not about to go out on deck to look, knowing that they were definitely going to run into the pirate captain and the Heartless there, and they had to play it safe in their searching for now. In the end, they did not find anything until Goofy tripped over a ring on the floor that opened another trap door, this one leading into a room that stood next to the one that they had just climbed out of, from what they could tell, and they wasted no time in jumping down inside of it. Well, most of them did not, at least. Ventus actually paused for a few seconds when he felt that same sensation of something calling out to him coming from a chest on Hook's desk once again, and this time, there was nothing to keep him from investigating, so he immediately did so.

Before going for the actual chest, Ventus could not help but glance at the various papers on Hook's desk, and two in particular caught his interest. The first was one of the missing pages from Merlin's book, while the second was yet another page from Ansem's report on the Heartless. Looking over the newest page, Ventus could only sigh in exasperation at its lack of new information, until he recognized what was said in the report. It was detailing the first time he and Mickey had gone to Radiant Garden to talk with Ansem the Wise about helping them to find a way to bring Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness. They already knew that he had found a way into the dark world at the time when they had first arrived, so that was the big reason why he and the king of Disney Town had gone to Ansem for his help. Looking over the report, Ventus could not help but notice that a few things seemed a little off. From what he was reading, it seemed like Ansem had taken a very particular interest in the Keyblade and the stories around it, and while Ven did admit that Ansem did hold some curiosity in regards to the mystical weapon, it was never quite to the extent that this report was indicating. More than that, it sounded as though Ansem was trying to find another Keyblade wielder to see if the Keyblade had any connection to a door he had opened before, and Ventus knew that Ansem understood how dangerous that door was, so why did this report make it appear that the man was intending to try and tamper with it even more than he already unintentionally had?

With nothing but more questions than answers from this newest find, Ventus decided that he should just pocket the pages and bring it up with the rest of the team at a later time. Namely, a time when they were not dealing with pirates, Heartless, and captured friends. Once he had made certain that both missing pages were secured on his person, Ventus returned his attention to the chest he was reaching for before, and quickly opened it up to see what was inside. Upon doing so, he was quickly greeted with the familiar sight of another Summon Charm, though this one was in a state of inactivity like the ones for Simba and Spider-Man had once been. You could easily tell by the faded image and small, almost unnoticeable crack on it, but Ventus could still make out what looked like a pair of curved wings above what looked like a pair of thin, crossed swords. It was not a familiar symbol to Ventus, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt like he had seen it somewhere before at least once, so that served as all the more reason for him to stuff the inactive charm in pocket before jumping down the trap door after the others.

When his feet touched the ground, Ventus looked to see the others gathered around Peter, who was holding Wendy in his arms. At first glance, Ven was worried that they were too late to save her, but after taking a second look, he was relieved to see that she was only unconscious. Tinker Bell, while glad to see the girl was all right, did not seem so happy to see Peter's reaction to Wendy's current state, and was making it very clear to him. "Come on, Tink! Not now," Peter scolded, getting the fairy even more upset with him.

Ventus was about to go over and say something to the two, but before he could, Tinker Bell just flew off and disappeared from sight completely, a clear sign that she was done putting up with Peter's attitude towards Wendy for the moment. Ventus wanted to go after her, but he had a feeling that Tinker Bell just wanted to be alone for the moment, and besides, there were still other important matters to address, and Peter was already working on the case of one. "Well, this is as far as I can go. I've gotta help Wendy," said the boy who never grew up.

"We understand. You get her somewhere safe, and leave everything here to us," Ventus told his friend, and he was not just referring to their search for Riku and Kairi's body either. Somehow, he just knew that they were going to get involved in getting Tinker Bell to make up with Peter before they left.

Peter nodded in reply and then lifted Wendy into his arms so he could fly her out of there. As they watched him go, the four had to hope that Peter would be able to get off the ship without anyone noticing. After all, they did meet the guy while they were locked in the brig, but Peter had said that he had gotten there on his own and was just waiting for Tinker Bell at the time, so they decided that they should just trust him for now. That was all they really could do regarding Peter's mission at the moment, because they had some friends that they needed to find as quickly as possible, and they had no intention of leaving a single part of this ship unchecked in their search for Riku and Kairi's body.

* * *

After searching the lower decks of the ship a few more times and finding nothing of consequence, the team had to assume that they only place that their queries could be was up on the main deck, and none of them were entertaining ideas that they would not be walking into a trap the minute they set so much as a toe out there. Still, there was no way it could be avoided now, so they steeled their courage and resolve, and immediately made their way upward and out, breathing in the fresh, salty sea air the minute that they had walked out onto the main deck. They probably would have found the clear night sky and above them and peaceful waters below them a welcoming sight were it not all spoiled by the Pirate Heartless who were already standing at the ready for a fight, while Captain Hook stood at the head of the group alongside Smee with a large, smug grin on his face that gave Ventus and Sora both a very bad feeling. A glance in the other two's direction immediately told the Keybearers that Donald and Goofy were getting the same feeling, and it did not take too long for them to find out why, because they soon found out that answer when Hook started talking.

"Quite a codfish, that Riku, running off with that girl without even saying goodbye," Hook remarked, his smug grin never failing in even the slightest, almost as though he was not even the least bit bothered by how there were four powerful warriors before him that likely had a bone to pick with both him and his current crew.

Hearing that Riku was already long gone with Kairi's body did put a damper on things for them, but given the way that Hook was talking, Sora quickly assumed that the pirate must know something, and he did not hesitate to start making demands, brandishing his Keyblade to show he was not kidding around. "Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?"

"To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides," Hook revealed with a sinister grin.

"And I'm guessing that's the same place that most of the Heartless are coming from, right," Ventus guessed, not liking how Hook was so forth coming with the information at all.

"More or less, but you won't be going there," Hook stated. He then plucked up a lantern that Smee had been holding onto, and held it so that the four could see it. When they did, the four all let out horrified gasps at the sight of Tinker Bell locked inside, desperately banging against the glass in an attempt to break out. Apparently, Hook found the fairy's efforts amusing, because his grin grew a little more while he finished, "Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind."

"Let her go, Hook, you witless coward," Ventus snarled, already preparing to charge forward. Just as the blonde had made a single step though, Hook started to move so he was in a position to throw the lantern and its pixie captive overboard, making Ventus stop in his tracks.

"Like I said, if you want her, then you'd best not even think of trying anything," Hook grinned, mockingly. Seeing as they had no other choice, the four let out sighs of defeat and dismissed each of their weapons, though in the case of Ventus, it was really more of an angry growl than a sigh. A moment later, Pirates were surrounding the four, with their large cutlasses pointed at them, while Hook gave one last ultimatum. "Hand over the Keyblades and I'll spare your lives. Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless. So, which will it be? The Keyblades, or the plank?"

Sora and Ventus were now both glaring at Hook, but only the latter gave a reply to the captain's demands. "You know we can't just hand a Keyblade over, Hook. It doesn't work that way."

"As you wish, but I hope you know, that wish will see to it that you watch your precious apprentice go off the end of the plank first, Ventus," Hook revealed, and the next thing anyone knew, Sora was being shoved away from his friends and onto the plan, despite Donald, Goofy, and Ven's best attempts at preventing this.

"No! Leave him alone, Hook! If you want to take anyone, then just take me as payback for when I beat you years ago! Remember, how I basically humiliated you despite the fact I was still just a kid who hadn't even finished more than half of his training," Ventus shouted, hoping that his mix of begging and goading would make the captain change his mind.

"I remember quite well, yes, and that's why I think this will make my revenge on you all the better," Hook smirked in reply, clearly enjoying Ven's begging.

Ventus was about to make another plea to the captain, when a faint sound suddenly caught his attention. After pausing to make sure he was not hearing things, Ventus gained a smirk of his own, looked to Hook, and asked, "I say, Captain, do you hear something?"

Hook just returned Ven's question with a confused look, but he immediately tensed up at the sound of ticking clock, his expression turning to one of panic, and he slowly turned to look over the side of his ship to see a large green crocodile grinning up at him. "No! It's him! The crocodile that took me hand! Oh, Smee! He's after me other hand! I can't stay here," Hook cried out in fear before he started to scramble away, passing the lantern holding Tinker Bell to Smee. "Go away! Oh, I can't stand the sight of him! Smee, you take care of them!"

The next thing anyone knew, Hook had vanished back into the captain's cabin, while everyone else just looked on after him like they had just seen one of the strangest things ever, save for Smee. "Well, that happened, and I guess now we know why he has a hook for a hand too," Goofy noted.

"But how does he really know that's the crocodile that ate his hand," Donald asked.

"That's because the captain made the crocodile swallow his alarm clock," Smee explained, apparently not too bothered by the fact he was telling these things to his captain's enemies. "So now, when he's about, he warns you as you might say with his tick-tock, tick-tock."

"SMEE," Hook hollered, clearly having overheard from his cabin.

"O-oh, right! S-sorry Cap'n! All right now, off the plank with you," Smee ordered, and the other three soon found they could do nothing but watch as Sora was forced to walk closer and closer to the end of the plank, knowing that a hungry crocodile was waiting to swallow him down below.

Sora was honestly not sure what he could do now. He was not as well-practiced as Ventus was with wind magic, so there was almost no chance of him being able to use it in order to prevent himself from falling to his death in the crocodile's jaws, and he could not summon a Keyblade Glider yet either, since Ventus had still not taught him how yet. Besides that, if he did try to fight back somehow, then Tinker Bell and his friends were likely going to pay the price as a result. No matter how he looked at it, Sora could not see a way out, and that would mean that he would have failed Ventus, Riku, Kairi, and all of the worlds. Just as he was beginning to consider just stepping off the plank and falling to his death with some dignity, a faint voice suddenly called out to him that he quickly recognized.

"Fly, Sora! Just believe, think happy thoughts, and you can do it! That's what I had forgotten about before. In order to fly, you need to think of a wonderful thought. Any happy little thought like toys at Christmas, friends, or the people you care about more than anything, and then, you'll fly easy as pie," Peter called out.

Sora took in Peter's words carefully, and closed his eyes for a moment to try and come up with a happy thought that he could use to help him fly. It was a bit difficult, given all the hard and saddening times he had been dealing with lately, but through it all, there was something that did stand out to him that made him especially happy: all of his friends, both the ones that had been traveling with him during this journey, the ones from his home, and the ones he had made since it began. They had all become a very important part of his life that he was grateful to have, and that definitely made his heart swell with joy. It was right when his thoughts came to Kairi that Sora finally jumped off the plank and began falling down to Tick-Toc's open jaws. Just before the crocodile could snap his jaws closed around the edge of the boy's shoes, Sora suddenly took off into the sky away from the crocodile, and he then flew up so that he was hovering right above everyone still down on the deck.

"Hey, look! Sora can fly," Goofy cheered.

"He can fly," Donald exclaimed in surprise.

"He can fly," Ventus confirmed with a proud grin.

Smee could only stare in honest surprise until a sudden rush of wind past grabbed his attention, and he looked down to see that the lantern holding Tinker Bell had vanished from his hands. Looking around, Smee quickly paled a little when he saw Peter Pan land alongside Sora, and then open the lantern so that his best friend could fly free of her prison. Smee knew that they were all in trouble now, because the one thing no one in Neverland ever did was bring any kind of harm to Peter's friends, and especially Tinker Bell, unless they wanted to be on the receiving end of Pan's wrath.

Sora on the other hand was just glad that he was still in one piece along with the fact that he was now able to actually fly just like Peter, and seeing Tinker Bell now free made him even happier as he turned to the green-clad boy and said, "Thanks, Peter."

"Hey, don't mention it. You didn't think I'd leave you, Ven, and Tink behind, did you," Peter asked with a smile, earning a smile from all of his friends, including Tinker Bell.

While the heroes were distracted, Smee used the chance to run away, jumping into a lifeboat so he could start rowing to safety from the battle that was about to begin. That same battle actually began just as Smee had climbed into the dingy, because Ventus had immediately summoned his Keyblade when he saw that Tinker Bell and Sora were no longer in danger, and the blonde had wasted no time in unleashing a few powerful slashes and magic blasts in order to clear out the Heartless that were still surrounding him, Donald, and Goofy. "Well then, how about we swab the deck with these scallywag landlubbers," Ventus quipped with a grin.

Everyone, even the Heartless paused for a minute to throw Ventus a look after hearing him say that, until Donald finally asked, "Really? Did you have to say that?"

"What? Do you have any idea how long I've been holding in the pirate jokes after I first found out there were pirates on Neverland? I missed my chance to use one the last time, and I'm not missing it this time," Ventus shamelessly shrugged.

A moment later though, more Heartless started to appear, all of them carrying a pirate theme to them, but none of them were Pirate Heartless. In point of fact, these new Heartless were all airborne, and had no problems with showing it off. The first of the new additions to the Heartless forces, and the majority of them, were a group of pirates with large, gold wings which seemed to help them fly through the air as easily as Peter could, while the other new arrivals were much different in comparison. The one notable difference was that one could easily think that it was actually just a Heartless riding a small pirate ship, when in reality, the ship was just as much a part of the Heartless as its captain was. A large propeller sat atop the ship's sail, while another two extended up from the stern, a pair of cannons rested on either side of the ship along with one at the front, and the Heartless emblem could be seen emblazoned on the sail. No one needed Jiminy to tell them that these Heartless were not in his journal, but they were still glad to hear him name these newcomers as Air Pirates and Battleships all the same. It was certainly better than just referring to them as the flying pirate Heartless or something similar to that. The only thing that they were happier about was that there were only two Battleships bearing down on them, because they definitely had all the signs of being difficult opponents. Either way, there was still the matter of how Sora and Peter were the only ones that were capable of matching these airborne foes at the moment.

That quickly changed though when Donald and Goofy both learned what Peter had told Sora about how to fly, and they too were soon flying through the air to face their aerial foes, while raining down a barrage of attacks on the Pirates that were still on the deck. Ventus would have joined in on the airborne fun as well, but when he tried to take off, he found that he was still unable to do so. The blonde was definitely getting annoyed by this now, but he put it aside so he could focus on taking care of the enemies that were on the deck, letting his apprentice and friends deal with the Heartless that were flying around above them. Of course, doing so meant that he missed the concerned look that Tinker Bell had thrown his way, but he did not miss out on seeing Sora unleash Blizzara and Thundara on one of the Battleships in quick succession. Peter was quick to finish off the Battleship that Sora had blasted with his two new spells before turning his dagger on an Air Pirate or two, only to have Goofy jump in and block a shot from the second Battleship. Goofy then barreled forward with his shield in front of him, and blasted apart the front of the Battleship, leaving it without one of its weapons. Not that it mattered too much, because Donald was soon firing off a few rounds of powerful magic that whittled it down to its last legs, and leaving it primed for Sora to finish off with Radiant Blade.

A quick slash at one final Pirate from Peter and Ven saw the end of their rather easy battle, but despite how difficult it may or may not have been, they all still sighed in relief once they were sure that the fight was over. Still, they knew that they had to deal with a certain codfish before they were done here, and Ventus was about to go bust down Hook's door so he could have a few words with the captain, when Tinker Bell suddenly flew around in front of him, ringing like no tomorrow as she was throwing out concerns and questions. Ventus only quirked an eyebrow in response, not understanding anything that Tinker Bell said, before he finally looked to Peter for a translation. "She wants to know why you weren't flying with the rest of us during the fight, and I kinda want to know too," Peter explained. "I figured that if anyone had happy thoughts in abundance it would be you, Ven."

Ventus just glanced back and forth between the two before he lowered his head with a sigh and said, "Well…I guess most of my happy thoughts aren't quite as happy as they used to be. My best friend is lost in the darkness somewhere, the man who was the closest thing I had to a father not only tried to destroy me for the greater good but is now dead partly because of that, and the woman I love is trapped in the Realm of Darkness somewhere. Add in the fact that I've got the fate of so many worlds resting on my shoulders and my ability to teach Sora how to become a Keyblade master, and I think you can see why I've got so many unhappy thoughts at the moment."

Tinker Bell just frowned sadly at Ventus, feeling very sympathetic to the guy and wanting to do something to try and cheer him up. Peter felt the same way too, but neither one of the two Neverlanders were sure how they could do that. Sora, Donald, and Goofy did have an idea though, and were about to act on it, when Peter remembered that they still had to deal with Hook and grinned when he thought of a sneaky way to the captain to come to them. He quickly signaled for everyone to be quiet, slipped over to the door to Hook's cabin, and gave it a quick knock, all the while, doing his best to not burst out laughing even the tiniest bit.

"Is that you, Smee? Did you finish them off," Hook asked through the door, not knowing the rest of the group was already moving so that they were standing on either side of the door once they got an idea of what Peter was planning.

"Aye, Cap'n. They walked the plank, every last one of them," Peter replied in an impressively accurate impression of Smee that made Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy all join him in trying to suppress any laughter.

Hook immediately came racing out after he heard that, grinning from ear to ear at the news, but his smile soon fell when he came to a stop and saw the deck completely void of both his first mate and the Heartless that were currently part of his crew. Peter then slowly crept up behind Hook, his dagger drawn, and stabbed the captain right in his butt. Hook immediately let out a cry of pain when he felt the sharp object in his rear, and spun around to glare down at the culprit, only to gasp when he saw who it was. "P-Peter Pa—blast you," Hook roared.

"Ready to make a splash, you codfish," Peter smirked in retort. "Now it's your turn to walk the plank."

Sora and the others were all ready to charge when Peter said that, when Ventus suddenly raised his arms up to stop them, Keyblade in hand and ready for action. "Sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to ask you to stay back this time. He's mine," Ventus growled, glaring fiercely at Hook. "No one threatens my friends and apprentice."

"Then by all means, prepare to die, Ventus," Hook grinned as he drew his sword to meet Ven's Keyblade.

Ventus merely grinned as he shrugged, "To die would be a great adventure."

"A shame that it will be the last adventure for you," Hook retorted, and with that, the two crossed swords.

The sound of blade clashing against blade were soon echoing all across the ship, and while the other boys all wanted to jump in, they were quickly surprised to find Tinker Bell blocking their path, saying that this was Ven's fight and that it was one he needed to face alone. Sora would have protested against this, but after Peter reassured Sora that Ven could handle it, his arguments died in his throat and he ended up just watching as the blonde and Hook traded blows. His eyes soon widened in amazement when he saw Ventus roll under one of Hook's swings while the blonde became coated in an aura of lightning that easily zapped Hook, showing that the blonde had just used the Thunder Roll in the fight. A quick blast of Aerora from Ven's free hand then allowed the blonde to gain a little more space so he could make another leaping strike on Hook.

The pirate captain had been thrown off-balance by Ven's wind spell, but he managed to regain his footing just in time to block Ven's follow-up strike and then push him back. At that point, he expected Ven to charge again, but to his surprise, Ventus just remained where he was, staring at Hook for some odd reason. After another second or so, Ventus finally said, "You know, I remember you being a bit bigger."

"You were a short teenager, so I was huge," Hook retorted, and he immediately lunged forward in a strike that Ven was not entirely expecting. Thankfully, the blonde had managed to raise his blade up in time to deflect a blow or two, but was unable to do anything to keep from getting pushed back against the wall behind him. The next thing that Ven knew, he was shoved right into the wall, and the only thing keeping Hook's sword from slicing into his throat was Guardian Wind, but that did mean that was keeping Hook from trying to push through Ven's defense. "What's the matter, is the poor little master not able to fly away," Hook mocked.

"I don't need to fly to beat you, Hook," Ventus retorted as he tried to push Hook off.

"All evidence to the contrary," Hook pointed out, raising his hook so that it flashed in the moonlight. "Not that it's surprising. The poor little boy doesn't have any true happy thoughts left to carry him up and away, so maybe Riku was right to say that you're not a real master. Just a scared little boy playing pretend."

Ventus' grip was slackening even more now, because deep down, he could not help but think that maybe Hook was right. He had already admitted that he did not know how to safely remove Kairi's heart from Sora and return it to the girl's body, and while he was making impressive progress with Sora's training, Ventus could not help but feel that it was nothing too significant, since somehow, he knew that the kid probably could have managed just as well on his own. The sight of Hook's sword edging closer to Ven's neck more quickly than before was what finally drove the others to action, but not in an attack. If they had tried to hit Hook right now without being careful, they likely would have hurt Ven in the process. No, what they did instead was prove the pirate wrong by reminding Ventus of something very important.

"You be quiet! Ven's got plenty of happy thoughts, and we're all standing right here," Donald snapped at Hook.

"Yeah, after all, we're some of Ven's bestest buddies, and we're not gonna let him try to handle anything on his own if there's something we can do to help him," Goofy hollered in agreement.

"Besides Ven, don't you remember what I told you before? Aqua's okay and close to finding a way back," Sora reminded his master. "Think about how you felt when you heard that, because I remember you being close to the point of shedding tears of joy. She wouldn't want you to give up now, and neither do we."

"Sora's right. We're all here for you, Ven, and we all believe in you, no matter what," Peter agreed.

Ventus looked over the four in awe for a minute or two, hardly believing how sure they sounded, until he noticed Tinker Bell flying over to hover near him with a smile on her face. The little fairy had something to say as well, and this time when she spoke, Ventus did not simply hear ringing bells, but instead, actual words, as he understood exactly what Tinker Bell was saying for the first time. **_"I believe in you, Master Ventus."_**

Hearing that, Ven could only smile as he finally remembered the most important lesson he had ever learned, and he proved it by pushing Hook's blade back a little more, until he had enough space to kick the pirate off of him. Hook quickly came out of his stumbling and attempted to charge Ventus once again, but the Keyblade master merely leapt up over Hook's head, somersaulting through the air as he did, and then remained up there as his body glowed with traces of pixie dust, much to Hook's surprise and the others' joy. "Good form, old man, but I guess you forgot one important thing about me, and it's the same thing that my friends just reminded me of," Ventus revealed. "I've always got a happy thought with me in my heart, because all of my friends are my power and I'm theirs."

What followed next was a barrage of strikes against Hook, courtesy of the airborne Ventus, and this time, no one stopped the others from getting into the mix of things, because they were all soon unleashing hell upon the pirate captain. When Hook suddenly pulled out a number of explosive packages to throw, Goofy rushed in and tripped him up, making the packages explode on Hook, while Goofy was protected by his shield. Donald then blasted Hook with a bit of fire magic that caused him to holler in pain as his bum caught fire, much to Peter, Sora, and Ven's amusement. Sora kept the fun going by blasting Hook with another dose of Fira, and the captain let out another yelp of pain as he jumped up into the air due to being set on fire a second time. This time though, Ventus was waiting with a quick ice spell that doused the flame so that Peter could safely grab the captain by his coat. Hook merely glanced around from Peter to the water below where Tic Toc was still waiting, and his expression quickly turned panicked when he realized what they were planning.

Ventus only grinned at Hook's look of realization, and then looked over the side of the ship down to the large animal below as he asked, "Hey Mister Crocodile? Do you like codfish?" When he saw Tic Toc eagerly nodding with watering jaws, Ven's grin grew a little bigger as he said, "You do?!"

"Well then, here's a big one just for you," Peter finished, and he immediately threw Captain Hook overboard, all of them watching with wide grins as the pirate scrambled to keep from dropping right up to the moment when he splashed down into the water.

They all then raced up to the side of the ship so that they could watch as Hook resurfaced and then turn a scared gaze on the eager, hungry crocodile before he jumped up and seemingly started to run on the water to get away from Tic Toc, with the crocodile in hot pursuit. "Help me, Mister Smee! Help me," Hook cried out, only to turn back and see the crocodile gaining on him, and making his cries even more panicked. "SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"D-don't worry Cap'n! I'm on the way, sir! I'll save you, Cap'n," Smee called out as he rowed after both captain and crocodile as fast as he could, all the while, Peter, Ven, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tinker Bell could only laugh at the sight as it unfolded.

* * *

It was quite some time before everyone finally calmed down from the laughing fit they all came down with from seeing Hook getting chased off by Tic Toc, but now, a much more somber mood had fallen over them, as the others watched Sora staring off into space, no doubt thinking about what had just happened in his most recent confrontation with Riku, and what they had lost as a result. Goofy was about to comment on it, but was quickly shushed by Donald just to make sure that Sora did not overhear and get even more upset than he already was, but all the same, they all felt like they had to say or do something. The only problem was, none of them knew what to do here.

After another minute of silence or so, they all froze a bit when Sora finally spoke up in barely more than a whisper. "I still can't believe it," he said, and the next thing anyone knew, the kid was looking up at the sky with a huge grin. "I really flew! Wait 'til I tell Riku and everyone else back home! I wonder if any of them will believe me. Probably not."

 _"I'd hate to admit it, but even I would probably have a hard time believing it if I hadn't seen it happen,"_ Kairi teasingly admitted, but it did nothing to bring down Sora's apparently good mood.

"You can bring them all to Neverland sometime. Then they can all try it themselves," Peter encouraged, already excited at the idea of getting to meet some more new friends.

"Yeah, they can," Ventus agreed. He knew it would probably be going against the world order to bring all of Sora's friends to Neverland, even if it was just the ones from Destiny Islands, but at this point, he had to wonder just how much damage they could really end up doing considering how much they had already interfered on other worlds. He then fell a little downcast as he admitted, "You know, I had always kinda hoped that the next time I came to Neverland, I'd be able to fly along with Terra and Aqua."

"Well hey, like I told Sora, you can always come back with them another time. Aqua may have flown once before, but I'll bet she'll like it even better if you and Terra are both there too," Peter reassured his friend.

"Yeah, because if you believe and always keep happy thoughts in your heart, you can do anything, right," Sora asked, though it was really more of a reminder than anything else.

"Right," Ventus nodded with a laugh. "I'll definitely find Aqua and Terra. I know I will. There's so much that I want to show and tell them about. The adventures, my training and becoming a master, and everything else that's happened, and that includes how I've already gotten my first apprentice."

Sora grinned when he heard Ventus say that, and not just because he was flattered by that comment, but because he felt the same way as Ven. There was a lot that Sora wanted to tell his friends about too, whether it be about the friends he had made, the battles he had fought, or the things he had seen. Sora wanted to tell them about it all, and he truly believed that he would get the chance to someday soon. What he did not know was that day was actually much closer to coming than he thought, because Ven had something that he needed to share.

"Well then, I guess that it's a good thing that we now know where to go from here," Ventus revealed, surprising all of the world-traveling team. "Even if he didn't mean to, Hook confirmed earlier that Maleficent is waiting for us on Hollow Bastion, and Riku's already fled there with Kairi. Since that is the case, then I'm sure you can all guess what else we're going to find there."

"The other Princesses of Heart," Donald and Goofy excitedly exclaimed.

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "And maybe even more than that. It may also be the place where we'll find the answers to what had happened there to make it Heartless central, and maybe even solve the mystery of what happened to Ansem and the rest of his report."

"So then what are we waiting for? Let's get back to the ship and head there now," Sora requested, clearly eager to get moving as fast as possible.

"Hold on, Sora, we can't just yet for many reasons," Ventus pointed out. "First off, the _Kingdom_ can't reach Hollow Bastion just yet. If we want to get there, we're going to need to find that other navigation gummi that pairs off with the one we found in Traverse Town, and since none of us are gummi block experts like him that means we'll also have to go back to Cid so he can properly install them on the ship. Trying to get there now would be too much for the _Kingdom_ to handle, likely to the point where the ship could end up getting torn apart."

Sora deflated a little when he heard that, but he did understand. The last thing they needed was to fly off somewhere with little to no way back, assuming that they survived the journey there at all. Still he had to ask, "What's the other reason though?"

"We still need to seal the Keyhole of this world. Hook may be long gone, at least for now, but the Heartless could still stumble upon it and drown Neverland in darkness if we don't seal it soon," Ventus reminded him.

When she heard that, Tinker Bell immediately jumped in excitement and started talking a mile a minute, making it too hard for Ventus to properly understand her while Peter had a much easier time. "What's that, Tink? What about the clock tower," Peter asked, getting Tinker Bell to repeat what she had said before at a much slower pace. "You say there's something there?"

"Do you think that could be the Keyhole," Goofy asked.

Tinker Bell immediately nodded to Goofy while saying something else, which Ven translated to mean, "She's saying that she definitely thinks so. She had heard that the clock tower had always had something very special about it that was kept secret even from most fairies. All she knows is that there was something there that was both very special and very powerful."

"Then what're we waiting for, let's get over there," Donald cheered, getting over Ven's sudden ability to understand Tinker Bell faster than anyone else, not counting Tinker Bell herself, and with that, they all took off into the sky once again, with Peter leading the way to their destination.

* * *

It took almost an hour or so to reach the clock tower that Peter and Tinker Bell were talking about, because it turned out to be on the other end of the world that made up Neverland: a bustling city called London that Peter said was actually Wendy's home. When they saw Wendy sitting calmly at the top of the clock tower with a smile, the others quickly figured out why it took Peter so long to come back and help them, but they saved any possible teasing for later as they all started searching the clock tower for whatever it was that Tinker Bell had said was there. It did not take too long for Sora to notice how one of the four faces was showing a different time than the others, and he had to wonder if that had any real significance. As such, he immediately pointed it out to the rest of the group, and they all agreed to try and reset the clock to the right time to see if that did anything.

After giving a little heave-hoe to the clock hands, the fourth face was soon matching up with the other three, and a moment later, they were all shielding their eyes to block out a bright light that began to emit from all four faces. When they opened their eyes again, they were surprised to see that the Keyhole had appeared on the clock face that had previously been showing the wrong time, and they all immediately grinned in response. Sora and Ventus then raised their Keyblades towards the Keyhole, and a moment later, a beam of light erupted from the tips of both blades and sealed Neverland's Keyhole shut, vanishing from view like the others had before it. What they did not expect was for something to suddenly fall from the clock afterwards, and it would have dropped all the way down to the ground below had Donald not reacted in time to catch it with a Magnet spell so that Goofy could scoop it out of the air.

Goofy immediately brought the item back up to the rest of his friends so that they could all get a better look at it, and the other three quickly grinned in excitement when they saw that it was the other navigation gummi that they needed to reach Hollow Bastion. They did not know how it got into Neverland's Keyhole, and right now, they did not really care either. All that mattered was that they now had a way to reach the world that Riku had fled to with Kairi's body, and where Maleficent was residing with the Princesses of Heart as her captives. It only made sense that they would prepare to leave right away upon reaching this conclusion, but they were not going to just take off without saying goodbye to their friends first.

When they got to the top of the clock tower, they were a little surprised to see Wendy looking at Peter with a sad expression on her face. "Peter, are you really going back to Neverland," Wendy asked.

"Afraid so," Peter confirmed with a sad smile as he reached out to her. "But we can see each other any time. As long as you don't forget about Neverland, that is."

Wendy smiled in reply, happy to hear that as she took Peter's hand to show she accepted his words to be truth, but while the sight was rather sweet, it also served to start getting Tinker Bell riled up again. Donald, of course, burst out laughing when he realized this, but quickly clamped his beak shut when he saw Tinker Bell turn an angry glare at him. He did not want to kicked in the beak again, but he did not mind watching along with the others as Tinker Bell flew off to circle Peter and Wendy both while ringing rapidly at Peter, drawing a slightly surprised look from Pan. A minute later though, they were surprised to see Tinker Bell come back to circle around Ventus until she settled to hover behind the blonde, almost as if she were using Ventus as a shield to keep between her and Peter.

"Oh, boy. She's gettin' steamed again," Peter playfully groaned, having figured out what Tinker Bell was saying with that little show and approving of her decision, while Wendy just smiled at both Tinker Bell and the blonde Keyblade master. Peter's smile became much less teasing and more easy-going as he asked his friend, "Do me a favor, Ven? Look after her for me, will ya?"

"What," Sora gasped as Tinker Bell flew up so that she was hovering in front of Ven's face, with Donald and Goofy both sharing in his confused surprise.

Ventus on the other had quickly caught on to what Tinker Bell and Peter meant by this little display, and gave his small friend a questioning look as he asked, "Are you sure, Tink? I mean, this journey isn't going to be easy."

Tinker Bell simply nodded in reply, and then rapidly spun around as a shower of pixie dust erupted before two items materialized and dropped into Ven and Sora's waiting hands. In Ven's hand was a summon charm that held a silhouette of Tinker Bell's head and wings on the coin, while Sora found himself looking at a Keychain with silver links and a token that was identical to the red feather in Peter's hat. After identifying the Keychain as that of the Fairy Harp Keyblade for Sora, Ventus nodded in reply to Tinker Bell and said, "Okay then. Welcome to the team, Tink."

Tinker Bell cheered happily, glad to be able to help both Ven and all of her newest friends, and somehow, the whole team knew that their journey just got a lot more exciting. Sure, there was no hiding that it was also becoming a lot more dangerous, but with another new summon in their pockets, and a new Keyblade in Sora's collection, they could feel that it was now much easier to really believe that they were going to make it through no matter what got thrown in their way.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there you go. We've got not one, but two more pages from the Ansem Report in the team's pocket, another page from Pooh's storybook, confirmation that Kairi and Riku are hiding out on Hollow Bastion, a final or ultimate destination in mind for the team's mission, Tinker Bell's joined the team as Ven's newest summon, Sora's got another shiny new Keychain, and...Hm, let's see, there was something else in there too. What was it? What was it? It's saying to me...Oh yeah, that's right! Another mystery summon charm! Although I think we all know what that summon charm is for, so calling it a mystery might be a little unnecessary._**

 ** _Ventus: Well it's a mystery to us, so maybe not that much._**

 ** _AN: True, true, but let's face facts, we all know the charm is to summon a hero from "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Yes, you heard me right, Ven's now got the story's big Star Wars summon's charm in his pocket. He's just gonna need to take it to Fairy Godmother before he's able to use it, but don't worry, use it he shall, and I intend to make that moment as epic as possible. So, gotta ask, did you guys catch all the various Peter Pan reference that found their way into this chapter? Not that I made them too hard to notice or anything, but I'm really hoping everyone got them all, so just throwing that out there._**

 ** _Sora: Seems to me like a lot of them focused a bit more on Ven than the rest of us._**

 ** _AN: Well, this chapter did see Ven reuniting with some old friends once again, so what can you expect? Plus, even the teacher has to learn a lesson every now and then, or be reminded of old lessons in this case. I kinda like to think that this chapter serves as Ven's own version of the story we saw in Hook, at least in the sense that he had forgotten how to really fly like they do in Neverland and needed to discover a new happy thought in order to fly again. Here's hoping I pulled that off well enough for everyone to get that._**

 ** _Kairi: I was so close to getting my body back in this chapter. Why couldn't we do that in this chapter again?_**

 ** _AN: Well, I'm sure that many of our readers are probably wondering about that too, Kairi, and the answer is quite simple, sort of. Remember, Roxas was born when Sora became a Heartless, and in a way so was Namine, and that happened when Sora used the Keyblade of the Heart to free Kairi's heart. If Kairi's heart were just jump out of Sora's body and into hers here, then Sora would never use the previously mentioned Keyblade, Roxas and Namine would never be born, and a great deal of events would be severely altered by the time we reach the sequel. Besides, as previously mentioned, they were deep in enemy territory, so having Kairi's heart return to her body now would've been a very bad move, because they would essentially be handing it over to Maleficent the minute that the Heartless realized that Kairi was the last Princess of Heart._**

 ** _Riku: And once again, I'm being a total jerk. Why do you keep making me do this?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, don't blame me! I never told you to go to the dark side and become a major bad guy in the first game. You did that all on your own. Well, you and the Kingdom Hearts creators did, any way, but same thing basically. Besides, we needed to showcase your continuing fall into Maleficent and Ansem's dark clutches, and also give a few more reasons why you would doubt any claims about Ventus being a Keyblade Master. As I'm sure many of you already know, the other Keyblade Master that Riku met besides Aqua was indeed Terra, so no need to scratch your heads trying to figure that out too much if you didn't already know._**

 ** _Tinker Bell: [suddenly flies into the room, ringing at AN with a smile and a few questions]_**

 ** _AN: Oh hey, Tink! Let me guess, you want to know why you were eager to hear news about Aqua when you clearly seemed like you didn't want her around at first when you two met in BBS, right?_**

 ** _Tinker Bell: [nods]_**

 ** _AN: Well, as we've already seen, Tinker Bell does eventually start to lighten up on any jealousy she has towards other girls, as we saw with both Wendy and her daughter Jane in Return to Neverland, and besides that, how can anyone really hate Aqua. You know, unless your Xehanort, Vanitas, Xigbar/Braig, or any other villain that Aqua has previously met and/or foiled._**

 ** _Tinker Bell: [nods in agreement and then waves to Ventus as she rings out her next question]_**

 ** _AN: Why make you become one of Ven's summons? It's simple. Part of it is to keep a balance between the summons that Sora and Ven have. The each get a total of three summons in this story (1 granted, 1 original, and 1 found) For Sora, that's Genie, Spider-Man, and another summon that we will see him get after a certain event in Hollow Bastion. For Ventus, that's Tinker Bell, the Star Wars summon, and Simba. I know that there were more summons than that in the game, but I honestly just went with whichever ones I felt were most important, and the ones that would give you a hint as to a world we would be seeing in the sequel to this story, hence the inclusion of Simba, Spider-Man, the Star War summon, and Sora's final summon._**

 ** _The main reason though, is that it made more sense for Tinker Bell to give her summon charm to Ventus, simply because she knows him better than Sora, and she trusts him. Now I'm not saying that Tinker Bell doesn't trust Sora, or that she wouldn't want to give the charm to the kid, because that's certainly not the case, but she does know Ven a lot better than him, so it makes a lot more sense for her to give the charm to someone she knew really well over someone she had just started getting to know after just meeting them. Does that make sense?_**

 ** _Tinker Bell: [shrugs and nods to say yes]_**

 ** _Ventus: Bigger mystery is how the heck are you able to understand Tink?_**

 ** _AN: [holds up a box labeled "Neverland Fairy Translator" and indicates a device that he's wearing over his ears]_**

 ** _Ventus: Oh. That would be so helpful for so many people._**

 ** _AN: No kidding. Anyway, don't think that we're going back to Traverse Town and preparing for the first trip to Hollow Bastion just yet, because there's still one more world that the team needs to visit first, and one more villain council member to take down, not counting Hades and Maleficent. I'm sure you know what I'm getting at, right? Well if you need more info, head Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _You would think that since they now have the second navigation gummi necessary for reaching Hollow Bastion, the team would be setting course to return to Traverse Town as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, they cannot do that. Upon returning to the ship, it's soon discovered that their best way of getting back without too much trouble had actually taken some damage when they collided with Hook's ship, so they end up having to park the ship near another world while Chip and Dale try to fix it. After all, no point in just sitting around and waiting when they could be doing something important. The only downside is that their latest destination has most of the team quaking in their boots, because this spooky city full of monsters, ghosts, and ghouls, while mostly friendly, is definitely a scare-central for many different reasons. Be ready to scare up some fun, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	16. Halloween Madness

**_AN: Yeah, it's definitely real. You're not dreaming. It is in fact the next chapter of Kingdom Hearts...Oh, you know what this story is called by now, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't still be here._**

 ** _[audience laughter]_**

 ** _Anyways, we're now ready for the next chapter, and for some scary fun in Halloween Town!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Now, I've gotta be totally honest. When I was planning this story, this world did not really hold that much significance. I mean, yeah, there was taking down Oogie Boogie, and sealing its Keyhole, and the fact that we visited this world again in KH2, but aside from that, there was really not much happening here, story-wise. Yeah, Atlantica was the same, but I was at least able to get something into there that made it necessary, at least in regards to this story. Frankly, aside from one detail or two, this chapter mostly felt like a filler to me. A necessary one, yes, but a filler chapter all the same._**

 ** _Ventus: And you don't like filler episodes that don't hold some value, right?_**

 ** _AN: Yep, pretty much. I did try to give a few important points in on this chapter, but they were still rather small for the most part, so that's part of the reason why this chapter was so short._**

 ** _Roxas: Well, I guess that means we're going to take our time with answering reviews, or just tease people with ideas on what's to come later on in this series. Like by saying how in the sequel to this story, when the team goes to Halloween Town, you plan to have..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits controls]_**

 ** _Roxas: Whoops. [suddenly gets zapped with a powerful blast, and then looks up to see that everything is much bigger now] Uh, when did you guys get so tall?_**

 ** _AN: We didn't._**

 ** _Roxas: [looks to see everyone looking at him funny] What? What is it?_**

 ** _Ventus: Nothing. Just, don't look in the mirror._**

 ** _Roxas: [looks in the mirror to see that he's only two inches tall] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_**

 ** _Ventus: What did I just say?! I told you not to look in the..._**

 ** _AN: Don't bother. No one ever listens when I tell them not to look in the mirror, so why do you think it would matter if you did?_**

 ** _Xion: You okay, Roxas?_**

 ** _Roxas: I'M TWO INCHES TALL, XION! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!_**

 ** _AN: Oh don't be such a baby. You'll turn back soon enough. Like by next chapter or so, give or take, but it will definitely be before you make your next appearance in this series' storyline._**

 ** _Now, if we're done being silly, let's answer some reviews. First off is to "KaisakiTokura". As has been pointed out quite a few times now, there is a fractured version of Ven's heart inside of Sora, so Roxas will still be Roxas when he is created. The heart that Ven has is the one that he was given by Future Sora back in Keyblades of Future Past, so no worries there, assuming that's what you were concerned about._**

 ** _Next, to "SuperSonicBros123", honestly, that had slipped my mind at the time, but afterwards, I also remembered that Vanitas had snapped the toy Keyblade in half just before his fight with Aqua on Neverland, and I don't think the Lost Boys have ducktape, so afraid that wouldn't have been likely to happen even if I did remember, or if I had found a way to work it in._**

 ** _Moving right along to our old pal, "Dragon Rider 66". Glad you enjoyed the previous chapter, and you are indeed correct in your guess as to who Sora's next summon is going to be. As for Ven's noticing of the symbol on his newest Summon Charm, that will be explained later on. Probably in one or two chapters to honest. Hollow Bastion is not going to be covered entirely in just one world, so you can expect a few cliffhangers there. As for your concern about when we'll see the other original worlds, don't worry, they're still going to appear here. They're just not going to happen before Hollow Bastion Round 1. It'll be something that will happen after the fact, but before Round 2._**

 ** _Speaking of old friends, let's give a quick shout-out to "Monkey D. Conan" and his continued support of both this story and so many others! You rock dude. Now, most of your questions will be answered this chapter, but as for your question/idea regarding the master-apprentice moments that Sora and Ven could have, I'm afraid that it might be a little difficult for Sora to have a moment where he gets mad enough to say that he doesn't need Ventus anytime soon, at least in this story. To be honest, that thought never really crossed my mind for this one, but maybe something like that could happen in the sequel. Though I can see there being a moment where Sora can do something that validates him as a rising master, at least in Ven's eyes. Don't worry about the Hollow Bastion moments. Those are coming very soon, and I think you might find them very enjoyable. Or fitting for the story, seeing as not all moments in Hollow Bastion, even in the canon version of the first game, were very happy memories._**

 ** _Now, onto "theIrishWriter", and his questions and suggestions. First off, there were no Star Trek references in the last chapter. It was all Peter Pan related media references in there. If there was anything in there that could've been and is from Star Trek, I assure you, it did not get in there intentionally. This chapter on the other hand will definitely have at least one such reference. You'll know it when you see it. I've never actually heard of any version of the "power of belief" theory in regards to Riku, but if you have, I'd be very interested to hear it. As for your Hollow Bastion suggestion, you'll see just what kind of thing happens during that scene when we get there. Finally...well, I guess I already kinda answered your question about whether or not there would be a moment where the students feel like they're not developing fast enough and feel they're failing the master with the previous answer, huh?_**

 ** _Namine: Yeah, I think you kinda did._**

 ** _AN: Anyways...Let's answer the review by "ronin warriors fanatic". Sorry, but Sora's not going to be learning any Tier Two Command Styles in this story, even if they are general ones. The main focus of Sora's abilities is mainly Shotlocks and the basic Tier One Command Styles, with his Unique Tier One coming to him at a very specific moment later on, which we are quickly approaching._**

 ** _Moving right along to "Mr. Nobody or YARN", Ven doesn't really need to sense his splintered heart to know that it's there inside of Sora, mainly because he already knows it is there. In regards to your theory though, part of it is actually because Ven's heart is in there, but there are other factors as well. One reason is that Kairi had a dream much like that herself early on in the story, and that's partly because she had an encounter with her future self, or at least the one that came back to the past in Keyblades of Future Past, and another part is, well, like Ven said, some Keyblade wielders can have strange visions about certain events, at least as far as the ones in this story series are concerned. You could also take this as a sign that Sora's memories of that time are slowly coming back to him, which means the future Sora that went back in time is slowly making the return we saw that the end of Keyblades. Really though, the simplest explanation is that it's a whole mess of things that would give a lot of people a headache trying to figure out and then decide to just chalk it up to weird magic and time-travel related stuff._**

 ** _Finally, to another old friend, "twilightnite13", the main reason I did not have Tink do that is because I have not really read the Kingdom Hearts manga, or at least not very much of it. Plus, this story's main inspiration is coming from the games, more so than anything else, so including very much from the manga would kinda go against that, at least if I'm not too careful with how I do it. Don't be too concerned with the team's visit to Halloween Town. It's not like anything terrible is going to happen here. As for your question about when the Star Wars character would be summoned, well the simplest answer is...I never did say when it would happen. But I can promise that it is soon._**

 ** _Ventus: You're saying that a lot about certain events in this story._**

 ** _AN: Well if I gave a specific time, not only would be giving out spoilers, but if I end up changing it later, I'd be going back on my word, and I don't really like doing either of those things. More so in the case of spoilers, as Roxas can tell you from his most recent experience with our spoiler-prevention-methods._**

 ** _Xion: [holding up Tiny-Roxas by the collar of his shirt as he's thrashing around in an attempt to either get down and get back at AN] Yeah, I'm thinking we need to stick you in a hamster cage or something until further notice._**

 ** _Roxas: Don't you dare._**

 ** _AN: Ah relax, Roxas. She's just kidding around with you. Besides, if the thing wears off while you're in said hamster cage, you could end up slightly bruised, mostly because this studio doesn't allow pets._**

 ** _Riku: Then why have you allowed Pluto and other similar characters in here?  
_**

 ** _AN:...Never mind. Let's just get on with the story, so everyone can enjoy the newest chapter. Have fun everybody!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XV**

Peter did not let Ventus and his friends right away, as he insisted that the blonde stop in to see the Lost Boys and share a few stories first. Ven had no real objections to doing so, but they did still have a mission to finish, so Peter settled for having Ven promise to tell those stories the next time he was in Neverland and had the time to spare. Ventus agreed with a smile, and a quick promise to Tinker Bell that they would call on her soon if the need came up, and the four soon returned to the gummi ship, hearing Peter let out a his signature crow of victory as they vanished. They did pause for a moment to store the most recently found pages from both Merlin's book and Ansem's report with the others on the ship, along with Ven placing the new summon charm in his room for when they got back to Traverse Town, but the minute all of that was done, they immediately jumped into the cockpit so that they could begin their journey back. There was just one problem that some of them could see about this next phase of their trip.

"It's gonna take forever to get back to Traverse Town, and we may not have that kind of time," Goofy reported after double-checking the interspace map just to be sure. He was not wrong, because even with the wormhole shortcut near Agrabah, it would take a week or two for them to get back. It had not been a matter of hours between each of the other worlds they had visited when going from one to the next after all, and when you combined all of that distance together, along with the fact that they were going to be flying it nonstop, anyone could tell that it would be of great concern.

Ventus on the other hand, had a better idea than going around the long way. "It might not take quite as long as you think," the blonde revealed. "Just before we left Traverse Town, Cid told me that he had installed a special gummi block on our ship that could get us to any of the worlds we've already been to in a matter of minutes to an hour at most, no matter how far away it is. He called it a Warp Gummi. All we have to do is punch in the coordinates of a world, hit the control, and we're there."

"So why didn't we use this before," Donald asked.

"Like I said, it can only take us to worlds we've already been to, meaning we need to actually reach that world the old fashioned way before we can use the Warp Gummi to get there."

"Does it matter either way? We've got a perfect shortcut back to Traverse Town right at our fingertips, so let's use it already," Sora encouraged, eager to get the ship upgraded so they could retrieve Kairi's body, save the other Princesses of Heart, knock Riku back to his senses, and stop the Heartless.

Ventus nodded then signaled for everyone to take their seats and buckle up before he began the necessary process for activating the Warp Gummi. "Setting coordinates for Traverse Town. Priming Warp-G for maximum velocity," Ventus recited as his fingers danced over the controls. He then turned to the magician of their group and said, "Donald, check the shields' status just in case. If this ends up having a nasty side effect on the ship's hull, I'd rather not arrive at our destination with only half of the _Kingdom_."

Donald nodded in response before looking over the status of the shields as requested. When he had finished, he reported, "Shields are all set and ready for action."

Ventus nodded in reply and resumed his work from before, continuing with reciting his actions aloud for the others. "Coordinates locked in, and course is clear. Activating Warp-G in Five…Four…Three…Two…One…Engage!" The blonde had punctuated that last word by pushing forward on the lever that would activate the Warp-G, and they all heard a faint hum come from the ship, but to their surprise, nothing else happened. The ship just remained right where it was, not moving more than a few feet forward at a slow pace like had been since pulling out of Neverland's orbit. When this continued to be the case, Ventus eventually pulled back on the lever, and the hum finally died down, confirming that the Warp-G had been activated but was not working as it should for some reason. "Okay, that doesn't seem right," the blonde muttered.

"Uh…Shouldn't we be going really fast now or something," Goofy asked.

"We should, but we aren't," Ventus replied, looking over the various readouts before him, trying to figure out what he did wrong assuming it was something on his end.

Donald on the other hand, decided to consult with their ship's engineers, and had turned to the intercom to do just that. "Hey down there. What happened? The Warp Gummi didn't work for some reason," Donald quacked to the two chipmunks.

 _"That's because it's not able to right now,"_ Dale replied, gaining everyone's attention.

"Why not? What's wrong with it," Sora asked now very worried about the speed in which they could reach their goals.

 _"It's nothing too serious, Sora, but it looks after getting swallowed by a whale and then rammed by a pirate ship, several of the ship's systems took a serious hit,"_ Chip reported, and they could all see both chipmunks scampering around the engine room on the screen as he gave his report. _"Most of it wasn't too bad, but the Warp Gummi in particular took a really nasty hit when we collided with the_ Jolly Roger _. It's going to take a little while before we can get it working again."_

"How long do you need," Ventus asked. Time was of the essence right now, and they could not afford to waste any of it.

 _"Well, if we were in port at Traverse Town or just orbiting a world, we'd be able to get it operational in a couple of hours or so at most, but if we get started now and try to work on fixing it while you're moving to another world, it might take a little less time,"_ Chip replied.

 _"But that's a really big maybe. Trying to fix something like that while the ship is in motion is not really all that safe,"_ Dale cautioned.

The team all pondered their options for a moment. On the one hand, they could just start flying back the regular way and have Chip and Dale work on the Warp Gummi while they were traveling, but if there was a danger to them or the ship, then they could not really risk it. On the other hand, parking at another world so that they could work still meant that they had to wait a while before the repairs were finished, but at the same time, they would be kept busy by securing another world from the Heartless. Sure, doing so would take time, but there was no guarantee that it would take up all the time that was needed for the chipmunk engineers to finish their work, so they would likely end up just sitting around waiting afterwards, assuming that the work required that the ship remain immobile until the two were done. This was not an easy decision to make, but all the same, they did have to make a decision, and Ventus could only see one viable option to them right now.

"Start doing whatever work on it that you can safely do while the ship's moving," the Keyblade master ordered. "We'll bring the _Kingdom_ into orbit on the next closest world so that you can make all the necessary repairs for the Warp-G." The blonde then turned to his friends who were in the cockpit with him and added, "While they're doing that, we'll secure the Keyhole of the world we end up at against the Heartless."

"Why can't we just go back to Neverland and wait for them to fix the ship? Peter did say that he and the Lost Boys wanted to spend some more time with you," Donald asked.

"Because we still have a job to do in order to ensure the worlds are safe from the Heartless. If we just sit around doing nothing while we wait for those repairs to be finished, there's no telling what could happen to any of the other worlds," Ventus reminded him.

"He's right. Even if it is only just one world, at least we'll be making sure that both the world and its people will be safe from the Heartless by locking its Keyhole," Sora agreed.

Ventus nodded in confirmation of Sora's statement, and they all quickly resumed their seats as Goofy located the next closest world. It was still a few days away from them, but no one was too extremely worried about that. After getting under way and turning the ship over to Donald, Ventus took some time to begin teaching Sora more new spells, starting with the one he was not able to master back at Olympus Coliseum: the time spell, Stop. Given Sora's newest increase in magical ability, Ventus felt that it was now safe to assume the kid would not have too much trouble with getting a handle on this particular spell now. Of course, that meant meditating for a while so that Sora could get a feel for the element in question, and gaining a feel for time magic was one of the hardest things to achieve. Even Aqua took a bit of time with learning how to feel the energies of time magic, but Ven was not going to let that stop them from trying.

It did take Sora a day or two, but after Ventus encouraged him to think about times when he felt that time had gone by too quickly or too slowly, he did manage to get a feel for time magic, and it was only a matter of actually using the spell to a desirable level now. Since this was also not going to be too hazardous to the ship, Ven thought it would be okay to practice using stop while they were enroute to their destination. The fact that it also gave him and Sora a chance to have a little fun was just an added bonus, because in order to help Sora master using Stop, Ventus actually enlisted Donald's aid, saying that the duck magician would be a kind of training dummy this time around. He did not tell Donald that though, because he had a hunch that Donald would have ranted and raved against that idea the minute he found out what they had planned.

It turned out that Sora did not need to practice too much in order to master using Stop, at least not to the same extent that he had with learning Aero Shield, because after two or three tries, Sora actually managed to use the spell to freeze Donald in place, and right at the moment when Donald had realized what the two Keyblade wielders were doing and tried to run. As a result, Donald was frozen in a rather comical position, looking like someone had pressed pause on a cartoon just when one of the characters was about to run for his life, and that alone was enough to make Sora and Ventus both laugh, both from Sora's success in mastering the spell and from the hilarity of Donald's position. Their fun did not stop there though, because after Ventus explained that anything someone did to a person while frozen by Stop immediately took effect after they were unfrozen, Sora decided to give Donald a little hit to the head that would ensure the magician would be knocked out for a while after the spell wore off. When it did, Donald dropped to the floor, out cold, and completely vulnerable to the markers that Ventus and Sora used to decorate his face with.

When Donald finally came around, Ventus and Sora had already vacated the room, so he just returned to the cockpit, only to have Goofy, Sora, Ventus, and even Jiminy laugh at the ridiculous mustache and eye lashes that the two Keybearers had drawn on his face. Donald immediately erupted into his usual fit of rage that always followed after something like this happened to him, and was about to lunge at both master and apprentice in retaliation, when Sora cast Stop and froze Donald in place once again, giving him and Ventus time to flee from the magician's wrath, but not before Ventus left a note saying that the marker they used on him was washable. That calmed Donald down a bit, but they could still hear him muttering about getting even with the two later, all the same.

"You'd think he'd be used to that kind of thing by now with how often his nephews, Chip and Dale, and even one or two other folks have done that kind of thing to him," Goofy muttered in good humor, drawing barely repressed chuckles from the others.

"I heard that," Donald shouted in retort, startling them a little.

Their journey to the next world was not all fun and games though, as they did come under attack by a swarm of Heartless ships. Most of them were easily dealt with, but there were a few that proved to be too much for the _Kingdom_ 's main gun. Thankfully, they were not restricted to just using the ship's primary gun alone, as they still had the Comet-G laser that Cid gave them way back when installed, and they were all very glad that they had installed it back when they did. The newest addition to the ship's arsenal proved to be a huge help in dealing with the tougher Heartless ships, but they were still a challenge all the same, so Ventus told everyone to remind him to purchase some stronger weapons and upgrades from Cid the next time they saw him. No one disagreed with the blonde's decision in the slightest.

Practical jokes and close calls in battle aside, the trip was largely uneventful, even with Ven promising Sora that he would teach the kid a new magic ability or two like the High Jump when they reached their destination, earning an excited cheer from Sora in response. Chip and Dale did make a little bit of progress that would ensure the repairs to the Warp-G would go much more quickly after they had brought the ship into orbit of the next world, and thankfully, they did not have to wait too terribly long after receiving this news before the ship's proximity alarms let them know that they had arrived at their destination. When they all glanced at this new world through the viewport though, some of the team got a little nervous, because it looked rather creepy for lack of a better word. For the most part, the world seemed to have a large jack-o-lantern as its base, with a creepy town resting atop the head of the spooky-faced pumpkin. They could also see a rather elaborate maze of a graveyard resting on the side, while a spooky house extended downwards from the underside of the pumpkin. It definitely seemed like a prime place for creatures of darkness like the Heartless to call home, but even so, they had to go and make sure that it would remain safe from the foul beings.

After studying this world for another minute or two and being thoroughly creeped out by the sight of it, Jiminy finally checked the computer to see what they knew about it. "According to our ship's library, this world is called Halloween Town. Its part of a larger world that has a focus on several different holidays, but the part we need to focus on is just Halloween Town itself. It's home to several different monsters and ghouls, and apparently, everyday there is Halloween."

"So that means things are really scary and spooky all the time," Goofy asked, suddenly feeling really nervous. Donald did not even try to act brave this time, because he was a little concerned by this as well.

"Yep, and that likely includes the people," Ventus confirmed. "We're going to need to change our forms again so that we don't cause any disruptions to the world order."

 _"Here's hoping you don't turn into a ghost without legs or something,"_ Kairi commented to Sora.

 _"I don't know. Being a ghost can't be too bad. I'd be able to pass through walls and fly, after all,"_ Sora pointed out.

 _"And let me guess, you'd use the former of those to sneak a peek into a girl's bathroom,"_ Kairi accused.

 _"No, of course not! I'd just use it to get to certain places a lot more easily,"_ Sora instantly defended. He then heard Kairi give out a faint giggle and realized, _"You were just messing with me, weren't you?"_

 _"Hey, don't blame me. It's kinda funny seeing how you react to that kind of thing,"_ Kairi replied in a tone that was a little too innocent to be honest.

Sora was about to retort when Ventus called him over to the transporter so that Donald could cast the necessary spell on him once more, and the minute that the magician had done so for Sora, Goofy, and himself, the four stepped onto the pad and transported down, wishing Chip and Dale good luck in completing their repair efforts by the time they were done in Halloween Town.

* * *

Coming out of the teleportation, the team found themselves right outside the main gates of the town, and it was even creepy up close and in person than it was from the viewport of the ship. They could already hear the wailing of a few ghosts and the howls of a wolf in the distance, and those alone were starting to rattle a few nerves. When they glanced at each other, they almost freaked out completely, until they remembered the form change that they went through just a moment ago and realized who the monsters before them really were. Goofy had been altered to look similar to Frankenstein's monster, along with very raggedy clothes and a screw in the top of his head in place of his cap, while Donald had taken on the appearance of a mummy, with the most disturbing thing about his change being that there was a gap in the bandages between his stomach and waist that revealed absolutely nothing there, along with a similar gap between his right elbow and wrist.

Sora on the other hand, had taken on a very extreme change, as his skin had become very pale, almost ashen, while his hair was darker than normal, his canines were now more pointed, and a pair of small, black bat wings now extended from his upper back. Not only that, but the kid's clothes had also become completely black, appearing to be made of faded leather. His gloves were still white, but now had clawed fingers, and the grey shoulders on his jacket were one of the only other deviations from the all black coloration in his attire. The other two being how his legs now appeared to be wrapped in red and black bandages, and how an orange jack-o-lantern mask with horns covered his right eye. The final change to Sora's appearance was that his shoes were now black with pointed toes and a grey stripe in the midsection. In short, the kid looked very much like a vampire, with his blue eyes being the only part of him that seemed to shine brightly now.

Ventus on the other hand had not changed too much in the way of attire, aside from the fact that his clothes were now torn in a few places, and his armor now appeared to have a bit more rust to it, but that was really minor compared to how the rest of Ventus had changed. The man was now covered in thick, dark blonde fur from head to toe, while his ears were decidedly more pointed. In addition to that, his nose had seemed to have grown into a bit of a small snout, not too terribly noticeable, but still there all the same. His pants had become completely torn apart in the lower legs, allowing one to see that they were also very furry now, and had appeared similar to the hind legs of a wolf, while his shoes were torn open at the toes to reveal his feet had grown hairy with a set of dark claws. His fingers had also turned into a pair of thick, furry paws with equally sharp claws. Simply put, the man looked like he had gone full werewolf.

Even with their monstrous new forms, some of the team was still a bit nervous about going around in this place. "This sure is a spooky place," Goofy nervously commented, reiterating what he had said before on the ship. "I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too."

"Don't worry. We look spooky, too, so if they scare us, we'll scare them right back," Donald reassured his friend, now feeling much braver in his new mummy-monster form.

"You think so," Goofy asked, still not quite as confident in the matter.

Donald would have given an instant yes in reply had a sudden growling not grabbed everyone's attention, and made the team look to see Ventus irritably scratching behind his ear. "Uh…Ven, are you okay," Sora asked.

"Fine, I'm just…This fur is really itchy," Ventus growled, sounding a little too much like the werewolf he had turned into. When he realized this, he quickly lowered his hand and sheepishly said, "Sorry about that. I guess this form's a little more realistic than I was expecting."

"Just be glad that you don't fangs," Sora replied as he rubbed his jaw. "I think these things are trying to claw their way through my own mouth."

 _"Well at least that's the only downside,"_ Kairi informed him. _"You actually look really good for a vampire."_

Sora had to pause when he heard that, and then asked, _"Are you basing this off that weird vampire-romance story that everyone on the Islands was into for a short while?"_

 _"Not even close. You know I hated that series, Sora. I honestly thought it was a bit disturbing and the furthest thing from romantic,"_ Kairi immediately reassured him, and Sora did nod in reply to that, remembering the various rants the red haired girl had gone on about that series, and that was back when it was just a book series. When it became a movie series, she made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of ever watching so much as a trailer for one of the films if she could help it.

Eventually, Sora had to acknowledge that Kairi had said he looked good as a vampire, and his cheeks lit up a little with a small blush, which Ventus quickly noticed. "Let me guess, Kairi thinks your vampire form is hot, right," the blonde teased.

Sora immediately glared at his master in response, and then asked, "So how eager are you to take Aqua to Atlantica after we get her back? I bet you've already had a number of dreams about how she would look as a mermaid."

That shut the Keyblade master-turned werewolf up quickly enough, and when he turned away from the others to hide a blush that he was sure could be seen even under all his new fur, the others immediately chuckled in teasing of him. Once everyone had their fill of teasing and laughs, they marched onward to the town, determined to get to work in sealing the Keyhole before the Heartless could find it, and they figured that someone in town might know a clue or two on where they could start looking for it. What they did not expect was that the minute they walked through the gate and into the square, a loud bang would erupt from one of the nearby buildings along with a plume of smoke, which was soon followed by the appearance of several Search Ghost Heartless.

Seeing the Heartless appear before them so soon prompted everyone to draw their weapons and prepare to either attack or defend, and they would have had they not received another surprise that they were not expecting at all. The Search Ghosts made no threatening moves against them. In fact, they did not make any moves at all. They simply just floated there waving their arms about like they did not have a care in the world, or like they had not noticed that two Keyblade wielders and two warriors with strong hearts had just wandered into their midst. Even when Ventus and Sora both moved closer, right to the point where they were standing directly in front of a Search Ghost, the Heartless did absolutely nothing.

"Okay, this is…different," Ventus muttered, not having any other way to put it, or even an explanation behind the Search Ghosts' strange behavior. Sora did not seem like he could put it any better, because he just kept staring at the Heartless in bewilderment on why they were just sitting around and doing nothing.

Goofy and Donald were soon glancing around in hopes of finding an explanation from their surroundings, when the latter pointed out a short man in a suit, a thin top hat, and a ribbon that with the word "Mayor" on it to everyone. Judging by the bullhorn in his hand, the team had to assume that the man was about to make some kind of announcement, so they quickly moved back so that they would be close by in case the Heartless reacted from hearing what the man had to say. Just because the Heartless were not reacting to them, did not mean they would not react towards the actions of the locals.

"And now," the apparent mayor declared into the bullhorn. "Allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares…Jack Skellington!"

The Heartless did indeed react this time, but instead of going on the attack, they actually formed a line in front of the rather eerie well in the center of town before parting for something, just in time for everyone to see a figure rising up from the well. The figure in question was very noticeably tall, and appeared to be a living skeleton dressed in a black and white, pinstriped suit, and by the time he had come up from the well completely, Ventus had to say that this living skeleton probably towered over all four of them. Add in the way he waved to the crowd as he stepped out of the well, along with his grandiose entrance, and the team had to assume that this was the previously introduced Jack Skellington. This was confirmed when they saw the mayor running up to the skeleton man in applause, while also allowing them to see that he had a very depressed looking face on the back of his head.

"Bravo, Jack! Bravo," the mayor congratulated. "Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!"

While he was happy for the praise, Jack did not seem all the convinced of the mayor's words, at least from where the others were standing. "Thank you, thank you," Jack nodded in reply. "But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror." Hearing that made the four exchange looks between themselves. How could the Heartless not be scary enough for anybody? These were creatures that consumed the hearts of others and drowned entire worlds in darkness, for crying out loud! Then again, considering that they were just sitting there for the most part, they could understand why Jack did not think they were being scary enough. They then saw Jack brighten up a little and say, "I'm going to consult the doctor."

"Then I'll go attend to the decorations," the mayor nodded with glee before he took off towards what they could only assume was his workplace. It certainly matched the typical structure and stylings of a mayoral building.

Hearing that immediately prompted a team huddle for the adventurers, and they all had the same question on their minds. "Do you really think that they could get the Heartless to do what they're planning," Goofy asked.

"No way! I don't care how scary they may or not be. Heartless are bad news," Donald immediately replied.

"Maybe, but then again, this world does seem like the type of place where they would be right at home, at least on the surface," Ventus noted.

"Besides, it's not like they're really doing anything to anyone right now," Sora pointed out, waving to the Search Ghosts that were closest to them. Doing so made the team a little uneasy, given their history with said Heartless, and the Heartless in general, but they made sure to stay on track for now. "Maybe the Heartless could actually be of help here. I mean, if they can keep the Heartless from doing any serious harm and actually get them to make something good happen, what's the harm in trying," Sora suggested.

"I do understand your reasoning, Sora, and you may have a point, at least if you were to look at it from the perspective that all things must exist in balance, but this is still too dangerous. That Jack Skellington guy doesn't seem to realize that he's messing with something beyond his comprehension, and that sort of thing never ends well," Ventus immediately shot down.

"So uh, what should we do," Goofy asked.

Everyone thought for a minute until Sora finally said, "Why don't we follow that Jack guy and see if this doctor he mentioned can really do what they're aiming to do?"

"I think we might have to either way, kid," Ventus admitted. "If those two are going to mess around with the Heartless, it would be better if we were close by while they're doing it. Both for their safety and that of this world's."

Everyone nodded in agreement of that, and after breaking their huddle, they immediately raced off in the direction that they saw Jack heading in, thinking that it might be where this doctor he was going to see would be as well. They just had to hope that they did not get there after the two did something that they should not.

* * *

Finding the place that this doctor Jack was going to see was not too hard, nor was getting into it. Seriously, all they had to do was just walk in the front door. Ventus honestly expected there to at least be a guard dog or something waiting for them, so it was no wonder that he shook his head in disbelief over the lack of security for what he could only assume was a scientist's lab. Either this guy trusted his neighbors a great deal, or he was too arrogant to think he needed a security system. As they passed through the entrance to the lab, they also took note of a sign that read "Doctor Finkelstein's Laboratory", and they all had to pause and wonder at the similarities between this doctor's name and the name of Frankenstein. They just shrugged it off when they heard voices coming through the door, and they decided to listen in before they went any further.

"I don't understand," they heard Jack comment. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."

"Nonsense. My devices are always perfect," scoffed another, more high-pitched voice scoffed that they could only assume that this person was Doctor Finkelstein. Of course, they also felt that the man might be a little arrogant, given what they just heard.

"Oh, I've got it," Jack suddenly cheered. "Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

Now the four were concerned on a number of levels. If they were to judge things off of that statement alone, then that would make one believe that no one in Halloween Town had hearts, which was why the Heartless were not moving around before. With no hearts, they could not hunt for anything but the Keyhole, so they just sat there searching for it. Then again, if that was the case, then the Heartless probably would have located the Keyhole by now, but that did not make the four any less worried. If those two really did manage to create a heart to give the Heartless, then there was no telling what might happen. Ventus especially knew that tampering with something that you did not understand was very dangerous, and there was no doubt that these two had no real clue what they were doing in trying to create a heart for the Heartless, even if it was for the purpose of trying to control the creatures for some convoluted Halloween plans. Then again, it was not like they really could just throw together a heart for the Heartless, right?

Apparently, they could do such a thing, because they soon heard the doctor say, "Certainly. A heart's not all that complicated."

"Yeah, I know quite a few people who would beg to differ," Ventus muttered to his three friends, earning some small smiles of amusement in reply.

They then listened in as Jack recited what they needed to make a heart from what they could only assume was some weird instruction manual, noting that the first thing they would need was a container with a lock. Apparently, it did not take long for them to do that, but the container in question did have a small problem. "We need the key to this thing first," the doctor informed Jack.

The four could only listen as the two searched for the key to their container, and figured that they should just go in to try and find the key before they did. No point in risking something bad happening if they did succeed in making a heart to control the Heartless, right? That was the thought process of most of the group, but Sora had a different idea. "Hey Ven, how about we help them out and unlock the container for them," the brown, spiky haired boy suggested.

"Are you crazy, Sora? Those two are playing with fire without even knowing it," Ventus reminded the kid.

"But what if they can figure out a way to control the Heartless and make them do what Jack wants them to do? Maybe if they can succeed, then the Heartless could actually be able to do some good for a world instead of just consuming it in darkness," Sora pointed out.

Ventus could see what Sora was getting at, but he had a feeling there was something more to it than that. "This wouldn't happen to have something to do with Riku, would it?"

"Well…maybe a little bit," Sora admitted. "If we can figure out a way to pull the Heartless away from Maleficent and Riku's control, maybe they'll finally stop fighting us and just give up."

"Maleficent isn't one to give up, Sora, but…if you think that Riku will jump ship and join us by pulling his control of the Heartless away…" Now Ventus could not help but wonder if the kid was right to think this idea was worth a try, but at the same time, he was reminded of the experiments that Ansem the Wise did on the Heartless, and had to think that maybe it was not truly worth it. Add in what the person who wrote the Ansem Reports had said in those pages, and Ventus could not help but wonder if they would just be repeating history by doing this.

Sora on the other hand seemed to have made up his mind, and was already preparing to enter the lab until Donald stopped him. "So, you're really gonna unlock it for them," the magician asked.

"Why not," Sora asked. "Besides, not only would we be able to help Riku, but if they do succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless here, right? Besides, I want to see the Heartless dance, too. Don't you?"

"Not really."

"Well why don't we try it just in case," Goofy offered, putting in his own vote on the matter, and a moment later, Ventus decided to put any concerns aside for the moment and at least give this attempt the benefit of the doubt. The fact that part of him was a bit intrigued by the idea of seeing the Heartless dance had nothing to do with it. Really, it did not.

With their decision set, the four immediately let themselves into the lab, surprising both Jack, and a small man in a wheelchair and a lab coat, who they determined was Doctor Finkelstein. "Hey, what are you doing here? Can't you see we're on the verge of an incredible experiment," the doctor demanded.

"We heard, and we're actually here to lend a hand," Ventus explained, summoning his Keyblade at the same time as Sora had his.

"Oh," Jack gasped in awe. "Are you offering to open up the container for us?"

"Yep," Sora nodded, and he immediately walked over to the lab table where the doctor had set the container. He was a little disturbed by the fact it looked like an actual human heart, and that it appeared to be alive, but he shook it off long enough to aim his Keyblade at the lock and then open it for Jack and the doctor.

"My! That was amazing," Jack exclaimed once Sora was done. He then turned to the four and asked, "Uh, and you are…"

"Sora, and this is my master, Ventus, and our pals Donald and Goofy," the boy replied.

"You can just call me Ven," the blonde informed the two.

"Of course, Ven, and well done, Sora," Jack nodded in reply. "To show my thanks, I'd like all of you to be a part of this year's Halloween."

"Well, we're kind of just passing through, but if we can stick around long enough, we'd be happy to," Ventus agreed. He then looked over at a Search Ghost that was lying on the lab table, and was quickly reminded of why they were here in the first place. "Say, perhaps you could tell us what this Heartless is doing here?"

"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently," Jack explained. "What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius!"

"And you really think that creating a heart for them is the key," Sora asked, his nervousness on the idea now starting to creep back in.

"Yes indeed," Jack nodded, clearly missing any of Sora's trepidation on the matter, and he then turned back to his scientist friend. "Okay, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart: Pulse…Emotion…"

"Terror," the doctor continued.

"Fear…Hope and Despair…Mix them all together, and we have a heart," Jack finished.

The four adventurers could not help but wonder about those ingredients. Sure, it did make a great deal of sense that those would needed for a heart, but the actual items that Jack and the doctor were using did not always really seem like how they would describe some of those things. For pulse and emotion, they were using a large frog, terror was a spider, fear was basically the doctor scratching against a pane of glass, and hope and despair looked to be a pair of snakes trying to eat one another from the tail up. Then again, maybe that was how those things were interpreted on Halloween Town, so who were they to judge? Instead of saying anything, the four just watched as the doctor mixed the ingredients together into the container, and then placed it on another device before rolling over to the lever he needed to pull in order to activate their creation. They all watched for a moment as a surge of electricity ran up through the machine and down around the Search Ghost, until the Heartless in question sat upright, startling the four people in the room who had the most experience with Heartless a little. It was only for a moment though, as it soon went limp and dropped back down again, while the machine itself just shut down.

"It failed," the doctor cried in despair. The doctor then went back to the book he and Jack had been reading from, and began to theorize on what had happened. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients…Let's try adding memory," Finkelstein suggested. It made sense to the others, so they all found themselves nodding in acknowledgement, but the four off-worlders could not help but flinch a little in disgust when they saw Finkelstein actually open his cranium and scratch his brain in further thought. "Sally? Sally," Finkelstein called out. "Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her! Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."

"No problem," Jack reassured the doctor, and the others could not help but notice that Jack seemed to brighten up a little bit when he heard the request. "Sora, Ven, would you like to come along?"

"Sure," Sora immediately replied for the group, earning a small look from both Donald and Ventus. Not that either of them were going to argue with the kid, but he really should not be speaking for them all as a whole like that.

Jack just grinned in response, and then led the march out of the doctor's lab in a hunt for Sally, with a bit more of a spring in his step that the others quickly noticed. They were not sure if it was due to excitement of his Heartless Halloween idea, or if it had something to do with the girl they were looking for, but it soon did not matter either way, because once they had stepped out of the lab and into its entrance hall, the mayor came running up to them. Judging by how his head had somehow spun around so that the depressed expression was now in front, he did not have good news, and all four members of the off-worlders had a pretty good idea as to what had the mayor so worried. "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis," the mayor hollered into his bullhorn.

"You know you don't have to use that right now. We're all standing right here," Ventus pointed out, rubbing a finger in his out of irritation from having such a loud noise being directed towards him so close and so suddenly.

The mayor just lowered the bullhorn, but offered no apologies, clearly showing how stressed out he was about the crisis he had mentioned. "The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them," the mayor cried, proving what Ven and the other three had already suspected.

"How did we see this coming," Donald tiredly moaned, while Ventus and Goofy only nodded in agreement.

"Maybe, but they weren't acting like they usually do before, even after we showed up. So what could've caused them to suddenly go nuts again," Sora asked.

The others had to admit that the kid did have a good point. Even if Jack had somehow figured out how to gain a limited amount of control over the Heartless without any risk to his own heart, the Heartless had still remained unresponsive to them after they had arrived in the town square. Not only that, but they did not even bat an eye when Sora and Ven summoned their Keyblades, or whatever the equivalent of doing so was for the Heartless, so why would the Heartless suddenly start lashing out like normal? Aside from Riku or Maleficent suddenly showing up to take command, none of them had any theories, but Jack was quick to think of one thing.

"Hmm…Maybe our experiment triggered something," Jack puzzled, and when they heard him, Donald and Ven both gave the tall skeleton another look that practically screamed "I told you so." Jack did not seem to notice though, because he was soon smiling again and reassuring the mayor, "Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about."

"At least not while we're around," Ventus corrected for Jack, summoning his Keyblade when he did and rushing out into the square.

Sora and the others were hot on the blonde's heals, and they all quickly saw that the mayor was not kidding when he said that the Heartless had gone nuts. The Search Ghosts were now attacking various townspeople, and they were not alone in their endeavors, because the Shadows were out there too, along with some new ones that looked like mummies with long, gangly arms and legs with long barbed fingers and toes, and six sharp barbs surrounding the Heartless emblem on their small chests. When he looked in his journal, Jiminy was frustrated to find that, once again, he did not have any information on these new Heartless, but he quickly made a note of them in the journal while dubbing them as Wight Knights, and taking particular notice in how most of their attacks featured some variety of spinning, be it of their long arms or legs, and how they could also jump very far in a single bound.

Ventus had immediately gone to work the minute he crossed the threshold between the doctor's lab and into the town, and had already slain several Shadows and Search Ghosts, activating Fever Pitch in the process of doing so. The blonde was now in the midst of crossing swords with a Wight Knight or two, and managing to keep ahead of the mummy-like Heartless thanks to his Command Style's speed boost. Still, the blonde was glad that Goofy jumped in to block a rather unfriendly attack when he did, because Ven was very sure that he would not have been able to dodge the Wight Knight's last attack on him. Sora and Donald quickly joined in soon after, with the duck throwing out several spells at any Shadows and Search Ghosts that Ventus had missed before, while Sora unleashed his Radiant Blade Shotlock on a large grouping of Wight Knights.

Jack was soon joining the others in fighting the Heartless as well, and they were surprised to see that Jack actually possessed some magic of his own. The tall skeleton was throwing out blasts of lightning and fire magic with a very elegant ease, though he always seemed to add his own little flourish to it that would typically follow the stylings of a showman trying to impress his audience. That part was not surprising at all, seeing as Jack was apparently the main man to go to when preparing a big show for Halloween on this world, but no one could deny that the pumpkin king was certainly a capable combatant. The only other thing surprising about Jack's joining in on the fight was that he was so willing to destroy the Heartless. Maybe they had been in town long enough for Jack to know that the creatures were not really gone for too long if they still had something to do on a world, but whatever the case, they were just glad that Jack was not asking them to hold back so that there were still some Heartless around for his big Halloween plans.

It was not until after Ventus had finished off a large group with Wing Blade that they finally managed to get a break in the action to confirm that the town square was cleared of all Heartless for the moment, but that did not mean they were out of the woods just yet. There was always a chance that there were still some Heartless nearby that they needed to deal with before saying that it was safe to move about in Halloween Town again, and the two Keybearers were soon reaching out in an attempt to locate any large groups of stragglers. They did not have to look for long though, as Goofy quickly spotted some rushing out of the town and through a nearby gate.

"Hey Jack, where does that lead to," Goofy asked.

Jack looked in the direction that Goofy had indicated, and if he had actual eyes instead of just simply empty eye sockets, they would have most likely widened in shock when he recognized the exit in question. "That leads to the graveyard, and Sally tends to spend a great deal of time there with Zero."

"Who's Zero," Sora asked.

"My pet dog," Jack replied simply. "He'll love to meet you all, especially after we make sure that the graveyard is safe."

While they were interested to hear about Jack having a pet of any kind, they had to wonder why Zero would care if they saved one particular graveyard or not. Maybe the little guy really liked Sally, and therefore liked the places she spent most of her time at too, or maybe it was some other weird reason that would only make sense on this world. Either way, they still had to hurry if they wanted to stop those Heartless. If Sally was at that graveyard right now, then she was most definitely in trouble, so they all raced off in that direction as fast as they could.

* * *

Getting to the graveyard that the remaining Heartless had fled to was fairly easy, aside from having to swat one or two of said stragglers along the way, but when they actually reached the burial ground, the five found themselves having to fight off an ambush of several Wight Knights, Search Ghosts, and Shadows at once. Thankfully, Sora was able to thin the enemy ranks with a blast of the Ragnarok Shotlock after Ventus made sure some of them would stay in place by using Strike Raid after infusing his Keyblade with time magic, effectively unleashing the Twisted Hours ability on them instead. Sora was the next one to use time magic, this time through the spell Stop, and Donald and Goofy immediately took advantage of the Heartless' frozen state to deal as much damage as they could before the spell wore off.

When the last Heartless finally went up in smoke, everyone let out sighs of relief while Jack turned to one of the gravestones, just in time to see a small ghost with a red nose jump up from the ground in front of it. The small ghost's sudden appearance startled the team at first, but when they turned to see that the gravestone read "Zero", they quickly figured out that this must have been Jack's pet. They all had to admit, they did not see that coming, but then again, it made sense. If it had been any other kind of dog, Jack probably would have seemed like quite the tasty meal to said animal. Besides, the little guy did seem kind of cute in his own way.

After letting the ghost dog get acquainted with his newest friends, and smiling a little at how they all laughed at Zero's playful nature, he quickly asked, "Zero, have you seen Sally anywhere?"

Zero's long ears immediately perked up in happiness before the little guy flew across the graveyard to another nearby headstone, which had a creepy-looking gargoyle atop it. The minute that Zero disappeared behind the headstone, they all heard a girl let out a small gasp of surprise, and were soon greeted by Sally herself when she stood up. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all a bit shocked at the sight of her, while Ventus merely gaped with slightly wider-than-normal eyes, as it looked like she had been stitched together and then brought to life, but they still did their best to not stare for too long. They did not want to be rude, and this was still a world full of ghosts, ghouls, and all other varieties of Halloween people and stuff.

"Is something wrong, Jack," Sally asked.

"No, everything's going great," Jack reassured Sally, excitement clear in his voice. "We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

"Be a little more blunt about it, why don't you," Ventus muttered, not entirely sure what to expect Sally to give them after all that they had seen.

Thankfully, it was nothing too freaky, because Sally slowly produced a small twig of Forget-Me-Not flowers from her pocket as she asked, "You mean this?"

"Yes! That's it exactly," Jack cheered as he examined the flower, but the others all noticed that Sally did not seem nearly as excited as he was.

"Jack, I have a bad feeling about this," Sally attempted to caution. "Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

"Thank you! Finally, a voice of reason," Ventus cheered, unable to help himself any longer. When he noticed Sally turn to him and the others, he quickly said, "Oh, sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? I'm Ventus, but my friends call me Ven, and this is Sora, Donald, and Goofy. We're new in town."

Sally nodded in return with a smile, but it quickly fell when they heard Jack say, "Nothing could beat what I've got planned! Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it."

"Or they could just go even crazier than they already have and end up hurting somebody. I mean, I don't think any Halloween plans are worth that big of a risk, are they," Goofy tried to reason.

"Oh don't worry, my friends. Trust me. You're going to love it," Jack insisted, clearly not willing to listen to any other ideas.

Jack then began his return to Finkelstein's lab, with the others all following after him, both to try and get Jack to change his mind about this Heartless Halloween, and to make sure that he and Sally made it back in one piece. They were not too concerned about Zero since the little guy was a ghost, and everything seemed to go right through him, but that did not change the fact that Jack was so obsessed with using the Heartless for a big Halloween extravaganza. Sally even brought up the idea of having Ven, Sora, Donald, and Goofy do something special in place of the Heartless again, only for Jack to shoot that idea down when he revealed that he had already offered them a place in this year's Halloween along with how Ventus had already said that they probably were not going to be around long enough for it to be possible, so it was right back to the drawing board with that.

What none of them realized was that their whole conversation had a few eavesdroppers that were giggling madly after they had heard everything: three little kids in masks by the names of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, and these particular kids were not the type who went Trick-Or-Treating for the candy. They were well-known around Halloween Town for causing all kinds of trouble, be it for their own enjoyment, or for their usual boss, and after hearing about Jack making a heart to control the Heartless, they knew that said boss was going to want to hear about this. So, they did not hesitate to race off in the direction of the most dangerous and twisted place in all of Halloween Town: the manor of Oogie Boogie.

Despite being the most fearsome being in all of Halloween Town, Oogie Boogie was not really anything too intimidating to look at. To be quite honest, the guy looked like a large sack of bugs with a face made from the folds of said sack. Yet somehow, despite his less than gruesome appearance, he had managed to find a place in Maleficent's council of villains, and he had in fact proven himself to all of Halloween Town to be the one person you should not mess with. Sure, there were the odd one or two ghouls that did not fear him, but the number that did was still good enough for Oogie. Jack Skellington was actually one of those people who was not afraid of Oogie Boogie, and he would have sent the Heartless straight for the pumpkin king for what Oogie considered to be a great offense, but there was one small problem with that. Out of everyone on Maleficent's council of villains, Oogie Boogie was the only one who could not control the Heartless. Granted, that was likely because he did not have an actual heart of his own, but from what his three little regular minions had just told him, that was about to change very easily, and Jack Skellington was unknowingly going to help him do so.

"A heart," Oogie Boogie laughed once he heard what the three had to report, getting an added bit of entertainment from how the three kids trembled before him. "That bonehead Jack is really making a heart? I'll be jiggered! That works for me. Ohh, when I get my hands on that…Well, I've got no hands, but I'm still gonna nab that heart and control the Heartless."

It was hard to really say if Lock, Shock, and Barrel were still trembling in fear or excitement when they heard Oogie say that, but to be honest, the oversized sack did not really care that much. All he knew was that he now had the key to controlling the Heartless just as easily as Maleficent and the rest of the other villains did, and he was not about to let it slip into the hands of someone who would let it go to waste, like Skellington. So naturally, when he ordered the three to go out and retrieve Finkelstein's experiment for him, he was pleased to see that they did so as fast as their little legs could carry them, and the anticipation for the acquisition of such power was growing with every second that passed.

* * *

Sally's flower did indeed prove to be necessary for the heart that Jack and Finkelstein were making, but the gang still needed to track down one final ingredient before the doctor could proceed with another attempt. Thankfully, they did not have to search too hard to find it, because the mayor proved to have exactly what they needed and was happy to hand it over to them. The doctor had called the ingredient surprise, but the item itself was a Jack-in-the-Box, though the four from another world were happy to see that this one made a little bit more sense than the other items that were used as ingredients had. Throughout it all, Sally continued trying to get Jack to change his mind about using the Heartless for their Halloween plans, and with Ventus' help, you would think that she would have been able to get through to Skellington, but Jack insisted that everything would work out perfectly, so they ended up just sighing in defeat, each having a bad feeling about all of this as they watched the doctor mix in the newest ingredients.

While they waited for the doctor to finish, Ventus took Sora aside, saying that it was time he learned another new special skill. Hearing that immediately got Sora excited, because he was hoping that Ven was about to teach him another cool finishing move like Strike Raid, or even the one that he had seen Ventus use a couple of times against Heartless use, Salvation, so the blonde was not surprised when Sora asked, "So what's this cool new ability you're going to teach me? Come on, tell me! Tell me!"

"Calm down, Sora. I can't tell you if you don't give me a chance to talk," Ventus chuckled. He then cleared his throat, getting serious once again, and said, "What I'm about to teach is actually another magic enhancement ability, but I feel that it will be extremely useful in the long run: the ability known as Glide."

Sora's face fell a little when he heard that, since he was expecting something a little more impressive than that, but his disappointment quickly turned to confusion when he asked, "Glide? But why teach me another flying ability? I mean, can't we just use Tinker Bell's summon charm to call her and have her give us a little more pixie dust?"

"Well we could, but it would not last for very long, and that's especially so in most worlds that are not Neverland. Not only that, but we can't rely on the summon charms we currently have forever. There will be a time when our current charms will no longer be useful, or when we will simply just not have them, so you need to be ready for that moment. The Glide ability is a perfect way to help do that," Ventus replied. When Sora nodded in understanding, Ventus grinned a little bit and said, "I am glad that you brought that up though, because being able to fly in Neverland may actually be a big help in your learning Glide."

"Really," Sora asked.

"Really," Ventus replied in kind. "Naturally, you would need to start by jumping up into the air, but while you're airborne, you must push the magic energy down into your hands and feet, and keep a steady stream going. This will allow you to remain airborne for a short amount of time, but in order to move in any direction, you'll need to steadily push the magic energy in a specific direction. To go forward, you push it back. To go left, lessen the push on the left side while increasing it on the right, and vice versa."

"Sounds a little complicated," Sora noticed, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Well to be fair, it's not like I'm making you jump off a mountain and try to get a handle on it as you fall to your death," Ventus joked, getting a hesitant smile in response that showed it was not that funny. "Okay, sorry. That was probably in bad taste. Don't worry too much. I'm going to let you get a feel for how you direct the energy from your hands and feet before I have you jumping off of anything in an attempt to use this ability. Besides, it's just like High Jump, only you're sending a constant and steady magic stream out of your body instead of a quick burst to push you upwards."

Sora nodded to show he understood, and the two spent the next hour or two working on helping kid to learn the feeling of doing just that. At first, Ventus just had the kid directing a large amount of magic down through his hands and feet so that it would eventually push him up off the ground, citing that doing so would help Sora to not only get a feel for what it was like to manipulate his magic in that way, but that knowing what it would take to push him up off the ground would make learning Glide easier, since the object there was not to stay airborne permanently, but just long enough to reach a certain distance. However long it may have taken, Sora still managed to get airborne after a while, and he held himself in that position, even going more than a few feet higher than Ventus would have expected Sora to be able to. The blonde had a hunch that Kairi's presence in Sora's heart had a small hint of influence on Sora's magic control skills, at least when it came to this particular form of magic control at the level Sora was displaying, but he was still happy that the kid was able to get through the basic start of this exercise in learning Glide.

After feeling reassured in the fact that Sora had mastered the first exercise, Ventus moved on to having Sora jump up into the air before directing his magic into his hands and feet like he had been doing in a split second. Doings so was essential to learning and mastering the Glide ability, because if one could not manipulate the magic energies in them fast enough, it would likely end up costing them dearly. Thankfully, Sora did not have to work at this for too long before he managed to jump and then stop himself from touching the ground again when he was a foot above it at most. Ven was glad to see that Sora was getting through the first two steps of learning Glide so easily, and he knew that a great deal of it involved the fact that he had learned how to fly on Neverland, but he also knew that the next exercise involved in mastering Glide was also the hardest. It was easy to direct magic flow so that you could slowly descend to the ground, but directing it so that you could move in a specific direction like Glide would let you do was a bit harder to handle. Aqua and Terra had never actually mastered the ability themselves for whatever reason, and Eraqus had mentioned once that some Keyblade wielders did not think the ability was all that useful most times, but after he had first learned and mastered it, Ven honestly believed that it was one of those abilities that was better to have and not need than to need and not have. That was why he encouraged Sora to master it. Before they could really start practicing on the third and final exercise, Goofy came out to inform them that Finkelstein was getting ready to make another attempt at his experiment, and they both quickly returned to the lab just in time to see the doctor finish loading the mixed ingredients into the container.

"There you go. This time it's sure to work," Finkelstein declared once all the mixing was done. He then picked up the artificial heart and started to carry it over to the machine he had plugged it into before, when suddenly, his wheelchair tipped forward, sending Finkelstein down to the floor, and the heart flying into the air much to everyone's surprise.

They all watched as the heart fell right into the hands of Lock, and the little devil immediately scampered off with Shock and Barrel right behind him, all laughing like mad. Sora was instantly next to Finkelstein so that he could help the doctor back into his chair again, and while the doctor was thankful for the boy's assistance, he was far angrier at the little brats that had just stolen from him than anything else. "After those little hooligans! They've stolen my experiment," Finkelstein shouted.

"And there's no telling what they might do with it. Come on," Ventus shouted, leading the chase out the door and into the town.

Sadly, they found their paths blocked by several Heartless, and ended up having to stop so that they could save the townspeople once more. Goofy and Donald had immediately unleashed some of their own special attacks to help speed things along, with Jack doing the same as Ventus and Sora unleashed some of their Shotlocks and Command Styles, but no matter what they did, the Heartless just kept on coming. When they finally finished off the spooky creatures of darkness, they realized that the three kids were now long gone, and the doctor's heart with them. Jack was not going to let that stop them though, and he immediately patted his leg to call for Zero. When the ghost dog arrived, Jack made sure to keep his orders simple. "Zero, after them, quick!"

The little fellow was off like lightning once he heard that, and the others were not too far behind him. There were also Heartless behind Zero as well, but the team had no problems with taking care of the little buggers along the way. It was just a matter of swatting them quickly that proved to be a challenge. The main reason for that was because they were still getting used to dealing with the Halloween Town variety of Heartless, adapting their strategies so that they could better defend against the newest additions to the dark creatures' line-up, but thankfully, after encountering so many different Heartless on so many other worlds, the four friends had started to be able to adapt much more quickly than ever, and Jack was proving to be just as much of a quick-study as his newest friends. It was not long before they ended up at one of biggest cemeteries in Halloween Town, and they immediately spotted the three kids riding in a walking bathtub of all things, over a long tree to a bridge on the other side of the wall. When Jack realized this, he seemed to become a little more concerned, a fact that no one had missed, but they pushed aside in favor of continuing their pursuit.

Things only got more difficult though, as yet another new breed of Heartless was quick to stand in their path, and like the Wight Knights it had a theme to it that made it very well-suited to Halloween Town. If you were to make a comparison between any form of other creature and this new Heartless, you could definitely say that this one seemed a lot like a gargoyle with its large wings, striped horns, and long talons, but they also saw that their dark grey feet were spindly and two-toed, and judging by the points on its large wings, they had to assume that said appendages were not just meant for flight. No one was really expecting Jiminy to have any notes on this Heartless either, because at this point, they figured they would have to be lucky to find anything in the journal on the Heartless on some the worlds that they were visiting lately, but this time, Jiminy did in fact find something in his journal.

"These guys are known as Gargoyles," Jiminy reported as he read from the notes in his trusted journal. "They can move from one place to another almost without notice, so they like to pull a lot of sneak attacks. Most of the time, they'll do so by turning into a ball of blue flames, but since they are prone sneak attacks, they can usually be caught off guard by counter attack. It'll attack with its claws, wings, and feet, but the most dangerous of its attacks is when it spits out a heat-seeking fireball from its large maw."

"So try to either be clever in dodging or have a defensive spell ready for that last one. Got it," Ventus summarized in reference to a strategy to use against that last ability.

While it was nice to finally have some information on a Heartless beforehand again after so long, the others were still more concerned with catching up to Lock, Shock, and Barrel before they got away with the stolen experiment. Luckily, Sora, Donald, and Jack were able to blast away several of the Heartless using magic and both of Sora's personal Shotlocks, while Ventus made sure that the Heartless were easily blown away with some well-placed Aeroga spells that brought them within striking distance of either him or Goofy. Once the graveyard was cleared, they quickly climbed the tree that the three kids had been walking across earlier, and over the wall so that they continue the chase. Once they had gotten across they found themselves standing at the bridge that led to only a closed gate, and since that was the only straight-forward path before them, they saw no reason as to why the pranksters would have gone in any other direction, so they pushed onward, only to pause when they saw what was on the other side of the gate.

Before the team was a massive, twisted tower that seemed like it had been made out of an old tree, and it definitely had the haunted house vibe to it like many other places in Halloween Town. The only difference here was that this place seemed like it actually was dangerous, and that was without taking into account that most of the walkways that lead up to and around the tower were made with really old looking wood. No, the main thing that gave them that idea was that there were several cages hanging off of long branches, what looked a lot like an oversized bear trap higher up on the tower, and the fact that one of the sections that stuck out from the tower looked a lot like a monster with an open jaw of pointed teeth. This place definitely screamed creepy in many different manners, but for Jack, it also said something else.

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this," the pumpkin king practically snarled.

 _"Did he say Oogie Boogie? As in the Boogeyman,"_ Kairi asked from inside of Sora's heart.

 _"Yeah, I think so,"_ Sora replied. _"So much for that bit of disbelief."_

 _"No kidding, but somehow, I get the feeling you'll be able to handle him. I mean, if people stop being scared of the guy when they turn like seven years old, how bad can he be,"_ Kairi pointed out, getting a small blush out of Sora when he heard her vote of confidence.

Ventus was actually wondering that same thing, and had immediately asked Jack about it, but once he heard the explanation, part of him was sorry that he had asked at all. "Oogie Boogie is one of the meanest, vilest beings in all of Halloween Town. Most people are too scared of him to do anything against him, and he's been hoping to take over for me for years. The only reason he hasn't is because everyone knows that he would destroy Halloween forever if he was left in charge of it, turning it from the joyful holiday it's supposed to be into something that truly is completely terrible. Well that, and the fact that I'm one of the few people who isn't afraid of him and what he could potentially do."

 _"Okay, maybe we do have something to worry about,"_ Kairi admitted.

 _"Thanks, Kairi. Glad to know you're still so confident despite hearing about how bad one silly monster is,"_ Sora sarcastically remarked.

The two put an end to their conversation after that, because Sora needed to focus on climbing up the large tower with the others, and he did not want to fall down to the ground below. It was not a short drop after all, and they all knew that one misstep, trip, or slip could send them all plummeting down to their doom. Even so, they could not let that derail their efforts, especially if those kids delivered the heart to someone like Oogie Boogie. If he did get his hands on it and managed to successfully control the Heartless, then it would only be a matter of time before Halloween Town fell to darkness. There was no way that the adventurers were going to let that happen, and they fully intended to make everyone in this massive tower know that. That determination made the long, dangerous climb a little easier for them to handle, and in no time at all, they had made it all the way up to the top-most part of the tower, and the single building that was there.

After steeling themselves to make sure that they were ready for anything, Ventus took the lead and kicked the door open, surprising Lock, Shock, and Barrel when he did. Sadly, it turned out they were not fast enough, because they all saw Finkelstein's heart get tossed down a chute and to another part of the tower where Oogie Boogie was no doubt waiting for it. The three kids immediately started scrambling to get away while throwing whatever they could at the five intruders, but Sora was not going to have any of that, since he knew that they did not have time for any stupid shenanigans that these brats could have up their sleeves. Instead, he simply exchanged a quick look with Ventus and then raised his Keyblade up so that he would be ready to act upon receiving the right signal from his master.

The first thing that Ventus did to help deal with the three kids was unleash the spell Gravity in order to create a small event-horizon to slow the kids down under its crushing power, and Donald quickly added his own bit of star-powered magic to help in that endeavor. Once he was sure that the three were not going anywhere due to the double dose of Gravity, Sora immediately cast Stop to make sure that they were held in place, and the three immediately froze where they currently stood. Once the small event-horizon had ceased to be, Goofy and Jack simply walked up to where the kids were, and gave them each a hard bonk on the head that would ensure that they would either be knocked out or have a serious headache that would prevent them from doing anything else that would hinder their efforts to stop Oogie Boogie. When the spell finally passed, the kids did indeed drop to the ground, each complaining so much about how badly their heads hurt, but they were not getting any sympathy from the five before them, and they quickly realized that too.

"All right you three, tell us where the heart is," Jack demanded.

"Where do you think, it's with Oogie Boogie," Lock retorted.

"It's what," Donald and Goofy shouted, both of them sounding very angry at the kids.

"Hey, we were just following orders," Shock immediately said in their defense. "Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart."

"So if he told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it," Ventus asked, hardly believing this was all just because they were doing what they were told to do.

Since it did not seem like they were going to win too many favors from these guys, Shock decided to take another route and immediately said, "It's all Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart."

"Yeah, that's right," Lock instantly cottoned on.

"B-But you guys said…" Barrel tried to protest, not a big fan of being shoved out in front of the bus by his friends like that.

"You should be ashamed," Shock interrupted, almost sounding like she was scolding him, earning a sad sounding sigh from Barrel in response.

Sora just rolled his eyes at the three, and Kairi agreed with the sentiment by saying, _"Like the old saying goes, there's no honor among thieves."_

"Look, we don't care who's fault it is or isn't. Just tell us where Oogie Boogie is and how we get to him," Sora ordered.

"Oogie Boogie told us not to give away his hiding place. Oh, and we're not supposed to talk about the lever, either," Barrel immediately said, not knowing he had already disobeyed one of those orders.

"Oh, you mean this lever," Goofy asked, sounding rather innocent when he did.

"Yep, that's the one," Barrel replied, and a second later, Goofy pulled it down, and they all heard the faint sounds of something opening up in the lower parts of the tower. "Uh…oops."

"Aw don't worry. They'll never find the green door," Shock waved off.

"Green door that's likely been opened up by pulling the lever just now. Thanks for the tip," Ventus waved, and they all rushed out again, leaving the kids to their shared misery from knowing that they had just gone against Oogie Boogie completely.

As they were leaving, Goofy could not help but throw out one last comment that they all got a laugh out of. "You know, I may be goofy, but even I'm not that stupid."

* * *

Finding the green door proved to be a little more difficult than any of them had expected it to be, but to be fair, all they really knew was that it was likely somewhere on the lower levels of Oogie Boogie's manor, given what they had heard when Goofy pulled that lever. Still, they did wish that they at least had a better idea of which one of the many lower levels that could be. Of course, being able to get down there from the inside of the tower would have been a good thing too, but since they wanted to avoid any unexpected traps, they ended up climbing down the outside of the tower. The only other downside to that plan was that there were Heartless such as Gargoyles and Wight Knights attacking them almost every inch of the way down, so they did not exactly have much room to breathe as they climbed down, and defending against so many attacks at once was not exactly a cakewalk either.

Eventually, their troubles hit their breaking point, as one Wight Knight finally managed to get enough of a drop on Sora to knock him over the side of the winding path along the outside of the tower, and everyone immediately panicked upon seeing him fall off. Ventus had immediately slashed and blasted his way through whatever Heartless remained between him and where his apprentice had previously been, while Jack unleashed a powerful series of magic attacks that decimated many of the rest, leaving Goofy and Donald to finish the last ones before they all joined the blonde in looking down after the young, spiky haired boy. When they did, they were all surprised to see that despite the fact Sora was falling towards the ground, it was at a much slower pace than he should have been going. Not only that, but he had his arms spread wide, much like he sometimes would while they were flying on Neverland, and he was leaning from side to side in an effort to steer himself as he easily descended to the ground.

Seeing Sora do all of that was all that Ven needed to realize what was going on, and he immediately gained a wide grin before he began jumping up and down while doing a small dance as he cheered, "He did it! He mastered Glide! He did it, he did it, he did it!" Once again, everyone cast Ven an odd yet amused look for his sudden display of child-like excitement, and Ventus immediately turned a little sheepish after realizing that they were. "I mean…That's very impressive to have learned and mastered it so quickly."

Even with the other three rolling their eyes at him, clearly still amused by how childish Ventus could apparently still be, they all still managed to hear Sora when he shouted up them, "Hey guys! I think I found the door we're looking for! Hurry up and get down here so we can go after Oogie Boogie already!"

They did not need Sora to tell them twice, because Ventus was soon jumping down the rest of the way like his apprentice had, using Glide to carry him to where Sora was before he cast some wind magic to help make sure that the other three would safely land in the same location. The minute they were all gathered at the green, menacing looking door, Goofy quickly started passing out Elixirs and Potions to make sure that they were all healed up and ready for anything. He made it a point to mention that they were almost down to the last of their stock after this, so they now definitely had a reason to get back to Traverse Town after this was over beyond just getting the new navigation gummi installed. Low supplies aside, they were all more than ready for whatever Oogie Boogie would try to throw at them, but they were still erring on the side of caution just in case he did somehow manage to gain control of the Heartless. Jack also took this moment to warn them that Oogie Boogie was also something of a gambler, especially when it came to things in his torture chamber, which they were no doubt about to walk into, so they should keep an eye out for that, in case they figured out a way to turn the odds in their favor.

With everyone fully healed and recovered, and a plan now set in their minds, the five charged into the room, ready for whatever fight was waiting for them. When they entered the room, they could definitely see a few different signs that indicated that this was indeed a torture chamber that was styled similar to a gambling hall or two. In the center of the room was a large roulette in the center of the room, and above that they could see a large set of three blades. What had gained their attention much more quickly though, was the figure on the other side of the room that looked like a massive sack brought to life, and who would have been grinning evilly at them if he had any teeth, while Jack just glared back in response.

"Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart," Jack demanded.

 _"That's the Boogeyman? Wow, I can't believe that even little kids would be afraid of him. He's not anywhere near scary at all,"_ Kairi thought to Sora.

 _"No kidding. Even the old sheet-over-the-head ghost costume is scarier than him,"_ Sora agreed, while making sure to not taking his eyes off of their soon-to-be-opponent regardless.

"You want it? Well, then come on over and get it," Oogie Boogie challenged, and before anyone could stop him, he swallowed Finkelstein's experiment whole after stuffing it into his mouth. He then let out a deep laugh as he bellowed, "Now, let's see if I get their attention. Oh, Heartless!"

Everyone immediately braced themselves for the worst, just in case Oogie Boogie did manage to call forth an army of Heartless, but they all quickly relaxed a bit when the only things that appeared were a pair of Gargoyles and nothing more. Seeing this, Sora could not stop himself from throwing out a quick tease of the villain, and said, "Looks like they find you just barely more attention grabbing than you are scary-looking. Just so you know, that's a huge accomplishment since you're not scary at all from where I'm standing."

When he heard that, Oogie Boogie turned to glare at the boy until he realized just what kind of army he had summoned. "This is it," Oogie Boogie questioned, hardly believing what he was seeing. Combine that with the insult that Sora had just thrown out, and Oogie Boogie was definitely mad now, almost to the point where his next statement was almost unnecessary. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!"

A moment later, the torture chamber sprang to life, and the five were shoved into the large roulette by a quick explosion from behind. "Did you really have to make him even angrier than he was already going to be, Sora," Goofy asked.

"Well to be fair, Sora does have a point. He's the least scary thing we've seen since we got here," Donald pointed out in the kid's defense, much to some of their surprise, seeing as Donald almost never really agreed with anything Sora said or did. Still, it was a nice change of pace, and showed that the duck was starting to consider Sora as more of a friend every day.

Right now, they were more concerned with Oogie Boogie and whatever game of chance he was about to play on them, mainly because the first thing he did after they had fallen into the pit was throw out a set of exploding dice that would have turned them into a very nasty mess on the floor had Jack not given them a quick heads-up in advance. Ventus then tried to use High Jump to get up onto the same level as Oogie Boogie once again, but he was unable to so much as reach the ledge, much to his dismay. When he tried to get up onto the ledge of the upper floor that was closer to their level, he ended up getting blasted off by Oogie's exploding dice. Oogie Boogie was quick to try and hit Ven with another round of said dice, but a quick interception by Goofy and his shield sent those same dice flying right back at the living sack, where they literally exploded right in Oogie Boogie's face.

After wiping away any slime that was left as residue from his explosive, Oogie tried to make a run for another control in the room, but soon stopped short when a set of iron bars suddenly sprung up in front of him. Looking down allowed him to see that Jack and Donald had tripped one of the switches in the pit that would not only stop Oogie from reaching his intended target, but also allow that section of the roulette to lift them up so that they could easily reach him again. What followed next was a series of magic blasts from both Skellington and Donald that caused Oogie Boogie to fall flat on his back, since he was unable to put up too much of a great defense, but this sack of bugs was not going to go down that easily, and he proved it too, by hitting both of his attackers with another pair of dice that pushed them back down into the roulette pit. Donald was just about to try and jump back up, but the iron bars that were barring Oogie Boogie's path had lowered just as he was about to jump up, and the section of the floor with them, much to Oogie's cackling pleasure. Having seen what their two friends had done a moment ago, Sora, Ventus, and Goofy all quickly scrambled to the other switches in an attempt to corner Oogie Boogie again so that they could take a shot at him. Their efforts did not bear fruit though, because the switches appeared to be either jammed or had gone inactive after Donald and Jack had tripped theirs, so they could do nothing but simply throw out some magic like Jack and Donald were, or watch as Oogie Boogie finally reached the control he was gunning for, and pulled the lever.

A moment later, the blades that were hanging down from the ceiling quickly dropped to the floor, and everyone was scrambling to stay ahead of the blades, lest they get chopped up like butter. Somewhere in between the various slices the massive blades were making, Ventus managed to find the time to activate Fever Pitch, and it definitely helped him stay ahead of Oogie Boogie's attacks, be it by dodging, or by deflecting them back like Goofy had done earlier. Eventually though, Ventus got sick of doing all of that, and felt that they could not wait forever for those switches to become active again. Doing so would only slow them down more than necessary, and they could not waste time here all day. They still had a mission to complete after all, and not just in regards to retrieving Finkelstein's experiment. The minute he recognized all of this, Ventus immediately got a plan in mind, and quickly turned to the others.

"Sora, start hitting him with as many Shotlocks as you can. Donald and Jack, do the same but with magic. Goofy, cover us. I need a few seconds," Ventus shouted.

"You've got it," Sora replied, and he immediately raised his Keyblade so he could start firing off a barrage of Shotlocks as requested.

Oogie Boogie was about to toss another pair of explosive dice at Sora when he saw what the boy was doing, but he was prevented from doing so when Jack and Donald suddenly blasted him with Fira and Thundaga, respectively. When he did get some breathing room, it was only for a few seconds, because he was soon being hit several times over by several energy beams, courtesy of Sora unleashing the Ragnarok Shotlock on him. Sora then followed that up with his Typhoon Barrage, which was punctuated by a few rounds of lightning magic from Donald and Jack, but immediately after, he needed a minute to gather energy for another attack, and Oogie Boogie took this as his chance to toss another set of exploding dice at the three. Goofy reacted immediately, and batted nearly all the dice away with his shield, while Donald hit the last one back by using his staff like a baseball bat, and Oogie Boogie was left open to Sora's next round of Ragnarok. Oogie Boogie finally sent his two Heartless after the heroes after that, but the Gargoyles were much slower than they normally were, so Goofy and Jack were able to deal with them easily enough before returning to what they were doing before to assist Sora and Donald in their distracting the villain.

When this little barrage of long-range attacks finally ceased, Oogie Boogie appeared to be on his last legs, assuming he had any really legs, and was about to unleash every horror his torture chamber had to offer. There was just one problem with that plan: he had completely forgotten about the fifth member of his enemies' party. Ventus soon reminded him that he was there though, because the others had given him all the time he needed to get his next round of attacks ready, a fact the blonde made quite clear when he suddenly shouted out, "Command Style: Sky Climber!"

When Oogie Boogie turned to where the shout had come from, he was instantly blasted up into the air and nearly halfway across the room by a surprise attack. Turning to see who had hit him, Oogie Boogie was shocked to see Ventus before him, hovering above the ground as though he were riding a wind current, while his body was shrouded in a bright violet aura. Oogie Boogie was not sure how Ventus had managed to get out of the pit without tripping one of the switches, but right now, he did not care, because he was about to send Ventus back down into it with his friends. At least he thought he was, but when the villain tried to blast Ven into the pit, the blonde simply jumped up, much higher than he had been able to before, and remained airborne for a few seconds, completely avoiding the explosives, before he rocketed forward and sent Oogie Boogie flying into the air again. While he was up there, Ven did not hesitate to slam a few more attacks into Oogie Boogie that sent him flying across the room again, and Ven was soon flying after him.

When he was hovering before Oogie Boogie again, Ven could only smirk before he asked, "So do you still want to keep going, you overgrown hackie sack?" Oogie Boogie just snarled in response, earning him a shrug from Ventus as he said, "Fine, but just remember, you brought this on yourself. Command Style: Sky Climber Finisher!"

The next thing anyone knew, Ventus had mounted Guardian Wind like a surf board, and was blasting Oogie Boogie in a powerful spin attack, before he headed skyward and crashed back down in an explosion of light. When the blonde hit the ground though, he did not stop there, but instead, spun around in place several times over on the tip of his Keyblade, unleashing a small tornado as he did. The power from this last strike ended up making Oogie Boogie come apart at the seams, and even as the glow from his Command Style faded, Ven could only watch along with the others as the living sack's contents, which in addition to the doctor's experiment turned out to be several bugs, spilled out while Oogie Boogie cried in misery. When the last of the bugs finally dropped to the ground, everyone just stared at where Oogie Boogie had fallen, now nothing more than a lifeless rag, before they finally just shrugged and decided that they were done here.

"So that heart was a failure after all," Jack sighed in dismay.

"Oh well. It's probably for the best, Jack," Ventus said in an attempt to cheer the skeleton up.

"Yeah, besides, you can always think of something way better for Halloween, right," Sora encouraged, gaining a small smile of thanks from Jack as they finally stepped out the door and began making their way back to town. When he saw that Jack seemed to be feeling better, Sora turned to his master and asked, "So I'm guessing that was another Tier Two Command Style, right?"

"Yep, pretty much," Ventus admitted with a shrug. "That was a very special kind of Tier Two Command Style though, because its one that's unique to me and Aqua."

"Really? You mean, there are Command Styles that only certain people can use," Sora asked. He had been hoping that it was one that Ventus could teach him how to use when they finally got to that part of his training, but if it was unique to only the blonde and his long-lost girlfriend, Sora doubted that was going to happen.

"Hey, slow down there, kid. You've still got a long way to go before I can teach you anything about that level of Command Styles after all," Ventus reminded him with a chuckle.

Sora was a little disappointed to hear that, but still nodded in understanding, knowing what he had to do before he could learn too much about the next level of Command Styles. That did not mean he was not going to at least try to get a small hint to the answer for his question, but before Sora could try to start probing for them, something on Ventus suddenly started beeping, diverting both of their attentions away from the conversation. Reaching into his pockets, with some difficulty due to how much bigger his hands now were because of his current form's fur, Ventus finally managed to produce the communication device they would use to stay in contact with the _Kingdom_ and immediately knew that they were getting a call from their two engineering friends. So, he immediately flipped it open and answered at once to see what Chip and Dale had to report regarding their status.

 _"Good news, guys. All the repairs are complete, including the ones we needed to do on the Warp Gummi,"_ Chip started out.

 _"We can head out for Traverse Town anytime you're ready,"_ Dale continued with glee.

"Great work, you two," Ventus congratulated. "Give us a few more minutes to locate the Keyhole, and we'll be back up and ready to move out before you know it."

Sora was grinning with excitement almost as much as his master, if not more. They were finally just about to go and save Riku and the rest of the worlds, find Kairi's body and return her heart to it, and stop Maleficent! How could someone not be excited about that? Their joy quickly disappeared though when the ground suddenly started to shake beneath their feet, nearly throwing everyone off the side of the cliff, having just crossed the bridge that lead to the main gate out of Oogie Boogie's neighborhood. When the quakes finally ceased, they all turned back to see what had happened to the villain's manor, and one look at the place was all they needed to realize that the fight was not quite over yet.

As the dust had cleared away, they were all shocked to see that the old tree that had held up and supported Oogie Boogie's manor had been transformed. Now, instead of a tree, it looked like Oogie Boogie's body had become the main body of the building after reaching massive size, and you could definitely see several remnants of the actual building sticking out from various points on the massive monster, from the small outcropped sheds to parts of the walkway. In addition to that, the cages that were held up by branches before now had massive fires inside of them, giving them the appearance of giant lanterns. Simply put, they had gone from dealing with a living sack of bugs, to a massive monster mansion, and everyone was now much more worried than they were about their previous fight against the villain of Halloween Town.

Sora was so shocked by the sight of Oogie Boogie's transformation that he barely registered Ventus telling Chip and Dale that they would have to call the two back, right to the point where he was able to form a single word in response. When he did find his voice again, he could only ask one question. "How the hell did he get so big?"

"Might be something to do with Finkelstein's experiment, if I had to guess," Ventus offered, not really sure what else to think.

Donald was about to agree with that theory until he spotted something odd that had to be pointed out. "Look! He's brimming with the power of darkness!"

When they all took another look at their now massive foe, they all saw that Donald was right. All across Oogie Boogie's body were large, dark bubbles, and even without the sensory abilities of a Keyblade wielder, one could tell that those bubbles were pockets of dark magic. Seeing that quickly helped a few ideas to start forming in, which Ventus quickly gave voice too. "Oogie Boogie must be drawing power from those dark globs, so if we take them out…"

"We can take down Oogie Boogie for good," Sora finished with a grin and a flourish of his Keyblade.

"But he's huge! How're we going to destroy them all," Goofy asked, clearly nervous about what Oogie Boogie could do to them in this state.

"Well, from what I can tell, it looks like he's rooted in that one spot, so it shouldn't be too hard to climb up his body in order to reach the globs," Jack noted, having started scanning over his old enemy's body the minute that Oogie Boogie had reappeared before them in this form.

"That doesn't mean he's defenseless though, so we'll need to be careful and work fast," Ventus noted. "Sora, you and I will head to the topmost area that we can reach and then work our way down, assuming we can get to the top right from the start. The rest of you start from the bottom and work your way up. Hopefully striking from two directions will split his focus just enough to make it hard to really put up too much of a fight."

"Right," everyone chorused in reply, and soon enough, the two Keybearers were using Glide to reach the topmost part of Oogie Boogie that they could reach, while the other three dived down to the ground below.

Of course, since it was still a very long way down, Sora was not about to let his friends just drop like that, and immediately pulled out just the summon charm that he felt would be of the most help. "Spidey," Sora called out, and a moment later, the web-swinger in question was swinging down from parts unknown, and helping to make Goofy, Donald, and Jack's descent much easier to survive. Once he had done that, Spider-Man quickly made his way back up to Sora and Ven, who had just landed on one of the topmost points of Oogie Boogie so that he could get some more info on how to help. Sora was happy to give that info. "We need you to watch our backs as we destroy these pockets of darkness, and help make sure nobody falls to their deaths."

"Not a problem," Spider-Man nodded in confirmation. "Trust me, this isn't my first rodeo, Sora. I've taken down guys way bigger than this overgrown grocery bag."

Ventus had to pause in one of his attacks on the bubble he was currently slashing at to give the web-head a weird look, until he finally asked, "What kind of place is your world?"

"Well, let's just say that it's one that's full of marvels," Spider-Man shrugged, and he immediately swung down from his current perch to the next pocket of darkness after he warned the two Keybearers of an incoming fireball.

Sora easily deflected the fireball before turning his full attention onto the pocket of darkness, only to see that Ven had already destroyed it, so they quickly moved on down to the next one just a short distance down from them. With Spider-Man watching all of their backs, it was easy to avoid most attacks, even when a few Heartless started materializing around them in an effort to try and stop them. Why the Heartless were doing that, none of them could really figure, beyond the idea that they were just following the lead of the most powerful dark being in the area at the moment. Still, they all found that they did not care right now, because taking down Oogie Boogie was the bigger priority for them all. The only problem was that it was turning out to be a long, tedious process, mostly just in order to reach the various weak points on the massive villain's body, even without the Heartless, and Spider-Man could not be everywhere at once, so he was not able to give them all an early warning every time, or even help keep everyone from falling if they got too high up on Oogie Boogie's oversized body.

The overwhelming amount of multitasking that Spidey had to do in order to help quickly showed itself in full when Ventus was suddenly blasted off the side of Oogie Boogie's body by a sudden pulse of dark energy, and while Spider-Man had sensed it coming, he was not able to warn Ven about it quickly enough, so the blonde ended up having to use Glide in order to ease his descent to the ground after telling Spider-Man to help Sora instead of him. When the blonde reached the ground again, he glanced up at his other friends and saw that they were about to meet each other at the halfway point, but that was not the only thing he saw. He also saw that a lot of the Heartless and attacks from Oogie Boogie were becoming more concentrated and centered on them, so there was a much more likely chance of someone falling to their death at any moment. Ven was not about to let that happen, and he knew of only one way to stop it from doing so. After all, why stop at just one summon, when you could use two?

"Tink, we need a little pixie dust to go with our faith and trust," Ventus shouted as he used the summon charm he had just gotten from the fairy in question. An instant later, Tinker Bell sprung forth from a flash of light, and was spinning through the air before coming to a stop near Ven's head. She looked like she was about to plant a small kiss on his cheek too, but quickly stopped herself when she noticed Ven's werewolf form. A few bells and rings from the fairy later, and Ven immediately knew that she was complaining a little about his Halloween Town getup. "Hey, I know the werewolf look isn't the most flattering thing for me, but it's not like I chose it," the blonde protested in his defense. "Look, can we talk about this later, I need you to lend us a hand. So, mind giving us your best shot, Tink?"

Tinker Bell let out a single ring in reply with a quick, playful salute, and after sprinkling a little pixie dust on Ven, she immediately flew up and spread the magic around to the others as well. The only one she did not give some pixie dust to was Spider-Man, on the grounds that he seemed to be handling well enough without it, and for some reason, she could not use any on another summon. Still, they were all glad to have that extra Neverland magic up their sleeves, and the next time that Donald and Goofy were blasted off of Oogie Boogie, they immediately found themselves hovering in midair as a result, magic their next counterattack much easier. Tinker Bell's help did not end there though, as they all quickly discovered she possessed a very impressive amount of healing magic that helped them all to recover from any injuries that they may have suffered during the fight, much to their relief, because they did not want to worry about wasting any more healing items when they had so little to spare.

Still, one person could not help but comment on the newest arrival to the team. "Did Ven just summon a fairy to help us fight," Spider-Man asked, honestly having a hard time believing what he was now seeing.

"Yeah. Her name's Tinker Bell. She's our newest friend from another world," Sora informed the web-head, not worried about whether or not Jack overheard him, seeing as it would have been hard too over the sounds of the fight.

"Tinker Bell? Like from the fairy tales about Peter Pan and all that," Spidey asked.

"Uh yeah, I guess so," Sora shrugged, not really sure what to think at learning another one of his friends was apparently well-known where Spider-Man was from.

"What next? You gonna tell me you have a magic lamp that summons a genie or something," Spidey questioned, clearly joking but not realizing how close he was to the truth.

"Well actually, he was freed from the lamp, but Genie can help us out if I summon him," Sora revealed.

"Oh come on," Spider-Man half-shouted. "Why don't you just tell me that every fairy tale I know is actually real while you're at it?"

"Yeah, you really don't want an answer to that," Ventus interrupted as he flew up to deliver a final slash to the second to last pocket of darkness.

Spider-Man just stared at the blonde for a minute before he finally shrugged and used his webs to help the two reach the last pocket a little more quickly, only to find that Jack and the others were already there, and had taken care of it for them. Spidey probably would have commented on seeing a living skeleton like he had when he saw Tinker Bell, but they were all quickly distracted from any conversation when the whole manor suddenly began to shake while a loud moan suddenly escaped from Oogie Boogie's massive-sized mouth, all indicating that they needed to get away from the manor quickly, and get away they did. It was a good thing that they had scattered when they had, because once they had reached a safe distance, they were all treated to the sight of the transformed manor collapsing like a tower of blocks, while what remained of the villain's house dropped down to the ground around the area in shambles. When the quakes and crashing finally ceased, they looked to see that there was no trace left of Oogie Boogie, and they even breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Lock, Shock, and Barrel scampering away from the area. Just because the three had been a huge part of the cause for this mess did not mean that they should have been left inside of the manor as it collapsed after all.

Seeing as their work here was done, Spider-Man threw a quick salute to everyone and vanished in a flash of light, with Tinker Bell doing the same soon after, and they were all ready to return to Halloween Town and Finkelstein's lab. Just as they were about to turn and follow the same path that the three kids had taken, knowing that they were not likely going to be able to get back up to the bridge again now that Oogie Boogie's manor was gone, a massive glow suddenly erupted from the center of where the villain's home had previous been. Turning to the source, every one of the four adventurers from another world could only gape in surprise when they saw that it was actually a massive Keyhole that lay on the ground before them, which only meant one thing. It was the very same thing that most of them were having a great deal of difficulty believing.

"You mean that the Keyhole was here, beneath Oogie Boogie's manor the whole time," Donald gasped in disbelief.

"I guess that means that more of the Heartless were showing up here because they could sense it, even though Oogie Boogie couldn't control them," Goofy guessed, knowing that the Heartless were able to do such things.

"But how did Oogie Boogie not know it was here? I mean, he's part of Maleficent's gang isn't he," Sora asked.

"I don't know about that, but it really doesn't matter now," Ventus pointed out, with Guardian Wind already summoned once again and ready to seal the Keyhole. "Like I once said before, a world's Keyhole is never where you would expect it to be, and that doesn't just go for us, but for everyone else as well. It's actually not that surprising that it could have been hiding under Oogie Boogie's nonexistent nose all this time without him realizing it."

Sora just nodded in agreement with that, and then summoned Kingdom Key so that he could help Ven to seal the Keyhole. A moment later, everyone watched as the usual light show that always followed whenever the two Keybearers did this began, though with a slight difference. Since the Keyhole was so massive and lying in the ground, the two had to aim their Keyblades upwards, and direct the usual beam of energy into the sky. When the beams were at a point that was right in the middle of the Keyhole, they split apart into a shower of light that rained down all across the Keyhole, and as usual, when the beams had faded away, a loud locking sound was heard, and the Keyhole vanished without a trace. Their primary mission in Halloween Town was finally over, but there was still one last thing that they needed to take care of before they left.

* * *

Jack was naturally upset that the doctor's experiment had failed, as was Finkelstein, but the thing that upset Jack even more was that all of his friends' warnings about the Heartless had turned out to be true, and he had to find out the hard way. All of Halloween Town would have been destroyed had he really gone through with using the Heartless for his Halloween plans, but thanks to these four folks from out of town, that disaster had been averted. Sure, it was also good that they helped to stop Oogie Boogie for good, and that was a really good thing to help brighten up the day, but Jack was honestly more upset that he had nearly done the same thing that his old foe had just did without even realizing it until it was almost too late.

"Sally, why didn't I listen to you," Jack moaned to the girl in question once they had told her and the doctor the whole story. Out of everyone there, he owed Sally the greatest apology of all. She had tried to tell him that using the Heartless was a bad idea, and yet he had just brushed it off as needless worrying. To be honest, Jack was not entirely sure if sorry would be enough.

Sally on the other hand just smiled, glad to see that Jack now knew better about his old plans, and quickly grasped his hand in reassurance as she said, "Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

Jack smiled widely at that, glad to see that he had been forgiven, and they both then turned to their four visitors so that they could address them. "Well, I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now," Jack informed them.

"You mean forever, right," Ventus asked, though the look on his face was making it clear that Jack should not argue.

"Right," Jack admitted. "It's just too dangerous to be using the Heartless like that, if at all. I don't suppose you fellows would consider helping out with an even better festival?"

"Sorry Jack, but we've got to get going now," Sora apologized. "We've got some friends that still need our help, and we can't let the chance to reach them slip past us while we have it."

"I understand," Jack nodded. He then kneeled down to Sora with his hand out and said, "Here, I want you to have this. A little something I happened upon the other day while in town."

Looking down at the item Jack had just placed in his hand, Sora was shocked to see that it was another Keychain. Like many of the last few he had gotten, this one had a grey chain to it, but its token was that of a jack-o-lantern, and upon reaching out with his sense, Sora quickly discovered that it was the Keychain for the Pumpkinhead Keyblade. Sora immediately smiled in thanks for this, to which Jack replied with a request for them to visit any time they wanted, and a promise that the next year's Halloween would be the scariest ever. The promise had left Donald and Goofy slightly worried, but after all of this time here, they all had to admit that they were looking forward to whatever scary surprises Jack had up his sleeve for the next time that they were here.

While they were saying their goodbyes to Jack and Sally, Ventus could help but notice that the doctor was mumbling to himself about their attempts at creating a heart for the Heartless, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He paid it only a little bit of mind at first, until he heard the doctor finally ask a question that he had heard once before a long time ago, and the blonde did not like hearing it again now. "What even is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out."

When he heard the doctor say that, Ven's mind had immediately flashed back to one of the last times he had seen Ansem the Wise, and to what they had read in the recently discovered pages of Ansem's report on the Heartless, including one that he had found among the ruins of Oogie Boogie's manor. Granted, the recently found page only detailed Ansem's thoughts after he had first discovered the gummi blocks for himself, but hearing the doctor asking those questions still gave Ventus reason to be concerned. You could not blame him, because the last time that the blonde had heard those questions being asked, it had lead Ansem to beginning his research on the Heartless, along with many other events, most of which had ended very tragically, and Ventus was not about to let history repeat itself here on Halloween Town.

Without even a single second thought, Ven approached the doctor and said as calmly as he could, "Trust me, Doctor. That's a question that many people have been trying to find an answer to for longer than you can imagine, but it's also one of those questions that can have serious consequences if you try to pursue it, not just on you, but to everyone around you."

Finkelstein regarded Ven's words for a moment after that, but whether or not he would heed the blonde's advice was hard to determine, and the team did not have time to wait around and find out for sure. Right now, they really had to get going, and with the _Kingdom_ now fully repaired, they could get back to Traverse Town and on to Hollow Bastion before you knew it. So, after one last goodbye to Jack and his friends, the four headed out the door and off to a point where they could teleport back up to the ship and continue on with their journey. Donald did stop for one last second when he spotted one of the missing pages from Merlin's book sticking out of Finkelstein's bookcase, but that was the only other pause that they took before they finally came back aboard their vessel and assumed their seats on the bridge.

"Okay, so are we all ready to go now," Ventus asked once everyone was seated and buckled up. He quickly got an affirmative reply from his crewmates, and stated, "All right then, let's try this again. Setting coordinates for Traverse Town and priming Warp-G for maximum velocity."

"Shields are at the ready just in case," Donald reported, thinking that Ven was going to ask about that again to be on the safe side.

Ventus nodded in reply to the duck and then returned his attention to the main piloting controls. "Coordinates locked in, and course is clear. Activating Warp-G in Five…Four…Three…Two…One…Engage!"

This time when the blonde pushed the activation lever forward, they not only heard a loud hum coming from the ship, but the ship also rocketed forward at incredible speed, punctuated with something that sounded a lot like a blaster being fired. The next thing any of them knew, they were all watching as stars raced past the viewport while a massive lane of gold lights spread out around the ship, providing all the proof that they needed to know the Warp-G was now working just like it was supposed to, much to their relief. Ventus quickly reminded everyone that it was still going to take about an hour at most to get back to Traverse Town, even with the Warp-G speeding things up, but right now, they were all too happy to really care about that. They were finally on their way to storming the villains' lair and rescuing both Sora's friends, and possibly even finding a clue on where King Mickey was. There was nothing that could bring their spirits down now, but while Donald and Goofy looked like they were ready to start throwing a party or two in celebration of this new success, Ventus had a very bad feeling start forming in his gut about what would happen when they did get to Hollow Bastion. Unknown to him, despite his outward appearance of being all smiles, Sora had that same feeling too, and he knew that it was only partially because Kairi was getting it as well.

* * *

Far away from Halloween Town and the four celebrating friends, Riku was groaning in slight pain and agony with almost every step that he took. Getting back to Hollow Bastion with Kairi turned out to be much harder on his own than he had originally thought it would be, so he was starting to see why Maleficent had been so insistent that he go all the way here on Hook's ship. Not that it mattered now. Kairi was here, far away from Sora and his new best buddies, and he was stronger than ever before. A moment of pain and weariness was a small price to pay in exchange for that. Still, it did not stop him from dropping to one knee and panting a little when he finally reached the room he was heading too, and the person who was already there easily took notice of the fact.

"It was reckless to bring her here without at least using a vessel," Maleficent scolded, honestly appearing as though she really had been worried about Riku's wellbeing after he had stumbled into the castle after exiting the dark portal he used to get away from Hook's ship with Kairi in tow. "Remember, relying too heavily on the dark powers could cost you your heart."

Riku was definitely feeling insulted by that, thinking that Maleficent was accusing him of being weak, and was about to hit back with a heated retort when a loud, bestial roar suddenly echoed loudly from somewhere outside, startling him a little. He was not scared of whatever had made the sound, but it was startling that the roar was so loud that he could hear it as clearly as he did, even though he knew that there was no such beast inside the castle. Still, he had to be sure of the fact, and immediately threw a look at Maleficent that demanded an explanation on the sound and what made it.

"A castaway," the evil fairy grinned in slight amusement. "Though his world perished, his heart did not. When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will." After saying all of that, Maleficent could tell that Riku was making a few comparisons between himself and this apparent castaway, and that a small amount of concern was seeping into his otherwise confident demeanor. That was not something she could allow right now, and she knew just how to prevent it from happening. After all, it was high time that the boy knew a very important truth about himself. "But fear not. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."

"My power," Riku asked, not entirely sure he was understanding Maleficent right. His first thoughts had immediately been of the dark magic he had learned since coming here, but somehow, he got the feeling that the fairy was referring to something else entirely. Something she had known about and not told him of for reasons that were only clear to her.

"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you," Maleficent explained, her sinister grin growing more and more with each passing second. "Now, child, it's time you awakened that power and realized your full potential."

Just a moment later, Riku looked down to see the faint, green glow that had washed over him when Maleficent granted him control of the Heartless had returned, but this time, there was something different about it. It felt as though something were reaching deep inside of him in an attempt to grab at something so that it could be brought to their surface, and whatever that thing was, Riku could already tell that it was definitely unlike anything he had felt before. When this hidden thing finally surface, a look of understanding suddenly flashed through his eyes, and he immediately grinned eagerly at the thought of what was soon to come. The moment that Sora arrived here, and he knew that his friend would come, Riku knew that the kid would be in for quite a surprise that was likely to shatter everything that Sora had believed until now. He did not care what the blonde "master" that had been traveling with Sora did, but somehow, Riku knew that Ventus would also find himself facing a very serious dilemma when he arrived.

Unknown to Riku, a mysterious figure in a brown cloak was watching all of this unfold from the shadows, with a sinister grin forming on his face, while one thought passed through his dark mind. _"At last the moment is upon us. I can hardly wait for when I attain the power I seek. Though I must admit, the moment of our approaching reunion is almost as difficult to wait for…Master Ventus."_

* * *

 ** _AN: You see, what did I tell you? Not much of a change here aside from the presence of Ventus, who's Halloween Town form is that of a werewolf. Earlier on, someone had thrown a few suggestions on what else I could have Ven change into when he got here, but unfortunately, I completely forgot what those ideas were, and found myself unable to find where the suggestions were. Sorry buddy, but I hope this still works out okay for everyone. Besides, at least it stayed within the friendly-scare environment that Halloween Town holds._**

 ** _Sora: Not to mention the fight with Oogie Boogie was really short, and that's for both rounds._**

 ** _AN: Hey, like I said, this ended up being mostly a filler adventure with one or two important things happening. Such as Sora learning both Glide and Stop, along with everyone finding out what Ven's Halloween Town form would be, and the first summoning of Tinker Bell._**

 ** _Goofy: And we got to see Spider-Man get summoned again too! That was pretty fun._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, that was great. Here's hoping he's not the only summon that will get an encore appearance. I mean, I really hope I can make sure that every other summon gets another chance to shine, but it's kinda hard to really say for sure right now. Especially since some summons haven't been acquired yet._**

 ** _Not only that, but Ven showcased another one of his Tier Two Command Styles: Sky Climber, the one that both he and Aqua have, as was previously mentioned during the story. Bet you guys were all just itching to see that in action in this story, huh? Yeah, I definitely wanted to use that at least once in this story, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for Ven to use it. I'm sure we all remember how the first fight with Oogie Boogie was more tedious than hard, right? So of course Ven's going to figure out the best way to make it go by more quickly and easily is to use that particular Command Style. You see, this is why I say that the fight with Oogie Boogie went much more quickly and was much easier than before: because Sora's not only stronger, but he's also got a full-fledged Keyblade Master helping him in the fights._**

 ** _Now, on another note, we're all headed back to Traverse Town to gear up for storming Hollow Bastion, and it looks like the other side is making some preparations of their own. Of course part of that does include that little scene between Riku and Maleficent at the end, and I'm sure we can all guess who Mister Shadowy Figure in the background is, right? Right. All-in-all, a lot's going to be happening in the next chapter alone._**

 ** _Donald: Why can't you just tell them to read the preview and leave it there for things like that?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, I'm getting to that! Haven't you ever heard of build-up? Sheesh. Show people. Anyways, as I was about to say, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team returns to Traverse Town to complete all the errands they need to, which allows Sora to have a quick moment with Kairi, and Ventus a chance to awaken the Summon Charm he had acquired from Hook's ship. What none of them know is that the next stage of their journey may likely be their most difficult yet, as many revelations await them just seconds after they arrive on Hollow Bastion. Just what is it that will leave Ventus and Kairi in such disbelief? How will Sora be able to keep going when he receives a spirit-breaking revelation? Can they depend on the massive beast they encounter to help them? What will Ven do to show his apprentice that his faith in the boy is not broken? And what will come about when all is said and done? The journey's final stages are starting to begin, next time._**

 ** _So yeah, I'm sure you've all figured out at least one or two things that are going to happen in the next chapter from that alone, and I'm betting you're all on the edge of yours seats in eager anticipation for it, but for now, I only ask one thing of you all..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	17. Hollow Bastion Part 1

**_AN: Wow, I am on a roll right now! Barely even a few days later, and already, we're busting out this chapter! Talk about awesome, am I right?_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, I thought so. Now, I'm not going to spend too much time answering reviews for the previous chapter, partly because most of the questions that were asked involved the events that happen in this chapter, the next one, and the one after it. Yeah, that's right, I'm thinking that the events of Hollow Bastion is going to take three chapters at most! Much like the number of wishes you get from Genie._**

 ** _Genie: Hey, I haven't that many complaints yet._**

 ** _[audience laughter]_**

 ** _AN: Haha, True enough. Anyways, you're about to get the first set of answers regarding Hollow Bastion adventures with this chapter everybody, and next chapter will answer a few more of them. You'll find out which you'll get when once we get into things today._**

 ** _Roxas: I thought you said you weren't going to take too much time with this. I mean, this looks like a really long chapter, and it's filled with a lot more than just a bunch of dialogue moments, so maybe we should get right to it? It's not like there's really much left for us to spoil without giving away a really major detail you've keeping under your hat for this story, or just going right to stuff about the sequel._**

 ** _Xion: Yeah, like how after the fight against Ansem-Riku, you have everyone..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! YOU HAD TO SOMETHING ROXAS! [hits the control]_**

 ** _Xion: [looks down to see a trap door has opened up beneath her feet] Yep. We're back to this again. For the record, I blame Roxas too. [drops down with a scream before the trap door closes]_**

 ** _AN: [hits intercom control] Sorry, Xion, but yeah, probably a good idea to blame Roxas for this._**

 ** _Roxas: Hey! Why're you deciding to gang up on me today?_**

 ** _AN: Shush, Mini-Ven. We've still got one or two things we need to address before getting back to the really important stuff, aka the story and today's big moments. Btw, for everyone who caught the little moment last chapter where Kairi showed a dislike for the Twilight Series, happy to see you all caught that. I honestly can't see Kairi liking that series either, and I myself find that series to be...Yeah there's no nice way for me to put this. I hate the Twilight Series. That series was not romantic at all in my opinion. I mean, from what little I have heard, the girl tried to kill herself to get the vampire boyfriend to come back to her. That's not romantic. That's desperate, depression, and a number of other negatives that I could list all day._**

 ** _Kairi: Preaching to the choir on that one, but I am definitely right there with you on that._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, we know, and thank you for that. Now, how about I fully address the review left by our old friend, "twilightnite13". He did have some questions that deserve answering after all. First off, yeah Oogie Boogie did have that insult coming, but you forget, Sora has insulted a few other enemies before. Hades and Saix, just to name a couple of examples from right off the top of my head. As for Sora and Ven getting the concept of the worlds they visited being fairy tales after Spidey mentioned it, they were really going more off of the assumption that the worlds were like that in Spidey's world alone, more than anything. Finally, Kairi getting jealous. Sure, she's a Princess of Heart and can't have any darkness in her heart, but that doesn't mean she can't get sad, angry, or jealous. To quote Star Trek The Next Generation, "Emotions are not really positive or negative. They just are."_**

 ** _Sora: Are you sure that's how the quote goes?_**

 ** _AN: I may or may not be paraphrasing a little due to the fact I can't remember the full quote right at the moment, but I do know that it's definitely close, and the point still stands. Now, getting back on point, "twilightnite13", don't you worry a bit about asking those questions. You're not putting me off or anything, and besides, I can fully understand how stress can get someone to act unlike their usual selves, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're being a bad friend. It just means that you're having a bad day, or just a tough time._**

 ** _Riku: Wow, that's really insightful. Any chance that can be applied to me in the story, or something._**

 ** _AN: Uh...Okay, that covers today's opening author's note._**

 ** _Riku: Wait, you didn't answer my question!_**

 ** _AN: No time now! Gotta get started! Disclaimer!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XVI**

Just like Ventus had said, using the Warp-G allowed the _Kingdom_ to reach Traverse Town again in just under an hour, and the team were all eager to rush into the town so that they could get the new navigation gummis installed on the ship. In fact, they were so eager that Ventus nearly made a small mistake or two when docking the ship in port due to how excited they all were. Thankfully, it was nothing too serious, and they were all soon heading through the main gate into Traverse Town and over to see Cid. When the gummi block expert saw that they had found the other navigation gummi, he was more than happy to get to work on installing it into the _Kingdom_ for them, but he did caution them that it would take a little while longer than the last time. While it was disheartening to hear that they would have to wait even longer to go and rescue their friends, the team did admit that it did give them a chance to run a few errands while they were in Traverse Town, so they did not complain too much. Ventus left the matter of gathering more Elixirs, Potions, and Ethers to Donald and Goofy, while he told Sora to see if there was anything at the equipment shop that he thought might come in handy before practicing his magic control abilities at the café near the shop that Donald's nephews ran. They all quickly questioned Ventus on what he was planning to do during that time, but the blonde only said that he had something he needed to take care of at Merlin's place before he took off towards the Third District.

After Ven's somewhat hasty departure, the other three just shrugged, figuring that they would find out what the blonde was going to Merlin's for later on, and left to carry out their assigned chores. While Donald and Goofy ended up having to take quite a while to get what they needed from Huey, Dewey, and Louie, both because they wanted to spend some time with the three boys and because they needed so many of the necessary items, Sora found his task to be quite easy to complete. As far as he could tell, the equipment shop did not really have anything that would be of much use to him or his friends, be it in the short or long-run, so Sora just ended up spending all of his time sitting at the café. Some people probably would have ordered something while they were seated in such a place, but Sora was more focused on getting his magic control up to a satisfactory level at the moment. He was sure that he and the others were going to have to be at nothing less than their best, and Sora was not about to let his friends down. Thinking of that though quickly reminded him of something important that he had almost forgotten about.

Despite all of their efforts, and how much they had found in regards to his own friends and Ansem's reports, there was absolutely no sign of King Mickey anywhere that they had gone. Yes, Leon and his gang had all said that they had been contacted by said king, and it looked like one of the gummis they found on Deep Jungle might have belonged to him, but aside from those two things, there was no sign of King Mickey anywhere. Sora knew that he had promised Donald and Goofy to help find their king, and while the other two had been a huge help in finding his best friends, he had thus far not been able to return the favor in kind. Not only that, but despite that one conversation that Kairi had with Master Aqua during her Dive to the Heart, there was also no sign of how to save the bluenette either, and Sora had also promised that he would help Ven find a way to help her too. The lack of success in these two missions, as well as the mission to find and save Ven's friend Terra was more than a little disheartening for Sora, and Kairi must have felt it too, because she was soon trying to cheer him up as best as she could. Unfortunately, it did not seem like she was having very much success for once, because Sora was still looking pretty depressed when Donald and Goofy finally came out of the item shop to meet up with him.

"Sora," Donald called out, happily, only to pause when he saw how down the kid looked.

Goofy had quickly noticed as well, and he immediately told the kid, "Now, just remember what Donald said to ya: no frowning, no sad faces."

Apparently, that was not going to help Sora's bad mood, because he immediately threw the two an upset look before he demanded, "How can you be so cheerful? There's still no sign of your king, and we're not exactly any closer to helping Ven get Master Aqua out of the Realm of Darkness, remember? Aren't you worried?"

The two just shared a small look between them before turning back to Sora and giving a simple explanation to show why they were not concerned. "Aw, phooey," Donald started, not sounding the least bit upset at all.

"The king told us to go out and meet up with Ven so we could find the newest Keybearer, and we found you. So as long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay," Goofy reminded him. "Ya just gotta believe in yourself, that's all."

"Hasn't Ven been telling you that right from Day One," Donald teased.

"Just believe…" Sora quietly mused as a small smile started to return to his face, knowing that the two were right.

Kairi had sensed this change in his demeanor as well, and did not hesitate to push forward on it in her own efforts to cheer him up. _"I believe in you, too, Sora,"_ the girl said, her voice brimming with kind confidence, earning her a smile from Sora soon after. To finalize her point, Kairi decided that there was one other thing she could do for him. _"Sora, remember how I said that I saw a couple of your memories back when we got stuck inside of Monstro?"_

 _"Yeah,"_ Sora questioningly replied, not sure why Kairi was bringing that up now.

 _"Well…ever since then, I think some memories of my time on my homeworld have been slowly coming back. Not all of them, but just some of the really important ones. And there's one memory in particular that I'd like you to see."_

Sora was touched by this gesture. The fact that Kairi wanted to share something that was likely very important to her was flattering on its own, but the fact that she wanted to share it with him was what really made it special. Sure, she had seen a memory or two of his before, but up until now, that had been all that had been exchanged between them. Hearing that she was now going to share one of her own memories with him definitely made his day a little more, and Sora did not hesitate to close his eyes so that he would be able to focus on nothing but that particular memory. A minute later, a small light seemed to flash in his mind's eye, and he was soon feeling like he was being whisked away to another place…

* * *

 _She was not entirely sure what was going on right now. One minute, she was running away from some scary monsters, and the next thing she knew, a nice lady with blue hair had come running to her rescue along with someone who looked like a giant mouse. The weirdest part was that they were both fighting with swords that looked like giant keys. Thankfully, she had not been in the middle of the fight when the two had started to get serious, but she was still close enough to watch most of it unfold, and she was left in awe by the sight. While the mouse man was fast and powerful, the blue woman fought with a grace and elegance that almost made it look like she was dancing, and that was coupled with the power that she had sensed that the woman possessed when she had touched her strange sword earlier. Every blow she struck, every spell she cast, even the times when she would flip or cartwheel away from an attack was simply beautiful. When the fight ended, it made sense that the woman would fight in such a way, because when she finally got a look at her rescuer, she saw that the blue haired woman was just as if not more beautiful than her fighting style. It may have started out as a strange day, but it had all ended up being very incredible in her eyes, and Kairi now felt like she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up._

 _After the fight had ended, Kairi ended up listening in on the conversation that the woman and the mouse had, but understood very little of it, aside from the fact that they thought that she was someone really special. She had already been told that by her grandmother a few times, but hearing two random strangers say that made her wonder if there was more to that than what her grandma had told her. A moment later, the mouse man suddenly disappeared in a bright flash of light, and shot up into the sky while saying, "I'll be okay! See ya real soon!"_

 _Kairi kept staring up at the sky where the mouse and the light he had turned into had disappeared, before she realized that the blue haired woman was still here, and immediately smiled as she approached her, with a bouquet of flowers at the ready. "Here," Kairi said, offering the flowers to the woman before her._

 _When she heard the small girl's voice, the woman turned her attention away from the sky, smiled down at the little girl, and asked, "Are these for me?"_

 _Kairi immediately nodded with a smile and explained, "I picked you some flowers. Thank you for saving me."_

 _The woman's smile grew much bigger and softer after hearing that and accepting the flowers, and she did not seem able to hold back her appreciation when she next spoke. "Oh, they're lovely. You're so sweet."_

 _Kairi then remembered that her grandma had always said it was important to tell someone you give a present to what your name was, and immediately said, "My name's Kairi. Nice to meet you."_

 _"Nice to meet you too. I'm Aqua," the woman replied in kind. Kairi then saw her new friend get a small look that appeared similar to the one her grandma always got when she was trying to figure out how to say something to her, before Aqua finally said, "Kairi, about that light…"_

 _"Kairi," someone suddenly called out, interrupting Aqua, and getting both girls' attention._

 _"Oh! Grandma," Kairi exclaimed, realizing who it was, and knowing that must mean it was time to head home. She was about to rush over to the elderly woman when Aqua suddenly called for her attention once more._

 _"Wait, Kairi, just a minute," Aqua asked, getting the little girl's attention once again. The next thing Kairi knew, Aqua was gently placing two fingers against the necklace she had just received from one of her friends the other day, and a small light then began to glow around it before slipping into her chest. "I just cast a magic spell on you," Aqua explained, having spotted the girl's questioning look. "One day when you're in trouble, the light within you will lead you to the light of another. Someone to keep you safe."_

 _Kairi did not entirely understand what that meant, but she was able to get enough to realize that Aqua had just done something really nice for her, and so she immediately smiled and said thanks before rushing over to her grandma, ready to head home. Before she left though, she turned back to say one last quick goodbye to Aqua, and was pleased to see the woman in question wave back with a smile of her own. Just seconds after she had her hand in her grandma's, Kairi immediately thought of something that she just had to ask. "Hey, Grandma?"_

 _"Hmm? What is it," her grandmother asked._

 _"Could you tell me that story?"_

 _Kairi's grandma could only laugh in good nature even as she asked, "Again, dear?"_

 _"Please," Kairi pleaded, her eyes quickly turning into an adorable sad puppy face without her even trying._

 _"Very well, then," Kairi's grandma finally relented, much to the little girl's giggling pleasure. "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves, and darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived, in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away. Do you understand Kairi?"_

 _Kairi immediately nodded with an affirmative hum in reply, and the two continued on with their trek home, both wearing large smiles on their faces. What she did not expect, was that somehow, she would be able to hear Aqua make one last comment before they had left the area completely. "Kairi…Something tells me I didn't run into her by accident."_

* * *

Sora let out a small, surprised gasp when the memory suddenly faded from view in a flash, and he quickly glanced around just to make sure his surroundings had not changed any in the time he was viewing said memory. Goofy had quickly taken notice of Sora's sudden surprised state, and immediately asked, "What's the matter?"

"Um, nothing. Just a small conversation with Kairi," Sora explained, getting understanding nods from both of his two newest friends. He then lowered his gaze a little with a smile on his face as he thought, _"Thanks for sharing that with me, Kairi."_

 _"You're welcome, Sora. Just promise me that you'll remember what my grandma was trying to tell me with that story I loved so much,"_ Kairi requested, and even though she could not really see it, she still felt him nod in reply to show that he was not going to forget any time soon. Still, there was one thing about that particular memory that she had her wondering a little ever since she had first got it back, and she just needed to ask someone about it. Since he was the only one she could ask, Sora did not really have much say in whether or not she opened up to him about it. Not that she thought he would refuse if she did have other options, but the point still stands. _"Hey Sora, about that spell that Aqua mentioned. Do you think that's why I ended up on Destiny Islands?"_

 _"Maybe, but then…didn't she say that it would only work if you were in trouble? So, why would it send you to Destiny Islands then,"_ Sora asked.

 _"I don't know, but…I have a bad feeling that maybe something happened to my home, and I'm not going to like finding out what that was,"_ Kairi admitted.

 _"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure whatever happened to it, we can fix or undo. Plus, when you think about it, maybe that spell is also the reason why you ended up inside of my heart when the Islands had been swallowed up by darkness,"_ Sora reasoned.

Kairi had to admit that he was probably right about that, and she said so to, but before either of them could really talk about it in more detail, they entire group heard the sounds of approaching footsteps, and turned to see Ventus was quickly approaching them. "I take it this means you guys got everything you needed," Ven questioned with a smile.

"Uh-huh. We're all set and ready for anything now," Goofy confirmed.

"We're just waiting for Cid to come back and tell us that the ship is ready," Donald informed him. He then remembered the blonde master's rather hasty departure, and quickly asked, "Say, what were you doing all this time, anyway?"

"Well I guess I kept you guys waiting long enough," Ventus smiled, and he then reached into his pocket so that he could pull out a summon charm for everyone to see. Everyone instantly knew that this was a new one, because they did not recognize it as any of the ones they knew Ventus already had. It was a shinning blue in color, while a black symbol was embossed on it. The symbol in question had a pair of wings with what looked like a shining star in the middle, while beneath it were a pair of thin, crossed swords, one green and the other yellow. "I found this while we were on Neverland, and just took it to Fairy Godmother so that she could bring it back to life, so now, we'll have even more help when we go after Maleficent. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't still make sure we're ready to handle anything without that help," Ven cautioned them with a smile.

"Don't worry, Ven. We're ready for whatever they can throw at us," Sora promised with a grin, and seeing that confidence had a hint of caution mixed into the boy's gaze quickly put a proud smile on Ven's face.

It was actually right at that moment that Cid finally came back from the gummi ship hangar and over to them, gaining their attention the minute they heard his gruff cough. "I installed that navigation gummi set for ya, so you're good to go at any time," Cid reported. "But, ya know…One of the places it'll let you reach is crawling with Heartless, so I wouldn't want to go back there. Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Relax, Cid. We were kind of expecting that to be the case. Besides, if I'm right about one of those places, then that means it'll lead us right to Maleficent's doorstep, and it's high time we took the fight right to her," Ventus reassured him. He then looked back to the team with a grin and said, "I doubt that I really need to say that this may be the last chance any of you have to back out, but at this point, I can't help but wonder if I should even bother telling any of you that. After all we've been through, I don't think any of us are going to quit now, right?"

"Yeah! We've already come this far, and we're staying right to the end, or at least until we finally find King Mickey," Donald grinned reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Ven. There's no way you're going to get rid of us that easily, because we're all bestest buddies. Even if we do find the king before the journey's over, I'm still gonna stick with you until the end of the line," Goofy promised.

"Like you even need to ask in my case. After coming this far, there's no way I'm just going to sit back and wait for all of you to save the day for me," Sora declared with a grin.

 _"What? Like I'm really going to say no at this point, even if I could,"_ Kairi asked. She knew that Ventus could not hear her, but that was not going to stop her from making a promise of her own.

Ventus smiled in thanks and pride to his friends, while Cid gave all four of the adventurers a grin of his own before he decided to throw in a little bit of teasing. "All right, well if you fellas are done with your bonding time, your ship's ready and waiting. So, what're you all waiting for? Get up and go already!"

"Like you even need to ask," Ven and Sora both said simultaneously. The two looked to each other in surprise afterwards, but were soon grinning widely a minute later to show that they were happy to see just how in sync they were with one another. With everything said and done, the four marched away from the café and off to the gummi ship hangar, certain that they were ready for whatever was going to come next, but never knowing for sure what was waiting for them. If he were being honest, it was the latter of those two things that had Cid the most worried, and for the first time in what was probably a long time in his life, he found himself taking a cue from Aerith and praying that those guys would come back safe and in one piece.

* * *

Getting to where they knew Maleficent hung her cloak was not going to be as easy as jumping there with the Warp-G, the whole team knew that, but they did know that they could shorten the trip by jumping to the world that was closest to their destination. So, after a one hour jump, they were just outside the orbit of Neverland and ready to start on the trip that would no doubt lead to Hollow Bastion. Sure, there were two other worlds in the computer's navigation system, and they were all curious about these worlds, but at the moment, they were too focused on what was promising to be the final destination of their journey, so any curiosity they may have had did not have a chance of winning out on them this time. Still, they were not going to kid themselves into thinking it was going to be a smooth, easy flight, and they were soon proven right.

The minute that they had pulled far enough away from Neverland, they were swarmed by several dozens of Heartless ships, and it took everything that Ven and Sora had to keep the _Kingdom_ in one piece while fighting back against the enemy ships. Thankfully, they did not stop their ship's upgrades with simply the new navigation gummi set. They had also made a note of adding a few new weapons to the ship as well, giving Sora a little more firepower to fight back with, and making it easier to destroy more Heartless ships before they could land a hit on them. In addition to that, the ship's shields had also received a very reasonable and long-overdue upgrade, so it was harder for enemy fire to damage the ship by too much. Between the added protection, and the new addition of extra guns, lasers, and even a few torpedoes in their arsenal, it made sense that the _Kingdom_ would be able to hold up a little better in the flight to Hollow Bastion. Even so, that did not mean that it was an easy flight, and the Heartless definitely made sure that they had to work for whatever the team wanted to gain.

By the time the _Kingdom_ had arrived at Hollow Bastion, the extra boost to the shields had been completely depleted, and the ship had taken some damage to it that would have made it a little difficult for them to really survive any more ship-to-ship battles if they got into one anytime soon. Luckily, any necessary systems had somehow escaped the confrontations unscathed, and Chip and Dale had reassured them that they would be able to get the ship fully functional again by the time they had gotten back from whatever business they would be taking care of on the dark world that was waiting for them. Despite the reassurances of their resident engineers, the team was still a little worried about what would happen when they did return to the ship for their next flight. It would have to wait though, because they had more important matters to deal with, and from the look of Hollow Bastion at their current location, they were going to be in for quite the ordeal.

From what they could see, they were able to understand quite well why Captain Hook had used the word "ruins" when he described the place, because that's certainly what most of the world appeared to be. The main thing to note though, was the rather impressive castle that seemed to have various pieces of advanced technology all throughout it, but was still crumbling and even had several gaping holes in several walls that proved that something had either blasted through the walls, or that no one had lived there in a long time, or at least no one who would bother to try and keep it in a good condition. Several pipes could also be spotted sticking out of the castle in various locations, all emitting some kind of bubbly steam or smoke, and beneath it all seemed to be a large pool of water that did not seem the least bit normal. Looking down at this world, Ventus could not help but suddenly gain a sense of familiarity that put a very ill feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he just knew that he was going to find out why that was the case the minute they teleported down there.

Just as he had parked the ship and was about to order everyone over to the ship's transporter, Donald and Goofy suddenly moved to the ship's armory, saying that there were some things that they needed to get before they left the ship. The two were then gone before Sora or Ventus could ask them to hurry, and so the two Keybearers ended up waiting for them at the gummi ship's teleporter. It felt like they were waiting for hours or so, but it was really only a few minutes before Donald and Goofy had joined them, and the two could see that the pair were now carrying weapons that much different from their usual ones.

Goofy had exchanged his usual shield for one that, while still circular, now had two angular protrusions on its top half, along with a triangular spike on the top and bottom, with the edges being thin and light blue in color. The main shield itself was blue, while its face was dominated by a large, elegant white heart, with six white, curled wings decorating the sides of said heart, three on each side. At the very top of the shield, one could easily spot a yellow crown symbol that was identical to the charm on Sora's necklace. Goofy explained that this was the shield known as Save the King, and it was the most powerful shield in all of Disney Town, forged for him by one of the most powerful wizards that King Mickey ever knew.

Donald made the same claim about his new staff that Goofy did, and the two Keybearers could see why that was the case, because it looked just as impressive as the shield his tall, often clumsy friend now carried. The staff had a long, sky blue handle with an orange pommel, and its head consisted of an ornate, orange base with a tall, faded blue diamond that was surrounded by an intricate, yellow frame. Donald claimed that since his staff was meant to serve as a parallel to Goofy's new shield, he had decided to name it Save the Queen, and Ven and Sora could both see why. It definitely seemed like the type of thing that would match up with Goofy's shield in just the way that Donald claimed it did.

After looking over the two's new weapons, Sora contemplated switching out the Keychain on Kingdom Key for one of his other ones, but ultimately decided that he was better off using its default for the moment. Ventus had decided to leave Guardian Wind as it was as well, but still, the younger Keybearer still had to ask a very important question. "If you guys have had those things in here the whole time, then why didn't you ever use them before?"

"If we went around using these all the time, then we wouldn't be able to rely on any of our other staffs or shields as easily, in case we ever lost these," Donald explained. "It's better to keep your best equipment ready for the most serious situations, too."

"Yep, otherwise, the other guys might end up making something that can beat your best stuff, and then you'd be really big trouble," Goofy added.

"They're right. It's really not that different from how different Keychains can power up your Keyblade, but you still need to be able to rely on your actual Keyblade's power if you ever lose one of your Keychains," Ventus simplified for Sora. He was not entirely sure why he was doing so, but he felt like the kid needed to learn that lesson as quickly as possible, just in case.

Sora nodded in understanding, and they all left it at that as they quickly stepped onto the teleporter and prepared to transport down to the surface of Hollow Bastion. One flash of light later, and they soon found themselves dropping to the ground of the world below them, but the location in which they did land had caught them all by surprise. They found themselves surrounded by a huge wall of water, while the surface they landed on turned out to be a large slap of rock that rested before several, floating platforms of rock and ice, all of which lead up to the remains of an old archway that was halfway up to another one in the distance. What came as even more of a surprise was that the water in the falls around them were actually moving upwards instead of down like they should have been, further showcasing just how much damage that the Heartless had likely done to this world when it fell. Even just standing where they were, they could feel a great deal of darkness like it was almost all around them, and they probably would have just stood there taking in the strangeness of this one small corner of the world had Goofy not pointed out something to everyone that turned their gazes upwards and passed the archways.

When they turned to see what Goofy had spotted, Sora and Donald were both left in awe at the sight of castle they saw before from the _Kingdom_ 's cockpit, while Ventus on the other had quickly paled in horror at the sight. The castle definitely looked very run down and was clearly falling into a state of ruin, but what really got their attention was that the symbol of the Heartless was resting right where they assumed that the door into the castle most likely was waiting for them. As he looked on, Sora could feel an odd sense of familiarity building up inside of him, which he had to assume was coming from Kairi, since he knew he had never been here before, and he was about to ask her why that was, until he heard the astonished gasp that finally fell past Ven's lips and turned to see the look on his now very pale face.

"What's the matter, Ven," Donald asked, feeling more than a little concerned for their friend.

Ventus did not say anything in response, and it almost looked like he had been completely frozen in place while his breath had gotten caught in his throat. It was not until Goofy gave him a small shake that the blonde finally came out of it, but his horrorstruck look did not fade at all. Seeing that, Goofy immediately asked, "Are you okay, Ven?"

"I wish I could say that I was," Ventus quietly admitted, earning more concerned looks from his friends. "I think…No, I know that I've been here before."

"You have," all three of the others gasped in shock, with Jiminy repeating the question once he had jumped up onto Sora's shoulder a second later.

"Unfortunately, yes, and I can say with utmost confidence that this world was nothing like it is now when I was last here," Ventus explained, having now figured out at least one mystery that had plagued him for many years now. "Hook was right to say that this place was the ruins of something, because Hollow Bastion…Is actually the ruins of Radiant Garden."

"WHAT," was the simultaneous cry of horror that followed soon after the blonde's revelation.

"But how can that be? I mean, are you absolutely sure that this place is Radiant Garden, or at the very least, what's left of it," Jiminy asked.

"I'm positive. That castle up there is way too similar to the one that Ansem the Wise ruled his world from to be a coincidence," Ventus insisted, but despite how sure he sounded, everyone could tell from the look on his face that he was wishing that he was wrong in this case.

After hearing that from his master, Sora immediately turned his attention to Kairi and asked, _"Is that why I'm feeling a sense of sad familiarity from your heart, Kairi? Because you recognize this place as what's left of your home, too?"_

 _"I wish I could say otherwise, but yeah. I think…I think this is…Or was the world I originally came from,"_ Kairi revealed, and from the sound of her voice, Sora could tell that if she were able to right now, she would likely be near tears right now. In fact, after she had said all of that, Sora could feel her sadness starting to affect him a little more heavily, because he could feel his own eyes beginning to water with tears, too, but that still left a few things unanswered. Or at least one thing, anyway.

"Hang on. Didn't Leon and the others say that they came from Hollow Bastion," Donald pointed out, turning everyone's attention to him when he mentioned that. "If that is the case, and this place is Radiant Garden, then why don't they remember that it used to be called that?"

"I don't know, Donald. Maybe something had happened that made them forget after a long time. After all, it has been nine years since they had to leave their world to take shelter on Traverse Town, but no matter what anyone else says, I'm sure that this place is definitely Radiant Garden. Or at least what's left of it," Ventus sadly replied, his mind already going back to all the memories he had of this place, from the friends he had made here, to the adventures that had taken place on his many visits over the time that had passed since the first time he had come to the world.

Any further musings on the matter were quickly dropped or forgotten when a loud roar suddenly scared all four of the friends, nearly out of their skins. Their first thought was that it was some kind of monster Heartless, but Ven could not sense any such darkness coming from the direction that the sound had originated from, and after a moment, Sora found that he could not either. None of them were sure what to make of that, but one thing that they did know for certain was that whatever it was, it might mean that whatever had made the sound was either dangerous or needed help. They just had to hope it was the latter, because it definitely came from the archway that was halfway up to the one before the castle, and it was the only way forward for them at the moment. Who would not be concerned knowing that as they were going forward.

* * *

Riku had never felt more alive than he did right now. Ever since Maleficent had revealed that little bit of truth to him, and helped him to unlock the power he needed to claim what was rightfully his, he had felt nearly invincible. Sure, the evil fairy had a little help from a mutual friend that claimed Maleficent was unaware of their acquaintanceship, but Riku could not really be bothered to care. He was now closer than ever to helping Kairi get her heart back, and all he needed now was the thing that should have been his right from the start. Still, he wanted to make sure he could handle his newly acquired powers, and he could think of no better way to break them in than this little test run he was currently in the middle of. Though he had to admit, he never really expected an opponent like this one.

His opponent in question was a beast in every sense of the word, from his brown fur, to the horns on his head, and razor sharp fangs. Not only that, but he also had massive paws and killer claws that were perfect for tearing through any prey that he may wish to feast upon, and a long, somewhat bushy-looking tail. Though from his torn up, dark blue pants and the torn purple cape the monster wore, and the oddly gentle if not furious blue eyes he possessed, Riku had to figure that this was not the beast's normal appearance. Not that it mattered now, because all Riku really knew that whatever this thing was before, or now, this creature was a mystery all on its own, and Riku needed some questions answered about it before anything else happened. He just had to hope that the human aspects of this creature meant that it was capable of speaking.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless, so tell me, how'd you get here," Riku demanded, testing to see if this thing was intelligent enough to speak.

As it turned out, the beast was indeed just that, because it soon growled out an answer that came through in plain English, with the slight hint of an accent to it that Riku almost could not identify. "I simply believed. Nothing more to it," the beast answered with a glare. "When our world fell into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her again no matter what the cost. I believed I would find her. So, here I am. She must be here. I will have her back!"

Riku was not entirely sure who this Belle person was, but he had a hunch it was one of the six girls that Maleficent was currently holding up in the castle, and knowing that they would be necessary to open the path that he believed would help him recover Kairi's heart, it made sense that he would draw his sword once again, and stand in defiance of this beast's wishes. "Take her if you can," Riku challenged, and it was well met very soon.

The beast let out a monstrous roar and then lunged forward from the platform he was currently standing on, reaching the one where Riku had been standing in one, powerful leap. Riku was not quite prepared for such a show of strength, but that that did not mean he was completely caught off guard, as evidenced by how he managed to spin away from the rather savage swing that the beast had thrown at him. A moment later, everything seemed to move in slow motion for Riku's opponent, because when Riku had landed on his feet again, he immediately charged the creature with an incredible speed that the beast could not hope to keep up with, and landed a powerful slash on his person in one fell swoop. After backing away again, Riku could only smirk with pride as he watched the beast fall to the ground, and would have moved in to finish the creature off had someone not interfered once again.

"STOP," Sora shouted as he and the others raced to stand between Riku and the beast, all of them ready for a fight if it came down to that. Instead, they found themselves surprised to see that Riku was not the least bit annoyed from seeing them, but instead, had a smug smile on his face like he was in on some sort of joke that they did not yet know or understand.

"So, you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you," Riku mocked with a chuckle.

"Somehow I don't think it's for the reason that Sora's hoping it might be," Ventus remarked, earning him a scowl from Riku.

"Hey Master Phony, keep your trap shut and stay out of this. I was talking to Sora, not you," Riku nearly snapped, and the fact his voice did not change in volume at all made it a little more worrisome for everyone.

Ventus was half tempted to march over to the kid and put him in his place right there and then for all of his insults, but he quickly took a calming breath, knowing that acting out in such a way would only be proving Riku right, even if not entirely, and instead retorted, "Well then by all means, let's hear what you have to say this time. I'm sure we'd all love to hear your latest tirade on how you want to justify using the power of darkness and the Heartless to help your friends."

Riku simply ignored the blonde before turning his attention back to Sora, and continuing on from where he had left off. "We've always been rivals, haven't we, Sora," he asked, though he did not wait for an answer. "You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you. But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters."

"Actually, there can be, considering that there's actually two in existence right now, not counting Master Aqua," Ventus argued, though somehow, he had a feeling that Riku did not mean that in the way he was thinking.

"Let me clarify then. What I meant is that there can't be two wielders of the same Keyblade," Riku corrected himself.

"What are you talking about," Sora demanded, now completely lost on what Riku was trying to imply this time.

Riku just smirked before he raised a hand up, and declared, "Let the Keyblade choose…it's true master!"

The next thing Sora knew, Kingdom Key had flashed into his hand and then started moving forward on its own, trembling in his grasp as it did. Sora nearly tripped over his own two feet in his attempts to keep it from going, but he could still feel it trembling in his hands as it continued to try and move away from him. As it continued to shake, Sora could swear that he felt an odd sensation coming from Kingdom Key, making him wonder if the Keyblade was actually frightened by what was happening to it, but before he could ponder it any further, the Keyblade finally slid out of his grasp and vanished completely, much to his shock, and that of his friends. The only thing that proved more surprising, if not horrifying was when Kingdom Key reappeared, not in Sora's hand, but Riku's, while the taller boy just smirked at the rather simple Keyblade with glee.

"Maleficent was right," Riku grinned before he threw a mocking look down at Sora. "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the chosen Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."

"But that's impossible. How did this happen," Sora whispered, hardly believing that this was happening after all that they had been through. "I'm the one who fought my way here with Kingdom Key, and who's trained in all of the different fighting styles and abilities of a Keyblade wielder!"

Riku merely scoffed in dry humor as he waved Sora's Keyblade around like he was showing off a prize, and replied, "You were just the delivery boy. Just because you were taught a few little tricks, doesn't mean that you were ever going to truly be its real wielder." Admittedly, he was a little bewildered as to why Sora would refer to his Keyblade by a ridiculous name like Kingdom Key, but now that it was his, it did not matter. To add further insult to injury, Riku then pulled out an old, wooden sword like the ones he and Sora had used back on the Islands, and tossed it over to his friend as he declared, "Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this."

As the toy sword clattered along the ground to his feet, Sora finally felt his legs give out, and he immediately dropped to his knees with his head down. He did not want to believe what Riku was saying, but he had to admit, there might have been some truth to it. Was he really not meant to be the wielder of the Kingdom Key? Was the reason why he had still not discovered his personal Tier One Command Style because he was never meant to be a Keyblade wielder in the first place? If that was the case, then why would he have gained so many incredible abilities while training under Ventus, like his personal Shotlocks, or his magical abilities? Was Kingdom Key just doing whatever it could to keep him alive until he was able to deliver it to its true wielder? Sora just did not know, and worst yet, he was afraid of what Ventus would so much as think, let alone do after all that had just happened here.

Donald and Goofy were also confused on what they should do now. On the one hand, they had been through so much with Sora, and had promised to help him and Ventus on this journey, but on the other hand, they still had their mission for King Mickey. After all, the king had said that the two of them were supposed to find the key and stick with it, no matter what. Sure, he had also said to trust whatever Ventus had decided to do, but if what Riku had said was true, then could they really trust the blonde's judgment? After all, it did seem like he had made a mistake in taking Sora on as his apprentice, so what else could Ven have been wrong about. The two just did not know.

Finally, Donald found he could not keep it in any longer, and just had to voice his concerns out loud, if not to everyone, then at least to the one person that those orders affected the most. "Goofy, what do we do now? How should we carry on with our mission from here?"

"Oh! Well, I know the king told us to follow the key and all, and to trust Ven to know what to do, but…" Goofy said, glancing between where Riku had gone off to and the distraught Sora who was still down on the ground and looking like he was about to cry a little. He then let out a sad, aggravated moan, showing that he was just as lost on this matter as Donald seemed to be, and he honestly wished he did know what they should do. What neither of the two expected was for someone else to give voice on what they should do, let alone who that person would end up being.

"If you guys think you need to go and follow Riku in order to fulfill your mission, then by all means, go on ahead. After all, it's not like he's on the verge of drowning in darkness if not bringing about the end of all the worlds," Ventus told the two. He may not have been shouting or snapping at them, but his otherwise calm tone did make Donald and Goofy feel like he had done just that and more, and he was not done. "I won't stop either of you from going, but I'm staying right here with my apprentice. If you do decide that you want to stick with Sora though, all I ask is this: try and slow Riku down a little if you can. At the very least, long enough for us to catch up with you all later."

Donald and Goofy may have felt like they were abandoning Sora at first, but when they heard Ventus make that request, they had a feeling that following Riku might actually be of help to them and Sora later on. So, they simply nodded to the blonde and gave Sora a quick, heartfelt apology before they slowly started making their way after Riku, leaving Ventus alone with the boy. Well, almost alone with him, because they were quickly reminded that one other person was here as well. Then again, when a massive, bestial being like the one that Riku had just been fighting suddenly started trying to limp past you, despite being hurt, you would have been hard pressed to not be reminded that he was there with you. A minute later though, their reminder had soon collapsed between them, and they were both quickly more concerned for his wellbeing.

"Hey, don't move. You're hurt," Sora cautioned, finding he was unable to stay down on the ground, feeling sorry for himself after seeing the beast collapse.

Ventus was instantly producing Guardian Wind in order to cast Cura, thinking it would be of more help here than the standard healing spell, Cure, but letting Sora see his Keyblade ended up being a bad move, because Sora was instantly looking down in despair once again, despite his best efforts at helping the strange beast to stand up again. It was rather comical how someone Sora's size was helping a creature that was much bigger than him like this beast was to stand, but the sad mood easily squashed out any humor from the situation. Ventus was about to say something in order to help uplift his apprentice's spirits, but their newest acquaintance ended up beating him to the punch.

"Why…Why did you…you come here," the beast questioned Sora, making the kid turn to him with a confused look on his face, clearly wondering where the beast was going with that, and giving the creature all the cue he needed to elaborate on what he was getting at. "I came to fight for Belle. And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

Sora just stared after the beast for a minute, thinking over what this massive being had just said. Despite being all on his own, and having nothing more than his belief and strength to push him forwards, he was not going to give up now that he was so close to finding the one he wanted to save, and he was going to keep fighting even if he was hurt. Realizing this, Sora began to look back at everything that had happened to him since this journey had started. The only downside was that doing so made him think about all the amazing things he had managed to do with the Keyblade in hand, and he had to wonder if he could really keep being of any help without it. Kairi could quickly sense the doubt forming in Sora's heart from within, and wanted to try and say something to him, but no matter what she tried, nothing came to her mind on what she could say to help her friend.

Thankfully, someone else was able to think of something to say to Sora, and he did not hesitate to do so when he saw the doubt forming on his apprentice's face. "Sora, if this guy, someone who doesn't have nothing more than his own impressive strength and beliefs can get this far without a Keyblade, then surely you can do the same," Ventus started out, making sure that the kid's eyes were locked on him before he continued on. "There's more to being a Keyblade wielder than just simply being chosen by a Keyblade. You were right before when you said that you were the one who had fought your way here and trained with the Kingdom Key, but what else did you do along the way?" When Sora said nothing in reply, Ventus immediately filled in the blanks for him. "You made in difference in the lives of others, you helped save other worlds from the Heartless, and you made several new friends who all now have a place in your heart. That's the ultimate difference here that will help you to reclaim what is truly yours: the strength of your heart, and the bonds that connect you to so many people throughout all of the worlds. That's what Riku has either forgotten or just doesn't understand."

Sora had to admit, Ventus did have a point. He had made a lot of friends who he had formed a bond with in his heart, and with every new friend he had made, his heart had grown all the stronger. Still, against Riku's power and strength, he had doubts that it would make that much of a difference, but Kairi was not about to let him start thinking that way. _"Sora, don't you remember that memory I just showed you before? The one of my grandma's story? What Ven is talking about is just one example of the light deep inside that never goes out, and even if I wasn't inside of your heart, I'd be able to tell you with the utmost confidence that yours is stronger than any other in all of the worlds."_

Sora instantly perked up when he heard that, then turned to pick up the toy sword that Riku had thrown at him as a way of mocking him, and turned his gaze towards the castle as he declared, "You guys are right. I can't give up now after coming all this way. I came here to help save someone very important to me, and after all that's happened, there's no way I'm going to quit." He then lost a bit of that confidence when he said, "But…what about what Riku said? Was I really just a delivery boy?"

"Not a chance in hell," Ventus immediately disputed, pulling Sora's attention back on to him. "I could sense that someone had indeed passed the power of the Keyblade to Riku, but I'm absolutely positive that the Kingdom Key was never meant for him. Surely you must have sensed something that would prove that to you better than anybody before it jumped to his hand, right?" He immediately took Sora's silence as a yes, and pressed on by saying, "Then it's up to you to get it back. In that moment, Riku managed to overpower your claim on the Kingdom Key, yes, but as its true wielder, you can still reclaim it by showing that you do possess the strength of heart to be the master of Kingdom Key."

"Are you sure," Sora asked. "What if I do try and it turns out that I'm not worthy of it after all?"

"Trust me, Sora. You have no idea how sure I am that you're worthy of Kingdom Key, and even if I didn't know, I'd still be telling you all of this, because I believe it to be true, just like I believe in you," Ventus promised with a smile. It took a few seconds or so, but eventually, Sora did return Ven's smile with a very grateful one of his own, and the blonde then decided it was time to address one final detail that would make absolutely sure that Sora could get his Keyblade back. "Now, if you're really that worried, I think I may know of a way to help make sure that you can get Kingdom Key back."

"What's that," Sora asked, earning a curious look from the beast as well.

"You see, Sora, being chosen to be a wielder is only half of what's necessary to be a true Keybearer. The other half, more often than not, is that someone does indeed need to pass the power to you through a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. From the moment we first met, I could tell that no one had done that for you, at least not officially, but somehow, someone had managed to pass the ability to wield a Keyblade onto you," Ventus explained. He then summoned Guardian Wind to his hand, and finished, "I think I might know a way to cement that power into your being, if you're willing to try it."

Sora did not even hesitate for a second to nod, because despite whatever misgivings he may or may not still have, he was willing to take on whatever responsibilities that came with being a Keybearer. After all, he had already been following those responsibilities, so what would be the point in stopping now? Ventus smiled and then knelt down before Sora, extending the hilt of his Keyblade towards the boy, as he began to recite an old, familiar chant. "In your hand take this key. So long as you still have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall once again be. And you will find me again, friend, no ocean shall contain you once again. No more borders around, below, or above, so long as you still champion the ones you love."

Sora looked up at Ventus in awe for a minute, completely mystified by what he had just heard, and then reached out and grasped the handle of Guardian Wind. After holding the handle of the blade for a minute or two, Sora could feel something inside of him growing stronger, like it was beginning to fully solidify into whatever place it held inside of him, and when he finally let go, he could feel a sudden rush of energy washing over him like he had suddenly been reenergized in a way that he had never felt before. When he grinned up at Ventus, the blonde knew that it had worked, and immediately dismissed his Keyblade before standing upright once again. He then prepared to head out when Sora made him stop for a second so he could question the blonde about what had just happened.

"What was that you just did," Sora asked.

"Well, it's known as a Keyblade Re-Inheritance Ceremony, and it's often used to help Keyblade wielders who have lost their way in a way similar to how you just did regain what they had lost," Ventus explained with an odd smile on his face that seemed a little suspicious to the younger boy.

"Really," Sora asked, his skepticism very apparent as he spoke.

"Well…kind of. Let's just say that it's really something that a very special friend of mine once did for another friend when they were facing a difficult trial a while back. It may be an altered version of the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony, but you can't tell me that it didn't work, now can you," Ventus revealed. It may not have been the full details, but it was still enough for now.

Sora just continued staring at Ven until he finally shrugged and said, "I guess we'll find out when we catch up to Riku."

Ventus nodded in slight agreement with the kid, and then thought of something else that could prove helpful to showing Sora that he was going to be able to get his Keyblade back. "Sora, take a look at the Keychains you've collected since this journey started."

Sora quirked an eyebrow at his master, but complied all the same, and produced each of his hard earned Keychains. When Ventus saw them, he immediately grinned a little more, and said, "Yep. Just as I thought. That right there is proof that you're meant to be the Keybearer for Kingdom Key."

"Huh? What do you mean by that," Sora questioned, not quite getting it.

"I too can't help but wonder about that," the beast questioned, wanting to make sure that they had not forgotten that he was still there.

Ventus nodded down at the Keychains as he explained, "If you really weren't meant to be a Keybearer, be it for Kingdom Key or otherwise, then those Keychains would have either vanished or taken on a rather rusty-looking appearance, and yet they're still shining brightly and giving off a great deal of power just as they have been ever since you got them. That means, it is possible for you get Kingdom Key back." Sora grinned happily upon hearing this, and Ven knew that the kid's fighting spirit was now back in full, but he was still not done just yet. "That being said, there's one other way that we can make getting Kingdom Key back from Riku a little easier, and it involves those very Keychains. Give me whichever one you think is the most powerful of the bunch, and I'll show you."

The kid was once again giving Ventus a confused look, but still started thumbing through his Keychains all the same. He eventually found one that made him pause before he picked it out from the bunch and offered it to Ventus. When he got the Keychain in his hand, it immediately became Ven's turn to be confused, because he did not remember ever seeing Sora getting this Keychain before. It was a standard Keychain, at least as far as the links in the chain went, but the token in question was that of the infamous yellow bird known as a Chocobo, and that alone made Ventus question where Sora had gotten this from, a fact he made quite clear to the kid just from his questioning look.

"I found it at the café while I was waiting for you and the others in Traverse Town," Sora admitted. "I had taken a break after meditating on my magic control for a bit and started glancing around to see if you guys were coming, until I noticed a small chest had suddenly appeared on the table I was sitting at. When I opened it up, I found that Keychain inside along with a note."

"What did it say," Ventus asked, wanting to make sure that it did not say anything that might indicate that this came from someone who meant them, or at the very least Sora harm.

Sora immediately pulled out the note in question, and began reading it off for the blonde. "I see you've gotten a lot better since we last met. Maybe I won't pass up on that offer for a rematch with you sometime after all. Remember, don't lose sight of the light you're searching for, and hope to see you soon—C." Sora then looked up to Ven seeing that the blonde had a knowing smile, telling him that Ventus had figured out the same thing that he had when he first got the note and the Keychain inside. Going by what was said in this letter, there was only one person they knew of that this could have come from, and they were glad to hear from him, even if it was indirectly. Sora then turned their attention back to the matter at hand, and asked, "So what're you going to do with that Keychain, anyway?"

Ventus just smiled and said for Sora to watch, before he closed his fist around the Keychain and closed his eyes in concentration. A minute later, the Keychain started to glow in Ven's hand, and when he opened his fist again, it floated up into the air, and full-fledged Keyblade suddenly sprung forth from the Keychain, much to Sora and the beast's surprise. This new Keyblade, while just as simple as Kingdom Key in overall design, looked a lot like the sword that Cloud had used against them in their fight back at Olympus Coliseum, with its large, black blade, and the dark brown guard and red handle, while two holes rested at the base of the blade, with another three that were adjacent to the teeth. When the Keyblade floated down to rest in Ven's waiting hand, Sora could no longer contain himself, and immediately asked the two questions that were most dominant in his mind. "What just happened? How'd you do that?"

"It's a simple spell that many masters learn upon completing the Mark of Mastery Exam," Ventus explained as he studied the Keyblade. "As I've told you before, Keychains hold the power and essence of a Keyblade inside of them, which is what allows them to augment and change your own Keyblade when they're attached. But there's more to it than that. A true Keyblade Master is able to awaken the Keyblade resting inside of a Keychain, be it for the purpose of passing it on to a new wielder that they believe would be worthy of that Keyblade's power, or even for the reason that we currently face: to act as a temporary substitute until a wielder can reclaim their own, true Keyblade." As soon as he had said all of this, he held out the Keyblade to Sora and said, "Here, take it, and trust Metal Chocobo to help you in reclaiming your Keyblade."

Sora grinned a little bit as he took the Keyblade in question by the handle, and then got a feel for its weight with a few practice swings. It was definitely heavier than what he was used to, but Sora was sure that he could handle it for now, at least until he got Kingdom Key back. Still, there was a small concern that needed to be addressed, and it looked like their new friend was going to be the one to ask about it. "Just how long will this Keyblade last," the massive beast asked.

"Hopefully long enough for us to catch up to Riku and until Sora can get Kingdom Key back from the little brat," Ventus replied, not bothering to hide his disdain for Riku this time, even though Sora was right there. "If necessary though, I should be able to reanimate a Keyblade from one of Sora's other Keychains, but after that, I won't have enough energy to do it again for a good long while."

"Then I'll just have to make sure that this lasts as long as we need it too," Sora declared.

The other two immediately nodded, and with all of that now settled, they quickly set out, hoping that Donald and Goofy were in fact able to stall Riku long enough for them. As they were going, Ventus turned to their new teammate and decided to finally ask, "By the way, what do we call you?"

The massive creature just growled for a minute, making the two Keybearers think that Ventus had unintentionally insulted the big guy, until he finally said, "You can simply call me Beast."

While it was rather simple, the two Keybearers were not going to argue with it, and instead just shrugged in acceptance as they all marched onwards after the three who had already gone on ahead of them. They had a lot of ground to cover if they wanted to catch up, and they had already spent more than enough time standing around here. They just had to hope they were not too late by now.

* * *

Not a single one of the three had kidded themselves into thinking that getting into the castle was going to be as simple as going through the front door, but they were still disappointed to see that the gates were locked shut regardless. Still, no one doubted that Riku had gone in there, and that meant that they had to find a way through the locked gates. Luckily, Ventus knew that there were a few secret passages into the lower levels that they could use to reach a control panel or two that would get the gates unlocked for them, and he did not hesitate to lead the other two towards the closest one. When Sora asked how the blonde knew about this, Ventus just shrugged and said he knew a couple of guys who used to sneak into the castle all the time, and that said friends had showed him a few of the ways that they did it. The only problem was that they had to deal with several different Heartless as they made their way forward, most of them being Shadows, Large Bodies, and their various cone-shaped elemental friends, but there were some new ones too that got in their path, and they were not easy to deal with.

There were mostly three new varieties that they had not dealt with until now, and the two Keybearers were both happy to hear that Jiminy had information on each one in his journal. The first of which the official conscience said was called a Wizard, and between the fact it could cast powerful magic spells easily, and how it looked so much like a small wizard with its conical hat and the wand it waved around for all of its spells, they could definitely see why. The second new one reminded the two a lot of the Large Bodies, but with much more bite, and not just because the large shield that they carried had a dog-faced head on the front that actually chomped at them when it was not blasting fireballs or ice breathes from its mouth. Add in the rather large arms and torso, along with how it would spin around to knock them away if they got too close, and it was not hard to see why these things were called Defenders. The last one was what Jiminy described as a Heartless very similar to a Shadow in how it originated, whatever that meant, but given that it did not have the Heartless emblem anywhere on it, they had to assume that had something to do with it. Aside from that, the more distinguishing features of this third Heartless was that it had a spherical body, with two thick tentacles sprouting out of the top of its head, and a third one protruding from the underside of its body. What really worried Ventus was that they could constantly see inside of its jagged mouth, and the fact that it would usually attack by rapidly chomping its jaws at them did not help at all. Jiminy had said they were called Darkballs, but Sora felt it would be more appropriate to call them irritating disturbances, since they could teleport around them, and condense down into purple clouds before popping up into full form again to cause damage.

In his own opinion, Ventus felt like Hollow Bastion had more Heartless than any other world that they had been to so far, and Sora had to agree with that, especially with how many of the new, more powerful Heartless that they had encountered. Granted, Leon had said that this world had been under the control of Maleficent and the Heartless for nine years now, but still, he was not quite expecting the Heartless to be swarming over every nock and cranny to this extent. Luckily, it seemed that Beast was able to make their lives a little easier, because his brute strength was able to get them through several walls when it seemed like they had no other way forward, and he was able to tear many of their enemies apart as easily as though he was cutting a knife through butter. It was definitely a huge help for them, and made things go much more quickly than they probably would have if Sora and Ventus were on their own.

That bonus of extra muscle was especially beneficial for them since Sora's current Keyblade was only temporary, and Ven knew that the minute Metal Chocobo vanished back into its Keychain, Sora would either need to rely on the toy sword that Riku had thrown him, or he would have to animate another one of the kid's Keychains, and right now, he could not afford to do that. The magic necessary for that kind of spell was very special in comparison to his regular magic, and if he tried to use the spell a second time too soon, there was a good chance that he would end up draining his regular reserves a little bit. Best case scenario, Ventus would be reduced to half of his regular reserves of magic, and the worst case scenario was that they would be pushed down to where they were when he first started training as a Keybearer all those years ago. Neither option was very favorable, because he would be at a huge disadvantage for several hours, if not a couple of days at most, so he had to hope that Sora's temporary substitute for Kingdom Key would last long enough.

Sora had very few complaints about Metal Chocobo at the moment, and he was able to handle it relatively well, almost like it was his own Keyblade the whole time. There was just one problem: it was definitely a lot heavier than Kingdom Key, and sometimes, that proved to be a little problematic for him. Many of his usual moves had to be reworked at a moment's notice, due to the blade's extra weight, because often times, his swings would end up losing some of the power they would normally have when he swung, or he would just end up getting slightly off balance because he put too much into the swing, making the blade's extra weight throw him in a direction that he did not want to go. Using this Keyblade honestly made Sora wonder if this was anything like what Cloud went through when he was swinging around that Buster Sword of his. It definitely made him gain a new respect for Cloud, because that likely meant that the guy was exceptionally strong or had gone through a great deal of training to be able to handle his massive weapon as well as he did. Still, it was not a problem he had to worry about too much. He just had to be especially careful when using certain moves, as he quickly learned when he tried using Strike Raid once to take out a fourth new Heartless that held a draconian appearance, and which Jiminy called a Wyvern, only to end up getting bashed in the head with it on its return trip. If that was not a sign that the thing was much different from Kingdom Key, Sora was not sure what could be, and it made him want to get his Keyblade back soon even more than ever. At the same time though, part of him had to wonder if he would end up dealing with similar results if he were to apply Metal Chocobo's Keychain onto Kingdom Key, but he figured that was a problem for another day. They still had to get into the castle and continue chasing after Riku for now.

Finally, after navigating the maze that was the lower levels of the castle, they managed to locate the switch necessary for opening up the main gates, and the three immediately made a break for said entrance, smashing, slashing, and bashing through any Heartless that dared to get in their way. Beast was especially impressed by the ferocity that his new friends were showing in battle, and he made sure that he was not bested by them as he fought his way forward as well. After all, he was the one who was an actual beast, so he could not let a pair of normal humans show him up too easily, Keybearers or not. When they finally reached the door, they all quickly took the time to down an Ether or two, along with a couple of Potions just to make sure that they would be ready for whatever lied in waiting inside the castle and quickly made their way forward.

The minute they stepped into the entrance hall, Beast let out a low growl to show that he had picked up on something that the other two had not. At least not right away, because Ventus was soon sensing something as well, and it was not anything that would be considered good in any of their books, or that of anyone else who was on their side. "Be on your guard," Beast growled in warning, having not yet noticed Ven's distressed visage. "They're close, I can feel it."

"You're not alone in that regard, and I can feel something else too," Ventus finally said, holding one hand his forehead as he tried to block out the sudden upsurge of both light and darkness washing over the place. "I could feel several powerful lights suddenly surging before they just…vanished into darkness. Maleficent must be using the Princesses of Light to reveal the pathway to the final Keyhole."

"But I thought that she needed all seven of them in order to do that," Sora pointed out.

"I wish that was the case, but if she just wanted to _reveal_ the Keyhole, she could do so without the full set. Maybe five, or at most four of them. She must have gotten tired of waiting for number seven to show up after realizing that we were here, and decided to speed up her plans a little," Ventus said.

 _"I'm guessing that means that getting my heart out of you and back into my body is not going to be a very good idea at the moment,"_ Kairi remarked to Sora, and the boy found himself unable to really answer her in a way that would have eased either one of their concerns.

"Well whatever happens, I won't let it stop me from saving Belle. Are you both ready," Beast growled.

"You bet," Sora replied, brandishing his temporary Keyblade as he did. He just wished that he was as confident as he sounded, because he could feel the power of Metal Chocobo weakening, which likely meant it was going to disappear at any second now.

Sora's show of confidence must have been enough to convince Beast that they could press on, because he was ready to charge through the next door forward until he sensed something from behind them and turned to face it, getting Ventus to do the same a minute later. What they saw was what looked like a beautiful young woman in an amazing, yellow ball gown that left her shoulders bare, but a minute later, she melted away into shadows, and was soon replaced by a Heartless. When he saw this, Ven knew that had to mean that it was just an illusion that was placed there to try and throw them off, because he had a hunch that this Belle that the Beast was after was a Princess of Heart, meaning she could not become a Heartless if she ever lost her heart, but Beast did not know that, and instantly became enraged at the sight of the girl turning into the vile creature. Before either of the other two could do anything to stop him, Beast had already bounded after the dark creature in anger, and they were soon only able to watch as the door they just came through slammed shut behind Beast, cutting them off from him, and leaving them on their own.

"Well, so much for the extra muscle," Ventus muttered to Sora, now feeling a nervous as well.

"Quit while you can. Both of you," Riku's voice suddenly ordered, making the two turn to see the boy in question standing on the opposite end of the entrance hall with Donald and Goofy not too far behind him. From the exhausted looks on the two's faces, Ventus had to assume that they had done quite a bit to make sure Riku did not get much farther than this, and he made a mental note to show just how much he appreciated that later on.

Turning his attention back to Riku, Ventus immediately retorted, "Are you sure you've met a Keyblade Master before, because if you did, you would know that a real master would never quit, especially not when they're so close to their goal like Sora and I are now."

"Besides, I'm not going anywhere without Kairi, even if that means I have to go through you, Riku," Sora added, brandishing Metal Chocobo as he did. His confidence faltered a little when the temporary Keyblade suddenly flashed with a dark shadow that Sora just knew was sign that it was going to vanish back into the Keychain at any minute, and that was not something that he needed to happen just yet.

The young Keybearer's worries only grew even more when Riku suddenly transformed, his normal clothes melting away to be replaced by a very dark body suit that Ventus could not help but note to be very similar to the one that his old late foe, Vanitas once wore. Maybe it was the rather organic appearance it had, what with its resemblance to muscle tissue, or the tattered cloth he wore around his waist, opening at the front and secured by his belt, but aside from the colors being mainly black and dark purple, the main difference that Ventus had to note between Riku's dark suit and Vanitas' was the large, black heart-shaped emblem that he wore on the center of his chest. "Bold words for a phony," Riku commented to Ventus. "But the darkness will destroy you both soon enough, and I get the feeling that it will tear through that poor substitute that your using rather easily, Sora."

"Think again. Maybe the darkness can tear through Sora's current weapon easily, and maybe it can't, but before it can touch him, it will have to go through me," Ventus declared, standing ready and at the defensive in front of his apprentice.

"Like that's going to be hard. After all, you're nothing compared to the two real masters I've met," Riku scoffed in dry humor.

Now it was Ven's turn to let out a mocking laugh, earning a bewildered look from Riku, and the blonde soon explained, "Hate to break it to you, kid, but you're only half right when you say you've met two masters. The problem is, I'm the second one you met. Out of the two people you met when you were a kid, only one of them was an actual master. I'm guessing that Terra was the one who passed the power of the Keyblade to you, and while he may have thought he was making the right call at the time, he clearly forgot that he had to be a master to do that officially. He was struggling to control his darkness when you met him, and had only just started to gain something of a handle on it when he met you. Trust me when I say this, if you keep using the power of darkness this way, you'll end up being consumed like Terra eventually was when someone with a more powerful darkness overwhelmed him, and you'll be disgracing the legacy that he had entrusted to you."

If Ventus was hoping that he would get Riku to see sense with that speech, he failed in a very great way, because with nearly every word that he said after his second sentence, Riku just got angrier and angrier. When the blonde finally finished speaking, Riku just exploded, and drew his hand back, already forming a very powerful Dark Firaga in it, as he shouted, "Enough of your lies! I command the darkness, and not the other way around! I'll show you that I've bested it by using it destroy you both in one blast!"

"Give it your best shot then, Riku, because it won't work out the way you think," Sora retorted, surprising everyone a little bit. "The darkness may destroy our bodies, but it can't touch our hearts. Our hearts will stay with our friends. They'll never die!"

When he heard Sora say that, Ventus had to smile a little more proudly at the kid, while one thought went through his head. _"I think he's starting to really get it now."_

Kairi was also beaming happily at Sora from inside of his heart, and Sora was instantly able to tell by the warm feeling that suddenly started to grow inside of his chest, bringing a smile to his own face. Sadly, those smiles were immediately washed away when Riku finally finished charging up his attack and shouted, "Well, we'll just see about that!"

The minute that Riku started thrusting his hand forward to unleash his dark spell, Ventus had raised Guardian Wind up so that he could attempt to block the blast, but somehow, he had a feeling that it was not going to be that easy to deflect it without a proper shield, be it magical in nature or otherwise, so he could not help but follow Sora's lead in closing his eyes as he braced for the impact of the blast. An impact that ended up never coming, and when the two opened their eyes again, they both grinned with sighs of relief to see that Goofy had intercepted Riku's attack with his own shield, which proved to be more than enough to handle the attack that the silver haired boy had just thrown, even in his exhausted state.

"Sora and Ven ain't gonna go anywhere," Goofy shouted, glaring at Riku when he did, despite how tired he was.

"You'd betray your king," Riku questioned, thinking that would get Goofy to step aside and let him finish what he started.

Goofy did no such thing, but instead, just replied, "Not on your life, but I'm not gonna betray Sora either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together! And not only is Ven one of my best buddies too, he's also the king's former apprentice and one of his best buddies, so I figure that betraying Ven might as well be just as bad as betraying the king. Besides, the king just said to find Ven and help him to find the key. He never specifically said Keyblade, and after all me, Sora, and Ven have been through, I figure that maybe, he meant the person who would be wielding it is the key, not the Keyblade itself." When he saw Sora smile in appreciation for Goofy's words, knowing what Goofy meant when he said that, and how Ventus' grin almost matched that smile, Goofy immediately looked to Donald, feeling that it was better safe than sorry to assume that Donald did not feel entirely the same way and shouted, "See ya later, Donald. Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy! We'll tell him together, assuming we are going against his orders," Donald immediately denied, and he quickly joined the rest of his three friends on their side of the room. He then provided further proof that he believed what Goofy had said by telling them, "Well, you know…All for one and one for all. Besides, if Goofy is right, then maybe Sora is the real key to this whole thing after all, as hard as that may be to believe."

No one bothered to get on Donald for that last remark, because they all know it was just a little more playful teasing to show just how loyal he had become to Sora after everything that had happened. Goofy then decided to join in on the teasing too, and said, "Well, I guess you and Ven are stuck with us, Sora. Hope you don't mind too much."

Sora did not have the heart to reply with a teasing remark or a playful snap at the two, because right now, he was just too touched by their choices and actions to really do anything of that nature. In the end, he could only say, "Thanks a lot Donald, Goofy, and you too, Ven."

"Hey, I'd be a really lousy master if I let anyone bail out on you after all this time, Sora, and that includes myself and these two knuckleheads," Ventus said with a smile, taking his turn at teasing his friends, which Donald and Goofy just laughed off.

The moment was quickly brought to a close though, interrupted by none other than Riku, who had immediately reminded them of their situation when he asked, "How will you fight without a weapon, Sora? Don't think I can't tell that Keyblade your using is going to disappear on you at any minute like mine did, so you won't be able to do anything at all in just a matter of moments."

Instead of hitting back with an angry retort, Sora just smiled at his best friend and revealed, "I know now I don't need a Keyblade. I've got a better weapon, and it's one that I've had all along: my heart."

"Humph. Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you," Riku asked in disbelief.

"You're still not getting it even after what just happened, huh," Ventus asked, and was ready to dive into an explanation when Sora beat him to the punch.

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me, then our hearts will be one," Sora said as simply as you pleased, and with every word he spoke, Ventus could tell that Sora truly had learned all of this on his own without even realizing it. Sure, Ven might have been giving him a little nudge towards this realization every now and then, but this kind of lesson was always better when it was truly learned by someone's own power. Sora then dropped into his battle stance, the continually weakening Metal Chocobo Keyblade at the ready, and he said a specific phrase that Ventus knew very well and would never forget any time soon. "I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"

"And that goes for all of us, too," Ventus punctuated, Guardian Wind at the ready as well.

What happened next was clearly not something that Riku was expecting, but it came as no surprise at all for Ventus. Riku had just brought forth Kingdom Key, ready to use it against Sora in the ensuing fight, when suddenly the Keyblade glowed brightly with a brilliant light, much to Riku's shock, and then vanished from his hand without him meaning it too. When Kingdom Key reappeared this again, it was firmly in the hands of its true, rightful owner, and Sora was more than happy to have his Keyblade back where it belonged with him. That happiness was shared by all of Sora's friends, except for Riku, who immediately summoned forth the dark sword he had been using ever since they had met him in Traverse Town, and charged at them with a roar of anger. Clearly the kid intended to take back Kingdom Key by force if he had to, but before any of the other three could react, Sora jumped in and parried Riku's blade with Kingdom Key, and then batted him back across the room, giving him room to make his own charge.

Donald and Goofy were both preparing to join in on the fight as well, with the former preparing to cue up a bit of magic while the latter was getting ready to make his own charge, when Ventus suddenly held his arms up to stop them. Both Disney Town residents were confused as to why Ventus was doing that, but the blonde was already answering their unasked question before they could voice it. "You two have already done enough by stalling Riku for as long as you did. Don't think I didn't notice how tired you both were. Besides, it's best if we stay out of the way this time around. This one is Sora's battle. It's only right that we let him fight it on his own."

After listening to what the blonde had to say, the two best friends immediately turned to look at the fight between Sora and Riku once again, and they quickly saw that Ventus was right. This was indeed a battle that they could not interfere in, and it showed in the way that the two were fighting each other. Every lunge that Sora made, Riku was quick to parry, and for every retaliation on Riku's part was met with an equally strong counter from Sora. This was not just a simple spar like the two had often done before; this was a duel. Maybe not to the death, but a very serious duel nonetheless, and one that only the two of them could settle with their own individual power. If any of them were to try and jump in right now, they would doubtlessly only end up getting in Sora's way, and since Riku was putting his all into the fight, Sora needed to be at his best for it as well. Even if Ventus were to try and lend his Keyblade to the battle, Sora would likely end up with a small handicap, because he would be splitting his focus between fighting Riku and worrying about his master. Realizing this, Donald and Goofy both stood down, and decided that their time would be better spent by trying to find a way further into the castle. They were going to need that soon enough after all, so why wait until after Sora had won this fight to start searching.

Sora only took notice of his two friends' departure from the corner of his eye, but he had just as quickly returned his attention to Riku, and just in time to lock Kingdom Key with Riku's evil-looking sword. The two held the lock for a few seconds before they both finally pushed off of each other, and then started a rapid rush that was coupled with several clashes and swings of their individual blades. Riku proved to have an advantage in power and speed, partially due to the fact that he was taller than Sora and had more practice as a swordsman even before now, but unlike before when they sparred on the Islands, Sora had changed a lot since those days too, and when you added up everything he had learned since this journey had started, you could see why Sora would be able to now match Riku better than ever. That did not mean Riku was making the fight easy, because unlike their previous matches, he was no longer holding anything back, and Sora knew it too.

That did not stop Riku from rubbing the fact in Sora's face the next time they locked blades. "I'll admit, you're not bad, Sora, but you're still not good enough. You couldn't even beat me back on the islands, and I wasn't really trying too hard then," Riku mocked him. He then shoved at Kingdom Key, sending Sora tumbling backwards across the floor, and brandished his sword as he finished, "This time though, I'm not showing you any mercy, and my Soul Eater will ensure that you won't be able to steal my Keyblade ever again!"

Riku then leapt up into the air to give his final strike some more power, but if he was expecting Sora to fall that easily, then he was quickly disappointed. The minute had he gotten close enough to Sora, he was shocked to find his strike had been blocked by a wall of wind that had quickly surrounded Sora, showing that he had activated Aero Shield just in the nick of time, and Sora was standing strong when Riku's last attack should have thrown the young Keybearer off balance for much longer. It always had when they sparred back on the islands, but Riku had clearly not accounted for any new tricks that Sora may or may not have learned in the time that had passed. Sora emphasized that point when he stood again and pointed his Keyblade at Riku and said, "I'm not the same as I was back then, Riku. I'm a lot stronger now, and I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve. Something you seem to have forgotten about even after seeing me in action both in Traverse Town and in Monstro. How about Kingdom Key and I show you a few more!"

A second later, Riku found himself unable to keep up with Sora's movements, because the kid had immediately charged forward a mere second after his Keyblade had become enshrouded by a large energy sword. Riku attempted to raise Soul Eater in an attempt to block the attacks, but it did little good, as Sora still managed to land some hard strikes against him, until finally, he came to a stop in front of Riku, Keyblade ready for a final strike, and then flashed forward in the blink of an eye, thrusting Kingdom Key towards Riku as he went. When Sora reappeared behind Riku, he merely swung his Keyblade down, sending a silent signal for a massive burst of light to suddenly erupt from Riku's body in a brilliant explosion. That acted as the final sign for the fact that Sora had just given his friend a taste of Radiant Blade, but he somehow knew that the light-based attack was not going to be quite enough to stop Riku.

Sora was soon proven right when Riku leapt out of the smoke that had followed the explosion, and threw a powerful blast of Dark Firaga at Sora, which would have likely dealt serious harm to him even with Aero Shield still up if Sora had not rolled to the side just before it could even reach his shield. That ended up being just what Riku wanted though, because when he came down again, he was in the perfect position to strike at Sora with a downwards slash, and said slash easily struck home. Riku did not let up there, but instead, continued with a brutal barrage of sword attacks that left Sora with very little breathing room, right to the point where it was all that Sora could do to strengthen Aero Shield in retaliation. Looking on at this, anyone would be able to tell that Riku was doing everything he could to make sure that Sora was not able to focus long enough to use another Shotlock, and since those were some of his best moves, Sora could not help but think that he might be in trouble soon enough.

Regardless of Riku's determination to keep him from using any Shotlocks, Sora was not about to admit defeat just yet. He had been facing off against others without Shotlocks long before now, and there quite a few victories under his belt that he had achieved without said abilities as well. There was not a single doubt in Sora's mind that he could do this even if he did have to change things up and forego the use of some of his best abilities, and he proved it by unleashing the power of Sonic Blade against Riku. Using this ability made it much easier for Sora to not only deal some damage to his opponent, but also allowed him to gain some distance from Riku so that he could start throwing out a few spells as well. He did not stick with just one spell though, but instead, mixed it up with the use of every spell he had in his arsenal, so Riku was left dodging fireballs, ice shards, and lightning showers while also trying to avoid getting caught in the grasp of Stop at any moment. It proved to be very trying for Riku's nerves, especially if the scowl that was now on his face was any indication, but any attempt he made at stopping Sora's magic barrage was quickly thwarted by said barrage. Even when Riku tried to throw out his own spells in retaliation, Sora had managed to get the best of him, mostly because Riku needed some time to charge up most of his dark magic, and that gave Sora quite the advantage.

Still, Sora could not keep using spells against Riku forever, and when a small pause finally came, Riku thought that the spiky haired wielder had finally reached his limit. He was soon proven wrong when he suddenly had to duck down in order to avoid being hit by a spinning Kingdom Key, but he was unable to avoid it a second time when it hit him right in his gut. Looking up, Riku just managed to see Sora summoning his Keyblade again, only to throw it right at Riku for a third time, indicating that Sora was using Strike Raid against him, and judging by the rather chilling feel that accompanied the hit this time, Riku had to figure that Sora had used Freeze Raid there at the end. The last hit did slow Riku down a little, but not for too long, because he quickly shook off any freezing effects from the attack and immediately charged at Sora, intending to run Soul Eater through the kid.

Riku's charge quickly came to a halt when a faint glow suddenly began to shine around Kingdom Key and then began spreading out to encompass Sora's entire body. At first, Riku thought that Sora had somehow managed to activate another Shotlock, but when no attacks followed after the glow had started to settle, Riku ended up becoming very confused. Ventus on the other hand knew exactly what was going on, just from the nature of the shinning silver glow that was now radiating around his apprentice's body, but he was still working on believing that it was actually happening. "He's done it," Ventus whispered while a small smile started to cross his features. "He's actually done it at last!"

 _"Is this what I think it is,"_ Sora asked as he started focusing the energy around him and his Keyblade on instinct.

 _"It is! It has to be,"_ Kairi cheered, having figured it out as well. _"Sora, this has to be…"_

 _"Yeah,"_ Sora mentally agreed, and he finished his thought by shouting it out loud for everyone to hear. "This is my Unique Tier One Command Style!"

The aura of said ability finally settled fully into place around Sora, just in time for Riku to finally shake off his surprise and make another attempt at attacking Sora. His attempt never quite made it through, as Sora made a charge of his own that was much faster and had ended up causing much more damage to Riku than any of Sora's previous attacks had. A minute later, Sora had spun around to unleash another strike, but this time when he swung, a faint, ghost-like image of another Keyblade suddenly appeared in his off-hand just in time for him to strike with that same weapon, effectively allowing Sora to begin fighting with two Keyblades instead of just one, much to Riku's continually growing shock. When Sora leapt back and into the air, Riku thought that he finally had a chance to counterattack, but before he could begin charging up another blast of Dark Firaga, Sora came diving down from above with both Kingdom Key and his Ghost-Keyblade swinging in quick succession, slashing through Riku as he passed by him on his descent. Sora then spun around on one foot, his Ghost-Keyblade vanishing as he did, and then shouted, "Command Style: Destiny Blaze Finisher!"

Just a minute afterwards, Sora charged towards Riku at a speed so fast that if you had blinked, you would have missed him. He then unleashed a furious barrage of strikes with Kingdom Key, and as those strikes continued, the Ghost-Keyblade appeared in his off-hand once more before joining in on the battle. A minute later, the faint image of another Keyblade appeared around the Kingdom Key while the Ghost-Keyblade was replaced by another, and this continued to do so, cycling through all of the various Keyblades that Sora had in his arsenal of Keychains, until Sora finally back flipped away from Riku and dashed forward with one, final cross slash on his darkness-infected best friend. When Sora stood up again and the glow of his Command Style finally faded away, Riku dropped to one knee and his dark form faded away into his regular appearance.

Seeing as Sora appeared to be too exhausted from all of the fighting to do much more at this point, Ventus immediately approached Riku and held the boy at the end of his Keyblade, fixing him with a glare as he did. "It's over, Riku. Time to wake up and realize that what you're doing is wrong," Ventus declared. After a moment or two, he lowered his Keyblade and then held out his hand to the kid as he said, "Trust me, it's not too late to make this right and pull away from the darkness. Take the chance to get out of its hold while you're still able too, otherwise, you'll lose yourself to darkness forever."

Riku just glared up at Ven, turning from the blonde to Sora, his eyes clearly showing how great his disbelief over everything that had just happened was, until finally, he gave his answer to Ventus. "NO," Riku snapped, batting Ven's hand away before pushing himself up onto his feet. "I can't stop. Not yet. And I refuse to accept any help from you!"

"Riku, wait," Sora pleaded, trying to hurry after his friend, only to stop before he could take a single step, and drop down to the floor in exhaustion when he did.

"Easy there, kiddo. That fight clearly took a lot out of you," Ventus cautioned, prompting Sora to turn and see that the blonde had immediately rushed to his side after seeing him fall to the floor. Now, Ventus was doing his best to help keep Sora upright while he reached into his pocket for an Elixir, as he said, "You did really well back there, Sora. And more importantly, it looks like you've finally found your Unique Tier One Command Style."

Sora just grinned excitedly upon hearing that, along with the mental cheering that Kairi was giving him from inside his heart, and after chugging down the Elixir that Ven just handed to him, he had to ask, "Does this mean I can start learning about Tier Two Command Styles now?"

"Don't push your luck, kid," Ventus replied with a smile. "You may have activated your Unique Tier One at last, but you're still going to need to get a more exact handle on activating it at will without accidentally activating one of the common ones instead before you can move on to that part of your training."

Sora just shrugged good-naturedly, happy to know that he had at least gotten through that part of his training at last, and then exchanged a quick fist-bump with Ventus to help punctuate the victory he had just achieved. "So, your heart won this battle," a rough, growling voice observed from behind the two.

Turning to the speaker, Ven and Sora were both glad to see that Beast had finally managed to get back to them, and the latter was quickly giving him a nod in confirmation. The former on the other hand was a bit more concerned about something else. "Are you okay, though? You took off pretty hastily back there, and we were worried you had gotten caught in that Heartless' trap," Ventus questioned.

"I'm fine. Once I managed to regain control of my anger, I managed to fight my way out of the trap and get back here," Beast explained. His expression then turned apologetic as he added, "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner to help."

"Don't worry. We managed to handle it well enough. Besides, there's still time for us to help save Riku, Kairi, and all the others that Maleficent has taken prisoner," Sora reassured him, and Ventus could not help but smile at seeing that Sora was still optimistic about their chances to pull Riku out of the dark pit he was falling into. It definitely showed that a lot of the things he had been trying to teach Sora were beginning to sink in, or maybe, it showed that Sora was beginning to gain a real understanding for those things all on his own. Either way, Ventus did not really care, because it just made him happy to see it all the same.

The happy moment was soon interrupted when Donald came scrambling down the stairs at the back of the entrance hall, shouting, "Hey, we found a door that leads further into the castle, but it's locked with some weird mechanism!"

"Why am I not surprised," Ventus muttered, just as both the duck and Goofy had rejoined them in the middle of the entrance hall. "Come on. One of the castle's libraries is through this door over here. There might be something in there that we can use to figure out the mechanism."

"One of the libraries," Goofy repeated in surprise, which was reflected by the others.

"Ansem the Wise was a scientist as much as a ruler, and a very thorough one at that. He always did his best to make sure all of the research he did and knowledge he had gained over the years was preserved in as many ways as possible, and with as many backups as he could afford. Keeping something written down on paper and in several different books was just one of those ways."

Everyone just nodded in acceptance of that and joined Ventus in heading towards the library after that. After seeing Sora's recent victory over Riku, and his finally learning his Unique Command Style, they were all eager to keep going, because at this point, they felt that there was very little that could stop them now.

* * *

Riku's head was spinning the entire time he was running away from the entrance hall and back into the deeper parts of the castle, trying to make sense of all that had just happened. How had Sora gained so much strength, including that last ability at the end? Even with training from Ventus, Riku refused to believe that Sora could ever have gotten that powerful. More than that, Riku refused to believe that that the kid could have taken what was rightfully his away, and yet, Sora had done just that. "Why," Riku questioned aloud as he finally came into the castle chapel. "It was mine. Why did it suddenly go back to him?"

"Know this. The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade," a familiar voice suddenly said to Riku, making him pause and look around until he finally laid eyes on a familiar figure in a brown cloak. The same man who had spoken to Sora the day when the islands fell to darkness, and unknown to Sora, the same person who had told Riku about how he could use the darkness to reach other worlds if he opened that one door. Riku had known for some time now that this person was the one who had really been calling the shots around here, even if Maleficent believed otherwise, and it was mainly because of this guy that he believed what Maleficent said about being able to use the Princesses of Heart to help recover Kairi's heart, but he just could not understand why the guy was acting as though he was following Maleficent's lead in this whole escapade.

At the moment though, Riku was a little too upset by his recent defeat to really care about that, and something about that last comment definitely did not help calm him down. "What? You're saying my heart's weaker than his," Riku demanded, not willing to believe it.

"For that instant, it was," the cloaked man clarified, calming Riku's rage while replacing it with sorrow. Knowing this and that the boy believed he would need the Keyblade to reach his goal, the figure did not hesitate to reveal something else to Riku. Something that would ensure that the boy would remain on his side without fail. "However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger."

At this point, Riku was too upset and desperate to really care about any risks that may or may not have been involved with the stranger's suggested action, and considering that this guy had yet to steer him wrong, Riku did not really see any reason to question him. That was why Riku did not hesitate at all before he asked, "What should I do?"

If he could see the cloaked man's face beneath his hood, Riku would have seen the sinister smirk that had just crossed his feature, knowing that he had the boy now. "It's really quite simple," the figure said. "Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

Riku just nodded in reply, letting the dark energies inside of him grown more and more, until he finally realized a little too late, that it was becoming a little too much for him. By that time, the stranger had come to stand right in front of him, and immediately placed a hand on Riku's chest so that he could focus a great deal of more powerful darkness into Riku's heart, body, and soul. A single cry of pain was all that could escape from Riku after that as both he and the stranger were enshrouded in darkness. When the sudden explosion of shadows faded, Riku now stood in his dark form once again, with a sinister smirk on his face, and when he spoke, his voice was mixed with that of the stranger's.

"And so the time has finally come," the stranger said through Riku. "The final Keyhole will soon be completed, and darkness shall flood both this world and all others, while the path to everlasting darkness will be unleashed at last. I wonder, can you and your apprentice truly hope to stop it, Ventus, or will you fall just as you and your friends had so long ago? Either way, I'm eager to see what will happen in the coming hours."

With that piece said, the being let out a dark, sinister laugh through Riku that seemed to echo all throughout the castle, and if she knew just what this individual had in store for her and all the worlds, she likely would have been trembling in fear, even if only by the smallest amount. No matter who won or lost in the battles that were still to come on Hollow Bastion, it would not matter, because this Seeker of Darkness would be the only one who stood victorious in this particular war for the worlds, and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop it.

* * *

 **Ventus' Journal Entry 6**

 **It's been a while since I last made an entry in here. A few years, actually. I guess the bad news that I had mentioned in the last entry was a little harder for me to deal with than I originally thought. I've thrown myself into my training since then, and lately, that same training has actually been going pretty smoothly lately. I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger with each passing day now. Sometimes, Mickey would occasionally take our training to worlds like Mirage Arena or even Olympus Coliseum to better test my growing abilities, but in the case of any place like the latter, it's always in secret. I wish that wasn't the case, because I would definitely like to see how some of my old friends from other worlds are doing, but Mickey says that for now, it's for the best if I don't really talk to anyone from other worlds, even if they are friends. I can kind of understand why he would say that. After all, I didn't really do too much training whenever we went to Radiant Garden, but instead, just spent time hanging out with all of my friends there, so I guess he's worried that the same could happen on some of the other worlds that I've previously visited as well, or at least, the ones that are still around.**

 **Speaking of which, I'm not sure how it could have happened, but I've noticed that a couple other stars have gone out as time has gone by, meaning that those worlds have fallen to darkness as well. It was not a very rapid pace, probably just one world every other month or so, but the fact that its happened at all is still worrying me. I guess after what happened to Radiant Garden's star, I've started to get a little more concerned about the status of other worlds than I was before, but I need to focus and make sure that I can be ready, both for when we finally get Terra and Aqua back, and for the day when an old friend finally gains the power he's destined for.**

 **On the subject of power, just the other day, I saw Donald and Goofy gain a little extra power of their own, in terms of weapons that is. Mickey had taken the two with him to see Master Yen Sid about giving them more powerful weapons to use in case the need ever came up, and I have to say, when I saw them come back with the items in question, I was definitely impressed. It almost reminded me of a pair of very powerful Keyblades that I had saw near the end of my first journey, and it's now making me wish that the final evolution of my own Keyblade would hurry up and come already. Mickey says that the minute it does happen, I'll finally be truly ready to take the Mark of Mastery Exam, in his eyes if no one else's, so I think you can understand why I'm eager for that day to come. Well, here's hoping that it's soon, and that waiting for that day does not make all the lessons Mickey's tried to teach me about patience go to waste.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Now how's that for a Hollow Bastion re-spin? If I were to name the big points here, they would be on how the team discovers that said world is Radiant Garden much sooner than in canon, and instead of using that useless toy sword that Sora got after Riku swiped the Keyblade from him like a bratty little thief, Ventus managed to help Sora get a substitute Keyblade to fight with until he got it back. I went with Metal Chocobo mainly because of how often we see Sora get made into Cloud's son or relative in general in various different fanfictions, and as for Ventus possessing the ability to animate a Keyblade from the Keychains, that's going to be something we see again very soon, I can promise you that. I'm sure you can all figure out just what it will be used for just from that alone though, right?_**

 ** _Xion: [trudges into the room completely soaked] Pah! And you punish us for giving out spoilers? You might as well have given one with that last comment just now!_**

 ** _AN: I never said the full exact details though. I merely made a small implication. Oh yeah, and we also finally saw Sora gain his Tier One Unique Command Style at last! Yeah, I know I said that Shotlocks would be a major focus here, and they technically have been, but after careful consideration, and a suggestion that someone had previously made to me in regards to that idea for this story, I thought that this would be the perfect time for Sora to unlock that ability._**

 ** _Sora: Glad I've finally got that back again! I haven't been able to see that in action since Keyblades of Future Past, and it was so cool getting to use Destiny Blaze too!_**

 ** _AN: Hey, don't go getting too excited now. After all, like Ven said, you've only just discovered it. You still got to master activating it whenever you want as opposed to going for it and accidentally ending up with one of the three common styles._**

 ** _Riku: I didn't really like how you stuck me with Donald and Goofy after Sora lost the Keyblade again. Not because I have something against those guys, I really don't, but I kinda figure they wouldn't do that this time around._**

 ** _AN: Well to be fair, Ventus did give them a good reason to go with you. If you'll all notice, I made it a little hard for them to really decide on how to proceed from then on when the moment came, and having Ventus suggest that they go with Riku just so they can slow him down long enough for him and Sora to catch up does seem like a good reason for the two to do so. Plus, it gave Ven a little one-on-one time with his apprentice that proved to be very necessary for Sora's sake._**

 ** _And finally, there was the memory of Kairi's grandma and her story. Yeah, I made it so that the memory would allow us to see a scene from BBS, partially so that Aqua could make another appearance here before the present-day Aqua makes her next comeback, but also because it also helps the two solve a couple of other mysteries in regards to a question or two that they have had since the start of the story. The most important one being how did Kairi's heart end up inside of Sora. Let's face it, that spell of Aqua's obviously had a lot to do with that, and we all know it, just like we all know that same spell is what helped Kairi get to Destiny Islands when Radiant Garden fell to the Heartless._**

 _ **Kairi: While I do admit, I like that version of the memory a bit more than the original, can I just say that the last scene at the end there with Riku has me a little concerned for his well-being?**_

 ** _AN: You can, and you would be right. Hey, since when is getting possessed by an evil dude like Ansem, Seeker of Darkness ever a simple, and easy process. Plus, I had to figure that Riku at least started getting a clue about why doing as the guy was suggesting was a bad idea at the last minute or something. I mean, there's no way he was really enjoying what he was doing that much after it had first happened, you know. After all, if he really was in control after the fact, he would have found out that Kairi's heart was inside of Sora, and there was no way he would have actually attacked him like he did in the original canon if Riku was still able to call all the shots._**

 ** _Ah well, live and let live, right? Oh yeah, and here's another entry in Ven's Journal. Been a while since we saw that, huh? And apparently it was with good reason. I don't really know too many people who can keep up with the type of thing too constantly, so it makes sense that a few years or so would have passed between this entry and the last one. Besides, if that were the case, I would have to figure out how to make the story a little longer, and that doesn't really feel like much of a good idea, to be quite frank. There does come a point where a story like this gets to be too long without starting up sequels and such._**

 ** _Well, next time, the team continues on through the castle of Hollow Bastion, and it'll finally be time for the big face-off with Maleficent, with another long-awaited show down soon after. Oh, I bet you're all just itching to see what will happen this time, right? Well, take a look at your first hints by moving Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team continues on through Hollow Bastion, as the evil forces prepare to make their final move in this grand chess game. When they finally come face-to-face with Maleficent, everyone goes in knowing they'll be able to handle whatever the evil fairy can dish out now. At least until Riku suddenly appears with a new Keyblade unlike anything that any of them have seen before, including Ventus. Just what sort of power will this new Keyblade unleash upon them? Who is it that is now using Riku's body like his own personal puppet? And just what will it take for them to finally defeat Maleficent in the end before Sora and Ventus find themselves in a final face-off with whoever it is that now commands Riku's being? Perhaps a certain summon charm that was recently acquired? Find out all this and more, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	18. Hollow Bastion Part 2

**_Ventus: Okay, this is definitely getting a little nuts. I don't think any of us who've worked with this guy have had back-to-back updates like this since...when was the last time this happened?_**

 ** _Sora: I think it was when he was working on Code Avengers, or maybe when he started Hearts of Avengers, or A Spider's Focus. I can't really think about it right now to be honest. I'm wiped out from all the work we did here._**

 ** _AN: Hey, what're you guys complaining for? You've got another update, and it's for an awesome chapter. One that several of our readers and followers have been waiting ages for. And it's also one that I've been waiting to both write and post. That said, everyone, welcome to the newest chapter of Dual Keys, and Part 2 of the first trip to Hollow Bastion!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 _ **Yeah, you know you're excited, and I can guarantee that excitement is about to double, because there are plenty of epic moments about to unfold here. One of which is one that many of you have long been patiently waiting for. In case you didn't figure out by the preview in the last chapter, then I'll spell it out for you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time at last to unveil this story's very own...Star Wars Summon!**_

 _ **[audience roaring applause]**_

 _ **Yep, thought that would get that kind of reaction, from our audience in the studio, and I can only imagine how many of you at home are reacting to the news. Oh, by the way since I forgot to mention this last chapter, I'll tell you all now. The symbol on the Star Wars charm is that of the Jedi Order's emblem, with a pair of lightsabers crossed beneath it. Namely, the ones used by the person it summons.**_

 _ **Roxas: Yeah, that's not a give away on who it is or anything.**_

 _ **AN: Well, someone's still a little bitter about the previous chapter's starting author's note. To be fair though, if people had seen the poll results and how they were going in regards to this particular summon, I don't think that they'll be too surprised. But the excitement won't stop at just our Star Wars summon. Oh no, this chapter has got it all! Action, drama, emotion, and more! To put it simply, this time on Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys, a summon shall be revealed, a villain shall be discovered, a friend shall awaken, and a hero...may be lost.**_

 ** _Kairi: Wait, what was that last one?_**

 ** _AN: Want to know more? Then you can find out...now._**

 ** _Sora: Uh, shouldn't we answer some reviews first?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, we probably should, but this chapter is so epic that I want everyone to get right into it. Besides, most of the answers we could give them will be revealed in the story of the chapter. So like I said, let's get this baby started!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XVII**

"You know, if Ansem was so thorough with his research and kept copies of everything, how come we haven't found any other copies of his report on the Heartless while we were here," Sora asked as they continued leafing through the library for a clue on how to get past the sealed door that Donald and Goofy had found.

"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest," Ventus admitted. "Then again, one of the last times I was here to visit him, Ansem did tell one of his apprentices to destroy all research they had done on the Heartless and the world they come from, so that might have something to do with it." He then paused for a moment before adding, "Although, I do have a few suspicions of my own on what another reason might be."

The team had spent quite a bit of time in the library after Sora's face-off with Riku, long enough for Sora to confirm that Metal Chocobo had reverted back into a Keychain when he reclaimed Kingdom Key for himself, and while they were there, they figured it could not hurt to see if there were any pages of Ansem's report on the Heartless in here as well, or at least some copies of it. Given what Ventus had said before, it made sense that Ansem would have a copy or two of such important research, but so far, they had no luck finding anything of the sort. It had honestly left Ventus baffled that such an important bit of research would only have one copy, even if Ansem had ordered for all of it to be destroyed the last time the blonde had seen the man, but considering what he had seen of the pages they had already found, he was getting more and more certain that whoever wrote that report was actually someone else. Despite that, they all knew that they had not come into the library to look for more pages from Ansem's report on the Heartless; they were here to find a way past the locked door, and they had to find it quickly, before Maleficent and Riku did anything stupid. Well, anything else that was as stupid and insane as what they were no doubt already doing, or worse.

The search through the library was not a total waste, because while they did not find any pages from Ansem's report, they did find the last missing page from Merlin's book, so that was a good bonus. Other than that, they only really discovered a way to open the locked door when Goofy found something that looked like a piece of a larger picture, with Donald finding another soon after. When he asked the two to show him the door itself, Ventus was quickly brought before said entrance and had immediately compared the two pieces that his friends had found to one of the symbols on the door. Namely, the Heartless emblem, and he found that the two pieces were a perfect match to two sections of said symbol. That immediately clued everyone in on what that likely meant, and they all set to work searching through both the rest of the library and the entrance hall for the other pieces. Thankfully, Beast and Sora managed to locate them on the entrance hall's upper most level, and once they had all gathered before the door again, they carefully slid all four pieces into place.

When the pieces had been aligned in their proper positions, they all breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the sound of a lock being undone while the door itself moved aside, allowing them entry into the next room. Making their way forward, most of them were surprised to find a large room that was seemed to extend all the way up to the top of the castle, if they had to make a guess, while certain parts of it were sectioned off by walkways that were lined with energy barriers composed of several beams of light, similar to a fence. Ventus immediately recognized this place as the castle's lift-stop, and explained that they were going to have to take several different elevators to reach wherever it was that Riku and Maleficent were now waiting for them. Sure, doing so was a bit tiring, seeing as the castle was a complete maze even without this little obstacle, but it was the only way forward that they had. Besides, considering that they were going to have to go along the outside of the castle several times to get to the elevators that they wanted, there was always the fact that they would be getting a very special look around more of the castle, inside and out as they went up.

While Sora and Beast were able to acknowledge that it was good to know more of their surroundings, they were much more anxious to reach the people that they had come to save, and so, that made them fight even harder the next time they all encountered resistance in the form of more Heartless. Between Defenders, Wizards, and Wyverns alone, it was not really too surprising that the whole group was slowed down a bit in their attempts at getting to where they needed to be in this place, and they were all quickly growing worried that they would likely end up being too late at the rate they were going with every second that they had to stop or change directions.

* * *

Maleficent was barely able to contain her excitement. Even her goosebumps had goosebumps, and staring up at the Keyhole that now lay before her, enticing her with all of the dark powers that it promised, any other villain worth their salt would likely feel the same, at least in her eyes. Even if Ventus and those other three fools were to arrive now in an attempt to stop her, their efforts would all be in vain. This was her victory, and no one was going to be able to steal it out from under her this time. Not like Ventus's precious Aqua had back on her own world, Enchanted Dominion, and her most recently made ally would be able to help guarantee that.

Speaking of which, that same ally had now joined Maleficent in staring up at the Keyhole, and she could not help but note how he had changed from what he was before now. When she first saw the boy, Riku coming up to her in his new dark form, her first thought was that the boy had allowed the darkness he now commanded to completely overwhelm him, despite her warnings. Not that she truly cared one way or the other, but Riku had proven to be of far more help than any of the other members of her little gathering of villains, so it would have been a shame to lose him like she had the others. Then, Maleficent took the time to note that the darkness in and around Riku was much different, and that was when she realized that it was not actually Riku who had approached her. At least, it was not entirely. Yes, it was Riku's body, and yes, it was in his dark form, but Maleficent knew that particular darkness anywhere as that of the one who had first told her about the seven maidens with the purest of hearts, and the one who had helped her to gather together the forces of evil so that she could accomplish these plans. It did not take much more to realize that he had now taken the boy's being as his vessel completely, and that meant that everything was going just as they had planned.

"So, I see the path has emerged at last," not-Riku noted, his voice a mix of both Riku's and the other individual's, as it had been after the two had first merged.

"Yes. The Keyhole to the darkness," Maleficent confirmed with a smirk.

"Unlock it and the Heartless will overrun this world," her ally mentioned, clearly cautioning her about what would happen as a result of that, at least in regards to anyone who could be affected by the darkness.

"What do I care," Maleficent asked. "The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use its power to rule all worlds."

"Such confidence," Not-Riku smirked, and he then raised his hand like Maleficent had seen the Keybearers do many times before.

If anyone had been expecting Not-Riku to summon Soul Eater, they would have been in for quite the surprise, because a few seconds later, a certain sword did appear in his hand in a shroud of shadows, but it was not Soul Eater. Instead, much to even Maleficent's surprise and intrigue, what appeared was in fact a Keyblade. This one was clearly not like the ones that Ventus and his apprentice carried though. It held a dark color scheme with its thin blade and handle being completely black, while the guard was a dark red, with the teeth of the key forming the outline of a heart. It was not just the design that set this Keyblade apart from the ones that the two Keybearers of light used though, as Maleficent could sense the familiar essence of the six Princesses of Heart within it. Either way, it seemed that they would not be needing the Keyblades of either Sora or Ventus to open the Keyhole before them after all. With this new Keyblade in the possession of Not-Riku, they had everything they would need to open the way to everlasting darkness. At least, that was what Maleficent thought.

When Not-Riku aimed his new Keyblade towards the Keyhole to darkness, Maleficent had fully expected the Heartless to suddenly gain a massive upsurge of power, allowing them and their darkness to overrun this entire world, but for some reason, neither Keyblade nor Keyhole reacted at all. They both just remained completely unresponsive to one another. "Impossible! The Princesses of Heart are all here," Maleficent protested, turning from the Keyblade to the Keyhole, trying to figure out what was wrong. It did not take her much longer to realize what it was that was stopping them from achieving their goals, and she immediately turned a vicious gaze behind to the one responsible for delaying them. "It must be her."

Not-Riku turned his gaze in the same direction that Maleficent had, and he was soon frowning a little as well, knowing that the evil fairy was correct. There, lying just across the floor from them was the unresponsive form of Kairi, who he had long since identified as the seventh Princess of Heart. He had known this all along, and informed Maleficent of the fact as well, but he had to go through a great deal to make sure that neither one of them would reveal this fact to Riku. If the boy had found out the truth about why they wanted him to help them recover the girl's heart, there was no doubt that he would turn against them without a second thought, even if he had already forsaken his best friend and the blonde master he was traveling with. Still, the fact that they never discovered where the girl's heart was after all this time was now much more problematic than ever for them.

"Without her heart, she will never be able to release her power," Not-Riku confirmed for Maleficent, knowing exactly what needed to happen if they ever wished to obtain what they sought. The only question now was just where could the seventh princess's heart be? They had searched practically everywhere now, and not once had they ever turned up a single clue on where it was hiding, and a heart like hers was not an easy thing to conceal for too long. Not unless someone had found it and was keeping it concealed from them on purpose.

The two would have pondered this mystery for a little longer had a sudden crash not echoed from somewhere nearby, followed by a familiar roar. When they heard the sound of a certain Shotlock and Command Style going off afterwards, they both instantly knew what that likely meant. "Ventus and the king's fools are here," Maleficent practically growled, having finally had enough of said group's interference. "I'll deal with them myself. You stay here and guard the princesses."

Normally, the being who was now possessing Riku would have punished the fairy for her insolence in ordering him around like he was another one of the pathetic fools who had attempted to use the darkness for their own means, but he managed to restrain himself for the moment. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Maleficent got what was coming to her, be it because of Ventus and his apprentice, or because of the darkness that she claimed to have a firm hold over. Truly, she had no clue of who was actually in control here, and he was looking forward to the moment when he made her realize the truth of that matter.

* * *

Climbing up through the many levels of Hollow Bastion's castle proved to be much more tiring than any of the adventurers had expected. Even Beast was a little weary after so many back-to-back battles with Heartless while attempting to navigate the massive maze that the building had proven to be, but thankfully, Ventus and Sora both quickly confirmed that they were now closer than ever to wherever it was that Maleficent was holding the six captured Princesses of Heart. Kairi immediately verified that as well, having sensed her fellow Princesses of Heart's light almost right at the moment that they had stepped off that last elevator and into the hallway that led into the castle's chapel, and while that was good news, it also meant that they were about to find themselves face to face with a much greater obstacle than any of the ones that they had encountered so far.

They had no idea just how right that assumption was, but what they were not expecting was for that obstacle to be none other than Maleficent herself, and she was no happier to see them standing before her than they were her. Still, most of her distaste was hidden rather well behind a smirk, as she boasted, "I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed, and this world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable, even if your dear friend, Aqua were here to help you, Ventus."

"Don't make me laugh," Ventus retorted. "Aqua could easily stop it on her own, if she had to, or did I hear wrong when I was told about how she bested you when you were supposedly at your best ten years ago?

Maleficent leveled Ventus a glare for that remark, not enjoying the reminder of that particular defeat, but before she could bite back, Sora cut in with his Keyblade at the ready, shouting, "Besides, we won't need Master Aqua's help here. We'll stop it ourselves! After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

 _"Yeah, you tell that mean old witch, Sora,"_ Kairi cheered on, earning her a small grin from the boy in question.

Goofy and Donald had immediately drawn their weapons after Sora's declaration, with Ventus doing the same while the Beast crouched down in preparation to charge into action, but Maleficent did not seem too worried. If anything, she was both confident and much angrier than ever. "You poor, simple fools," Maleficent sneered. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?!"

"Why not? I beat you ten years ago when I was just a kid," Ventus reminded her.

Maleficent then let out a small cackle before she revealed, "Surely you do not think that I had actually been using my full strength against you then, do you?"

While the others seemed to grow a little more worried after hearing that, Ventus remained as calm as ever, and was thus easily able to reply, "No, I didn't think so, but then again, I was still in training at the time, and I'm much stronger now than I was back then."

Maleficent only grinned evilly in response before she declared, "Well let's see how much stronger you are now, for now you shall deal with me, and all the powers of hell and my darkness!"

The minute Maleficent had said that, a massive explosion of darkness erupted from her being burst forth from her, and everyone was forced to raise their arms in front of them in order to block the wind that had accompanied the explosion. When they lowered their arms and looked to her again, they saw that she had enchanted a large amount of the floor so that it would lift her up and above their heads, and a pair of Defenders had appeared on either side of her floating platform on the ground. Without any prompting, Beast immediately charged the Defenders, lifting one up by its shield and tossing it into the other, throwing them off their feet. "I'll handle them! You deal with the witch," Beast roared to his friends.

"Technically she's a fairy, but…" Ventus started to say, only to be cut off when Maleficent suddenly called down a storm of dark lightning bolts, forcing him to roll aside in order to avoid getting hit.

"Less talking and more fighting," Donald shouted to Ventus as he aimed his staff at Maleficent, and he immediately unleashed a burst of Firaga on the mistress of evil.

Donald's spell did not quite reach Maleficent herself, but instead, impacted the platform as she flew over his head. That did not keep her safe from the Thundara spell that Sora threw out at her soon after, and she immediately turned a glare and a powerful blast of green fire on the boy in retaliation for his attack. Sora would have rolled away had Goofy not jumped in with his shield at the ready just in time to block the attack, and with but a simple glance between them, Sora knew what Goofy had in mind when he did not move from his current position. Instead, the knight allowed Sora to use him like a step-ladder in order to jump up onto Maleficent's perch and attack her head-on. Clearly, the evil fairy was not quite prepared for that, and her surprise ended up causing her to be left wide open for Sora's barrage of attacks via Sonic Blade, which he somehow managed to keep enough control over so that he would not drop down from the platform. Ventus had soon joined Sora in the attack as well, tossing his Keyblade at Maleficent while coating it with wind magic, which allowed it to turn and hit Maleficent several times over as a result, but it only served to annoy her even further.

To prove her annoyance, she soon blasted Sora off of the platform, making him crash land into the charging Ventus when he fell, and flew across to the other side of the room, where she raised her staff and chanted, "Meteors of heaven, unleash thy fury!"

A second later, a massive black hole appeared behind her, and several massive balls of dark magic came racing out from it towards the heroes. They all quickly scattered to avoid being hit, with Ventus and Sora pausing only long enough to cast enough Aero Shields to defend both themselves and their friends, but the Defenders were not so lucky, and took a direct hit that destroyed them in an instant. Thankfully, the worst that the team suffered was a small amount of glancing damage, but even with the spheres of wind that were protecting each of them, they still took quite a bit of damage from those minor hits. Goofy had immediately tossed some Potions to everyone so that they could recover, and with her extra backup gone, they all thought that things would now be easier, but after having to dodge another storm of lightning bolts, they found out that they were wrong, because some more Defenders appeared on the battlefield soon after.

Since they were not able to really hit Maleficent while she was up in the air on that platform of hers, Beast and Goofy both turned to try and take down the Defenders, leaving the others free to focus on Maleficent, but even with their long-range Shotlocks, Ventus and Sora were both frustrated to find that getting to the mistress of evil was no easy task. Add in the fact that most of Donald's spells were only hitting the rock slab she was riding around on, and anyone would have been hard-pressed to not start getting more than a little frustrated, at least until Sora noticed something about said platform after the most recent hit it took from Donald's magic attacks. It may have only been a moment, but Sora just knew that he saw the aura around the platform flicker a little, and when it did, it seemed that the rock slab had faltered in the air a little, making Sora think that maybe there was a way to even things up a little.

"Ven, focus some of your attacks on the platform Maleficent's flying on," Sora shouted, and he immediately shot off a round of Typhoon Barrage.

Ventus was not entirely sure why Sora wanted them to do that, but he figured that Sora would not have suggested that action without good reason, so he quickly used his Wind Raid ability to do just as Sora had asked. After following up that with a quick use of both Pulse Bomb and Meteor Shower, Ventus quickly realized what Sora had, and saw the aura around Maleficent's platform flicker and fade until it finally disappeared completely, dropping to the ground when it did, and leaving its rider disoriented. "Good eye, Sora," Ventus shouted in praise, and he immediately charged forward through use of the Photon Charge Shotlock, with Sora following after with his Radiant Blade Shotlock.

The two light-based attacks easily tore through Maleficent, and given her dark nature, it was no surprise that she was seriously hurt by the powerful light-based attacks. After a couple more attacks on their parts, both Sora and Ventus quickly began glowing with faint auras of light, and they quickly shunted the power through their beings and into the Keyblades, instantly activating their respective Unique Command Styles, Destiny Blaze for Sora, and Fever Pitch for Ventus. It was at this point that both Keybearers were glad that Sora had figured out a better idea on how to active his Unique Command Style while they were fighting through the Heartless on the way up, but before they could really unleash the full power of their Command Styles, Maleficent managed to cast the same enchantment on the rock slab beneath her feet, and rose up into the air once more, flying away from the heroes a second later. It was a lucky thing that Sora was able to use the strength boost of his Command Style to throw Ventus a little higher than he normally would have been able to, and that he was able to jump higher with it as well, because that was the only thing that allowed them to reach Maleficent while she was airborne again. Sadly, they were not able to get too far with their attacks, even after using such moves, because Maleficent was almost always able to bat them away with either her staff or a burst of fire magic, and the little spell she used to rain down what could only be called a storm of dark meteors did not make things any easier for them, so they soon found themselves losing all the power of their Command Styles before they even came close to having a chance to use their finishers.

What made matters worse was that Goofy and Beast were constantly having to deal with the Heartless that Maleficent summoned, because for every single Defender that they destroyed, it seemed like another two were summoned to take its place, and Maleficent did not seem like she was getting too worn out from summoning such powerful magic to her call any time soon. It was not long before they all had to deal with both the evil fairy and the Heartless she was summoning, despite Goofy and Beast's best efforts, and it immediately became clear that they were not going to make out of this fight unscathed. At least, not so long as they were fighting it on their own and a quick glance between master and apprentice immediately told them that they both had just the backup in mind, even as they reached into their pockets to pull out the corresponding summon charms.

"Come give us a hand with these Heartless, SIMBA," Ventus called out as he raised the mighty lion's charm above him.

"We could really use some magic backup, Genie," Sora shouted, doing the same with his own charm as his master had.

A moment later, the mighty lion had appeared before them with a roar that was much like the one he had let loose the first time they met him, while their cosmically powered friend materialized before them in a military get-up, saluting to Sora as he declared, "Private Genie reporting for duty, Commander Sora, sir!"

Sora laughed a little at Genie's antics and decided to play along with the act by talking like a general as best as he could. "Focus all magic-based fire on the enemy's transport. We need that witch out of the air and down on the ground so we can rain down some serious hurt on her," he ordered.

"Sir, yes sir," Genie replied, and he immediately aimed his hands at Maleficent, making a pair of finger-guns when he fired off beam after beam of magic towards the platform she was flying around on, while sparing a shot or two for the evil fairy as well.

"I guess I'll be handling the Heartless then, right," Simba asked.

"Pretty much, but we mainly need you to keep them off of us while we hit their boss," Ventus explained to the mighty lion.

"No problem," Simba grinned, and he immediately pounced at the nearest Defender, knocking it out of the fight, and freeing him up to slash at the next closest one with his claws. Just when he was chomping down on another Defender with his teeth, Beast had rejoined the fight against the Heartless minions, showing a brutal savagery that could only fit such a being, and Simba had to admit, he was glad that he was not dealing with the Heartless all by himself. There was no doubt he would be toast if he did have to handle that alone.

With Beast and Simba dealing with the Defenders, Goofy was able to rejoin his friends in a full-frontal assault on Maleficent, an assault that became much easier after Genie had knocked her out of the air once more, and they all charged in with everything that they had. Goofy's shield was flying and bashing into her, Donald was throwing out spells and batting her back and forth with his staff, Ventus was throwing out every trick he had ever learned in his training, and Sora was doing the same as his master, all resulting in a relentless barrage that Maleficent could not hope to defend herself against for too long. In the end, a loud roar from both Beast and Simba ended up vanquishing all of the remaining Defenders, while throwing Maleficent off-balance, right to the point where she had stumbled into a little magic trap that Donald and Genie set up perfectly for her. Goofy then threw his shield at Maleficent to make sure she remained too disoriented to escape from the trap, and thus, she was unable to do anything to stop Sora and Ventus charging forth, and bringing down both of their Keyblades on her in a simultaneous slash that ended the fight in their favor.

When they landed behind the evil witch, Ventus and Sora both turned just in time to aim their Keyblades towards the weakened and beaten dark fairy along with their friends, while the two summons vanished with a fond farewell, and blonde Keyblade master stated, "It's over, Maleficent."

"Now let the princesses and Kairi go," Sora demanded, with Beast growling viciously at her to show what he would do if she did not give a response that they liked.

Any other sensible person would have acknowledged this fact and done as the five had asked, but Maleficent was not so willing to admit defeat easily. She had not become the mistress of evil by giving into the demands of heroes when it seemed like she was bested, and she had no intention of doing so now. Yes, she was severely hurt, and barely able to stand, but she was still able to stand and could still cast magic, and she demonstrated the latter by throwing out a quick smokescreen to disorient the five before her while opening a dark portal that she could retreat into. Not that said smokescreen lasted for long, as Ventus was able to blow it away just in time to see where she was running too, and he immediately waved for the others to give chase.

They would have gone straight in had Donald not noticed that Maleficent had dropped something on the ground and called everyone's attention to it with a simple sentence. "Hey look! I think this is another page from Ansem's report!"

While Beast just moved towards the portal that Maleficent had gone through, the other three quickly joined Donald with Ventus scooping up the page that the magician had found. After looking it over, he confirmed that it was indeed another page from said report and began reading it aloud for everyone to hear. This time, it detailed how Ansem had apparently picked out a single Heartless so he could study its behavior, how that study allowed him to find a mysterious door with a large Keyhole because of that Heartless, and how he opened it and discovered a powerful mass of energy on the other side. Hearing all of this had immediately reminded Sora of the strange door in the secret place back on his world, and when he mentioned this to the others, they all had a feeling that meant that Ansem had found the Keyhole of Radiant Garden when he wrote this report. Sure, it also mentioned how a meteor shower had appeared in the sky that same night, but that did not seem like a very big deal for them, and especially not for Ventus. He knew that Ansem had not been the one to do this sort of research, and he knew of only one person who mentioned secret doors more than anyone else, aside from Ansem himself when it came to the research regarding the Heartless and the world they come from, so this served as the final bit of proof he needed to confirm his suspicions at last.

Of course, that was a rather unimportant detail at the moment, because right now, they needed to stop Maleficent from getting away, so he pocketed the page, and then ushered everyone through the portal, hoping that they could catch up before she had gotten too much further from them. Not that Maleficent really seemed like she was in any condition to flee too far on her own.

* * *

She could not believe it! Maleficent found it completely inconceivable that she had actually been bested by those fools. Yes, she may have been holding back just a little, but in hindsight, she could see why doing so would have led to her downfall. She should have known that Ventus was not just spewing empty words when he said that he had gotten better since she last saw him, but she was sure that her own strength had grown considerably in that time and was still much greater than his. She had the advantage in power and numbers, and yet they had managed to not only scrape out a victory, but make a fool out of her afterwards by standing tall and proud, like they had not just been in the middle of a fight for their lives. She was not beaten yet though, and as soon as she had rested in this particular part of the castle, which could only be reached through the use of certain magic and was now flowing with her own brand of dark magic, she would be restored to full strength and truly show them her full power. At least, that was what she had been planning, but any hopes of a peaceful, undisturbed rest were quickly dashed when someone else suddenly appeared in the chamber with her. Thankfully, it was not the five who had just defeated her, but she was not sure whether or not she would have preferred it if it was them instead of the one who had shown up.

"Do you need some help," Not-Riku asked after he appeared, clearly sounding like he was mocking her.

Before she could snap at him for his impudence, the five heroes had arrived in the room, having used the portal that Maleficent had left open without realizing it, and the possessed boy's attention was soon drawn to them after Sora had called out, "Riku!"

Just before Sora could rush over to his friend, Ventus shot his arm out in front of his apprentice and cautioned, "No, that's not Riku. It may be his body, but the power and darkness he's giving off is that of someone else. Someone very dangerous."

Hearing Ventus say that alone was reason enough for everyone to brace themselves for what would no doubt be a very deadly encounter, but while they were doing so, Not-Riku's senses suddenly detected something he had not expected. He gave no outward indication of his shock though, partly because he had to be absolutely sure he had not imagined it. So, he reached out with his senses, making sure that the others were too busy getting ready for any sudden attacks to really notice what he was doing, while also keeping track of what was going on to make extra sure that no one could notice him. As it turned out, he had the perfect distraction currently on display for such a distraction.

After he had summoned his staff, Donald had taken note of the weapon that Not-Riku was carrying, and gasped in horror at the sight. He immediately pointed it out to the others, and when they gave similar reactions, he knew he was not seeing things. Still, Donald found that he had to ask what they were all wondering. "Is that…"

"Yes. A Keyblade," Not-Riku confirmed with a sinister grin, holding the dark weapon up for the fools to see, and preventing them from seeing his grin widen once he found what he was searching for. It all made sense to him now. The answer that they had been searching for was staring them in the face without them ever realizing it, and these fools had just unwittingly given it away to them. He felt that he should thank them for such a service and what better way to do so than to explain a little more about his weapon. "But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts."

"'Unlock people's hearts,'" Ventus repeated in questioning, not entirely understanding what the possessed boy meant by that, and somehow, he already knew that he was not going to like the answer.

"Allow me to demonstrate. BEHOLD," Not-Riku said, and with that, he immediately spun around and stabbed the Keyblade right into Maleficent's chest, much to everyone's shock and horror. Even Maleficent could hardly believe what had just happened, but for some reason, she was more stupefied by the sudden surge of energies that were spreading through her after getting stabbed. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness," Not-Riku commanded as he held his Keyblade where it was. "Become darkness itself!"

After holding his Keyblade of Heart in Maleficent for a few more seconds, Not-Riku finally extracted the blade from her and disappeared into another dark portal, leaving the others with Maleficent, who was getting far too exhilarated for someone who had just been stabbed by their ally, let alone for the team's liking. "This is it," Maleficent finally gasped as her body glowed with a dark aura. "This power! Darkness…The true darkness!"

An instant later, a massive tornado of fire erupted around the evil fairy, reaching all the way up to and beyond the ceiling, making the five heroes back up in worry for what might emerge from this dark inferno. They soon found out that they were well within their rights to do so, because when the fires settled and the smoke cleared, they were horrified to see that Maleficent had transformed into a massive, snarling, black dragon with evil, greenish-yellow eyes, nearly transparent black wings, and a purple underbelly. When the dragon dropped down onto his four, clawed feet, a massive shockwave ran out from beneath it that pushed the team back against the wall, where they saw that portal had almost completely disappeared, making any escape attempt impossible for the moment. Knowing this, they quickly figured out that if they wanted to leave this place and rescue the captive princesses, they were going to have to enter the toughest fight any of them had ever faced, and they were all very worried for their lives.

"I think I'm going to need a bigger shield," Goofy moaned in worry, and Donald could only let out a similar moan of his own in agreement.

 _"And I thought she was ugly before,"_ Kairi admitted. Normally, she was not one to insult others, save for when she first saw Oogie Boogie, but given what Maleficent had done to both their world and their friend she was definitely willing to make an exception.

"It doesn't matter how big she gets or what she turns into," Ventus encouraged everyone, readying Guardian Wind for battle as he did. "She's still going to end up like any other villain we've faced up until now."

Sora nodded in agreement with his master, and immediately used what magic he currently had available to him to help Ven cast some fresh Aero Shields around the team. It was a good thing that he had too, because barely more than a second later, the dragon had unleashed a massive blaze of fire that would have burnt them all to a crisp in seconds if they did not have the extra defense. Of course, having Goofy jump in front of them all with his shield forward helped a lot too, but the Aero Shields definitely made a huge difference in making sure that they only felt the intense heat of the flames and avoid getting any glancing burns. When the stream of fire breath finally ended, Beast immediately leapt over the other four and straight towards Maleficent with a roar, intending to tear through the dragon like he had already done to so many Heartless. His efforts prove futile though, because the dragon immediately spun around at a speed that was much faster than a being of its size should possess and smacked him in the side with its tail. The dragon's attack had resulted in Beast flying into a large, thorn branch on the side of the room, hard enough to send him crashing through the branch and into the wall behind it. Feeling extremely worried about their friend, Donald quickly raced over to make sure that Beast was okay, and soon breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that the big guy was, miraculously just unconscious after the hits he had received. While that was good news, it left the others more than concerned, because if Maleficent could now do that to someone as strong as Beast in a single hit, then they were definitely going to have to watch out for themselves in this fight, because they knew there was a good chance that they would not be as lucky if they got hit in any way like that.

The fight was not likely to get any easier either, because now that Beast was unconscious, he was easy-pickings for Maleficent, and both Goofy and the dragon were quick to take notice of this, as evidenced by how the former had immediately rushed to Beast's defense when he saw the latter swipe at Beast with her claws. With their strongest defender forced to focus most of his attention on protecting Beast, the others were forced to be even more careful than they already had been before, and considering they were dealing with a powerful, fire-breathing dragon, that was saying something. Donald had tried to compensate for Goofy's inability to leave Beast's side for too long by reinforcing their magic defenses with more powerful wind-based defense spells, and on occasion, even threw in a Reflect spell or two in the hopes that it would help to even the odds. Sadly, it only served to either irritate or tickle the dragon, the latter they learned when a Reflect spell's after-effects only earned them a small chuckle from the dragon, which had sent a few shivers up their spines. Sora and Ventus ended up doing a lot more attacking than Donald was able at this point, but the two could barely get close enough for more than a handful of minutes to really do too much significant damage for things to turn in their favor again. Eventually, it was starting to look like Maleficent was going to win this round, and she showed how much she was enjoying this fact by letting a small cackle as she coated nearly the entire room in fire with another blast of fire breath.

Everyone was forced to either scatter or raise whatever defenses they had in order to protect themselves from the blazing inferno that Maleficent had unleashed, but afterwards, they all looked to see that the flames had separated each of them from one another, and any attempts that they made to regroup were quickly blocked by more of the dragon's fire, or just by the dragon swiping at them with her claws and tail, or due to her snapping at them with her massive jaws. Eventually, the heat from the flames started to become too much for Goofy to handle, as he ended up having to drop to one knee as he attempted to stay conscious, and Donald did not appear to be fairing much better, even as he tried to get to his friend by blasting his way through the fires with some ice magic, only to have minimal to no success. Sora had ended up backed into more of a corner than anyone, as Maleficent seemed to be focusing a great deal of her attacks on him, and thus, he was unable to come out from behind the thorn branch he had taken shelter behind without taking the risk of being chomped up in the dragon's maw, sliced up by her claws, or being completely burned to death by her fire breath.

Ventus was able to see all of this as he took a quick glance around the battlefield from within the ring of fire he was trapped inside of, and he was rapidly trying to think of some way for him to escape so that he could help the others. His first thought was to try and use one of his Command Styles, like Wingblade or Sky Climber, but the heat from the fires was so intense that it was proving difficult to focus. Any magic he tried would not be effective enough to extinguish the flames, or just would not be able to work fast enough to get him out and prevent Maleficent from reforming the ring seconds later, and he doubted that any of his Shotlocks would be able to protect him completely from the inferno if he tried to use one that would allow him to rush through the flames at his target. After a few seconds, Ven was starting to think that they did not have any options at all, until he remembered that they still had some summon charms. If Sora could summon Genie, then the cosmic-powered being could probably counter the dragon's magic a little better, but the problem with that was that Sora had already summoned Genie in their previous fight, so they would not be able to summon him again so soon. Sure, they both had other summons, but none of the ones that they knew of could really be of much help.

That was when it finally hit him. None of their available summons that they knew could provide them with much help, but there was one summon charm in his arsenal that he did not know too much about just yet. Sure, it was incredibly risky to bet all of their chances on a single summon that they knew nothing about, but at this point he could not really see any other options, and desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching into his pocket, Ventus immediately pulled out his newest summon charm, prayed to every being of higher power he could think of that the person it called to their aid could help them, and then lifted it high above his head as he infused the magic necessary into the charm to make it work while he shouted, "SUMMON!"

Whoever this charm summoned must have been powerful, because the minute it activated, a powerful shockwave erupted from around Ventus that extinguished the fires surrounding him and his friends, much to their surprise. Soon afterwards, a massive column of light erupted from behind Ven, making him turn back to see what would come out of it, while everyone else, including Dragon-Maleficent turned just in time to see a figure stepping forward from the powerful light. _"I'm guessing that must be Ven's newest summon,"_ Kairi commented to Sora.

 _"Well it's not like there's anything else it could be. I just hope they're good enough to help us out here,"_ Sora admitted, his worries showing through the tone of his mental voice.

Everyone continued to watch the figure stepping forth from the large column light come closer and closer, until it was standing almost right next to Ventus, revealing who they were when they did, while the light itself began to die down to the point where they were not longer just appearing as a simple silhouette. When they all finally got a good look at the individual, they were all left in awe of said person for various reasons. The person that Ven had summoned appeared to be a young, alien-looking woman with dark orange skin, brownish-gray lips, and bright blue eyes that seemed to burn with unbridled courage, while upon her head was not hair, but what appeared to be some type of horns that were white with blue stripes, and extended down to her shoulders. Her attire consisted of a burgundy top with a decorative hole in the front, dark grey leggings with diamonds cut into the sides, three armbands on each arm, dark combat boots and gloves, and crossed belts that held what looked like two silver hilts. The most shocking thing about this young woman was when she levitated the two hilts into her hands, and then activated them to reveal that they were a pair of energy swords, one full-length green blade and the other being a shorter yellow blade. With both of her sabers activated, the woman then made of show of spinning the two swords around in her hands before holding the yellow saber in front of her while the green blade was in the back, both in a reverse grip, similar to what Ventus used when he fought with his Keyblade.

"Wow," Goofy and Donald both gasped at the same time.

"That's…definitely awesome," Sora breathed in awe.

 _"She's…really beautiful in an alien kind of way,"_ Kairi commented, finding no other way to say it besides that.

Ventus was also left in the same amount of awe as his friends, but when he saw the woman activate the two sabers, he immediately realized something else about this person he had just summoned. While he was glad to have realized this, knowing that this person was definitely going to be a huge help in defeating Maleficent's dragon form, he was much more shocked than anything else now that he knew just what this individual was, right to the point where he could hardly even speak for a few moments. "I…I don't believe it," Ventus finally whispered once he had found his voice again. "A…A Jedi! An actual Jedi!"

Despite not appearing to let her gaze move away from the dragon before her, the Jedi, as Ventus had called her, did take a moment to address the blonde that was currently standing near her. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but I think I've got enough of the basic idea to understand that Lizard-Lips over there is the bad guy and you need some extra help, right Keyblade Master?"

Hearing the young Jedi speak to him was what finally got Ventus out of his stupor, and he immediately stood up to his full height again and replied, "Yeah, that's the short version of it, so would you mind lending us your saber, Master Jedi?"

"Like you even need to ask," the girl smirked in reply with a wink. "Besides, if we're lucky, after this is over, I may end up getting me a nice new pair of boots."

Ventus returned the Jedi's smirk with one of his own, and the two immediately charged forth to attack Maleficent head-on. Now, it was the massive dragon's turn to snap out of the stupor she had fallen into, because the minute she realized that Ven and the Jedi were on the attack, she let loose another blast of fire. However, she did not expect for the Jedi to suddenly stop short, just in front of Ventus, thrust her hands forward, and apparently stop the raging inferno from reaching them before spreading it out to the sides with a wave of her arms. While the Jedi was dealing with Maleficent's fire blast, Ventus took the opportunity to leap high over her head and then use a quick burst of Glide so that he could get close enough to Maleficent for another aerial strike, one which was followed up by a few more slashes from his Keyblade onto the dragon's front legs. The dragon tried to snap at Ventus once again, but her jaws ended up never reaching him. Instead, they were intercepted by the Jedi's lightsabers, and the power of said swords immediately made the dragon recoil away in pain, opening her open to the Jedi's own barrage of attacks, which proved to be twice as powerful and deadly as Ven's given the simple fact that she was fighting with two swords instead of one.

It was not long after that last counterattack on the Jedi's part that Sora found himself looking on in awe as Ventus and the Jedi began a furious dance of sword strikes and special attacks on the dragon, and from the boy's perspective, it almost looked like the two were performing a vicious, deadly dance with the way they moved. Ventus had always had power and speed to his various attacks, be it in magic or sword combat, but this Jedi had a kind of grace and elegance to her that was unlike anything that Sora had ever seen before. There were even times when she almost seemed to know where an attack was going to come from and how to best deflect or block it, and not only that, but she even showcased even more impressive talents like the one she used to disperse that fire blast from earlier when she waved her hands at the dragon, resulting in it getting pushed back a little like something had just shoved it, while at other times, she would wave her hands at some large rocks before making a throwing motion that sent said boulders flying into the dragon. The whole thing almost made Sora forget that he was still in this fight as well, until he suddenly felt the energies of a healing spell wash over him, and turned to see Donald giving him a thumbs-up as a way of saying to go get them.

Sora immediately nodded in thanks to his friend, and quickly aimed his Keyblade at the dragon, making sure to avoid targeting Ventus and the Jedi by accident as he cued up another Shotlock. Unlike his previous ones though, this one felt a little different. It was not like the feeling he got from Radiant Blade or Typhoon Barrage, but rather, it felt like he was drawing power from another source besides his own for some odd reason. Whatever the case, Sora did not have time to think about it right now, because he needed to focus on the fight. An instant later, he was leaping up into the air with a spin, while his body was coated in a rainbow aura and several star-shaped projectiles suddenly came rocketing out of his Keyblade the next time he pointed it towards Maleficent. He then waved his Keyblade at the dragon a few more times, and each time he did, a wave of star-shaped projectiles came blasting out and into the dragon, earning cries of pain from the overgrown lizard. After one last wave was unleashed, the aura around him began to glow much more brightly, while he held his Keyblade down at his side, until he finally drew it back above his head, swung it down until it was pointed at Maleficent, and unleashed a powerful beam of light directly into and through the dragon, which he could not help but notice was shaped like a five-pointed star.

Even under the assault of this incredible new Shotlock of Sora's, the dragon still somehow managed to remain standing, but just barely, as anyone could tell from how it was wobbling from side to side, and quite viciously at that. Still, the fact it survived Sora's attack mattered little, because Ventus and the Jedi were soon charging towards it once again, with the Jedi using her abilities to shove the dragon down onto her side as she went. Once they were both close enough, Keyblade master and Jedi leapt up into the air, with their respective swords drawn back, and when they landed upon the beast, they instantly stabbed the dragon right in its chest, earning a loud shriek of pain as a result. Maleficent's shriek did not end even after the two had pulled their blades out and leapt clear, and it continued on until Maleficent had faded away into nothing more than dust and her tattered cloak. As this was happening, no one could help but notice how the thorn branches in the room had spontaneously burst into green flames before vanishing as well, and they took that as a sign that Maleficent finally down for good at last.

When the realization that they had just defeated Maleficent at her most powerful finally sank in, the whole group looked like they would have shot up and started dancing if they were not so tired at the time, but their victory was quickly spoiled when Not-Riku entered the room again, looking down at Maleficent's remains with a cocky smirk that indicated he had been the one who had emerged victorious from all of this instead of them. "How ironic," the possessed boy commented. "She was just another puppet after all."

"What," Donald questioned, voicing nearly everyone's thoughts when he did, while the Jedi just looked on in confusion.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Not-Riku explained, rubbing his foot into the ashes of Maleficent's remains. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

Now none of them really liked Maleficent at all, but no one deserved to have their death disgraced in the way this person was doing. Sadly, before any of them could do anything in retaliation of Not-Riku's disrespect, he had already backed away into a dark portal, and vanished from the room. That did not stop Sora from attempting to charge him, only to reach him just seconds after he disappeared. The only good thing that came from that was the fact that Sora noticed another summon charm had appeared in the spot where Not-Riku had been previously standing. He was not sure if the guy had dropped it, or if it had gotten there after Maleficent was defeated, but considering what their last new summon brought to the table, Sora found he did not care too much, and pocketed the new charm all the same.

Speaking of the team's newest summon, a small cough reminded them all that she was still here, and they turned to see her giving them a look that was demanding a more in-depth explanation on what was happening at the moment. "My apologies, Master Jedi. I guess proper introductions are a bit overdue, aren't they," Ventus said with a quick bow to the woman.

The Jedi smiled in response to Ven's courtesy, and then replied, "I appreciate the compliment, Keyblade Master, but I'm actually not a Jedi yet. My name's Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Learner to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."

"Well, you're very talented for a Padawan," Ventus chuckled in praise, while Sora and the others just commenced with looking back and forth between the two, completely lost.

Eventually, Sora could not keep it in, and just had to ask, "Ven, what the heck is a Jedi, and how does she know about the fact you're a Keyblade master?"

"I can tell because I can sense his strength through the Force," Ahsoka replied in answer to Sora's second question. "That and the giant key-shaped sword was more than a bit of a give-away, Little Spiky."

Ventus and Donald both had to let out a small laugh at the nickname that Ahsoka had just given to Sora, while the boy in question just huffed in response, before pointing out, "That only would've told you that he has a weird sword, not that he's a Keyblade master."

"I guess you have a point there, Little Spiky," Ahsoka shrugged, clearly not dropping the nickname any time soon. "To answer your first question, the Jedi have known of the Keyblade wielders and their mission since the days of the first masters, the Foretellers, and their master. We've had a few encounters with some in the past until one day they just seemed to disappear altogether. To be honest, I had long thought you guys were just some fancy bedtime story."

"Well, the same could be said for me in regards to the Jedi, because I thought you guys were just a myth until now," Ventus informed Ahsoka. He then looked to Sora and explained, "The Jedi are peacekeepers with incredible powers, much like us Keyblade wielders, except for the fact that they're only stuck with their own world, while we've got all the worlds."

"I'd correct you and say we protect the entire galaxy, but I get the feeling that if what I read is accurate, then when you say world, it doesn't mean the same thing as what I typically think," Ahsoka snipped in good humor.

Ventus just smiled in response, while Sora took the chance to ask another question. "So if the Jedi are like Keyblade wielders, does that mean that Padawans are like what I am to Ventus? You know, an apprentice?"

"That's just about exactly right," Ahsoka confirmed with a smile. "So, as much as I enjoy coming up with nicknames for some of my friends, I do prefer to at least know their actual names."

"My name's Goofy and this is Donald. Nice to meet ya, Ahsoka," Goofy started with a friendly wave.

"And I'm Ventus, and this is my apprentice, Sora. You can just call me Ven," the blonde Keyblade master added on.

Ahsoka nodded to each one of them before turning her gaze over to Beast, who was just starting to come around, and asked, "So then who or what is that?"

"He's a friend who goes by the name Beast. You don't have to worry though, he's on our side," Sora explained. His face then fell a little when he remembered how Riku was acting earlier, and he added, "I just wish all of our friends were on our side right now."

Ahsoka would have asked what Sora meant by that, but she seemed to piece it together very quickly just based off the emotions she was sensing from him. "I'm guessing that boy with silver hair from earlier is a friend of yours that's lost his way, right?"

"How'd you…" Sora started to ask.

"Jedi can learn many things through our connection to the Force, including a person's emotions regarding a specific subject," Ahsoka explained as simply as she could. She then placed a hand on Sora's shoulder as she explained, "Don't lose faith in him. Master Skywalker and Master Yoda have always told me that there's always a chance to save those who have been taken by the Dark Side, but they're only lost forever if we give up all hope of saving them."

Sora nodded in thanks to Ahsoka for that, and the Jedi Padawan returned the smile with a bright one of her own just as she began fading away, indicating that the magic of her summon charm was wearing off. She must have realized this very quickly too, because she was shooting a questioning gaze to Ventus in hopes of getting an explanation on the phenomenon from him, which the blonde quickly answered. "I'd hate to tell you this, Ahsoka, but the spell we used to bring you here is only temporary," Ventus informed her. "When it wears off, you'll go back to whatever limbo you were in before, at least until we find a way to save your world and restore it to what it was before it fell to darkness."

"Well then, I guess I'll be counting on all of you to make that happen, and if there's anything that I can do to help, you just have to ask," Ahsoka told the team.

"Thanks. With you on our side, I think our fight is going to be a lot easier from here on out," Ventus nodded with a smile.

Ahsoka returned Ven's smile with a nod, and just before she vanished completely, she left the team with a quick bow and six final words that seemed to carry a great deal of power and weight to them. "May the Force be with you."

 _"I really like her,"_ Kairi decided, not knowing that she was voicing the same opinion as everyone else in the group, aside from Sora that is. They were all definitely looking forward to another chance to work with Ahsoka in the near future, but right now, they still had some princesses to save, a Keyhole to seal, and a friend to free from the darkness. So, after making sure that Beast was all healed up, they immediately jumped back into the portal that had brought them here in the first place, and dashed through the castle chapel to the next room, certain that was where they would find the Princesses of Heart, and whatever dangers that were left for them to face. All the while, they remained unaware that one of their biggest secrets had been found out by the enemy, and that they were going to be walking into the most dangerous challenge that they were likely to face in their journey to date.

* * *

Passing through the chapel proved to be shockingly smooth, and when you take in the fact that the place that the team needed to go was just a short distance away, you would think that they would have encountered a much stronger force of resistance. That was what was the most shocking: after defeating Maleficent, they did not seem to encounter any Heartless at all. Maybe it was because most of the Heartless had been dispatched to the parts of the castle that they had already passed through, or it could be that whoever was possessing Riku was not sending the Heartless after them as a way of daring the group to chase him, or maybe there was some other, darker reason that none of them knew about. Either way, it still proved to be a respite of relief that they were able to proceed to their final destination in Hollow Bastion without anymore incidents, and after a simple push against a massive door, they found themselves right where they no doubt wanted to be: the Grand Hall.

When the doors had fully opened, Ventus was sure that they would have gotten jumped by something right away, but despite seeing nothing appear, he was not anymore reassured. Something about all of this just felt off to him. Everything from the room to the lack of enemies despite the immense amount of dark energies seemed to scream ominous danger into all of his senses, and the blonde could not help but think about the last time he felt something that made him this worried. That particular memory was not one he enjoyed thinking of considering it roused enough fear in him to make him want to distance himself from his two best friends in what he believed would be a benefit to their safety, but then again, considering that it involved him merging with someone who was literally his dark half and creating a weapon of terrible power, one could understand why he would think that at the time. Still, there was no denying that all of this felt very similar to some of his last few encounters with Vanitas and what fighting with him would have brought about, and Ven knew that nothing good was likely going to come from what was about to unfold.

Ven's ill feelings only grew when they all caught sight of what was lining the first half of the Grand Hall. Or more accurately _who_ was lining the first half of the room. There on either side were the six captured Princesses of Heart, and Ventus did not even need extra sensory abilities to be able to realize that all six had lost their hearts. That did not prevent the others from racing up to the pods the six girls were inside of in an attempt to check on them. Beast had immediately moved over to where Belle was, hoping to pry her out of the pod, but his immense strength did not seem to even crack the glass, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy all went up to either Alice or Jasmine in the hopes of trying to rouse them from the deep slumber that they had now fallen into. The three had no more luck than Beast did with getting Belle free, but Ventus did not bother stopping them from trying, because he was right there with them in checking on some of the girls, as he had quickly caught sight of the first three Princesses of Heart that he had met on his last journey: Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora. Seeing Aurora like this quickly reminded Ventus of the first time he had gone to her world, but add in both of the other two, and Ven could not help but let a small hint of rage start to fester and grow inside of him while he silently swore to make sure that the one who did this would pay for their crime. Yes, Maleficent had played a part and was already defeated, but he knew that the person possessing Riku was the true mastermind behind all of this, and he had yet to answer for anything thus far.

Sora was starting to get the same feelings as his master when he saw that neither Jasmine or Alice were waking up, but he was immediately pulled out of those thoughts when Kairi suddenly caught his attention with a simple statement. _"Sora, I can sense my body is here, somewhere further into the room! I think it's somewhere near that strange machine with the weird heart in the center."_

That was all the prompting that Sora needed to leave the others with the princesses and start heading up to where Kairi had indicated, which did not go unnoticed by Ventus. The blonde tried telling Sora to wait, fearing that he could be running into a trap, but if Sora did hear him, then his warnings had all gone ignored in favor of helping Kairi, much to Ven's displeasure. Seeing that there were no other options now, Ventus immediately glanced around the room and started giving out orders on what they should do in order to deal with this. "Beast, you stay here with the princesses. Make sure nothing else happens to them if you can help it. Donald and Goofy, with me."

The other three barely had time to nod before Ventus raced after his apprentice with his two friends in tow, but thankfully, they did not have to go far in order to catch up with Sora. After all, despite the room's name, the Grand Hall was not too large in terms of length. They all quickly climbed the short flights of stairs, up to where the heart-shaped device was resting over, and they all quickly slowed to a stop upon reaching the top, except for Goofy who actually ended up running into some invisible wall and then tumbling back down the most recent flight of stairs. Donald and Ventus were the only ones to notice Goofy's inability to join them in the central control area, and when he saw Goofy make a couple more failed attempts at reaching them, Ventus immediately realized that someone had raised a battlefield barrier: a special kind of magic that some people will use to capture specific individuals in an area while preventing anyone else from coming to their aid after they were knocked outside of the field. It was the perfect spell for someone to use when they were targeting a specific individual and wanted no outside interference, and unfortunately, it looked like Ventus, Sora, and Donald had walked right into the trap without even realizing it.

Sora probably would have been just as concerned about Goofy as the others were, but at the moment, he was more focused on the friend who was lying lifeless on the floor just a few feet away from them. Sure, he knew that it was only because her heart was inside of him, but seeing Kairi's body in an apparently death-like state like that still drew a very worried reaction from him. His concerns were not eased when he finally picked her up and held Kairi's body in his arms, but he was hoping that holding her close like this would naturally allow Kairi's heart to transition from his body and back to where it belonged. It was a little silly, but considering that her body had reacted to him being close by back on Neverland, you could not blame him for thinking it might work. Sadly, that did not appear to be the case, because Kairi's body remained as it was, while her heart made no attempts at trying to leave his body.

 _"Kairi, what's wrong? I thought you wanted to go back into your body. You seemed like you were going to be able to back on Neverland,"_ Sora questioned, wondering why Kairi was not trying to reach out to her body this time.

 _"Sora, think for a minute. If all of the other Princesses of Heart are here, and have lost their hearts, then what do you think that this machine is for,"_ Kairi reasoned. _"This has to be what Maleficent and whoever's controlling Riku are using to create that Keyhole to darkness, so what if I jump back into my body only for the Keyhole to become fully completed?"_

Sora had to admit that she had a point, but they could not just leave her like this. He was about to point that out to her, when a familiar pair of voices spoke up in full sync from behind him, gaining attention from both him and his two friends who were currently standing next to him. "It's no use," Not-Riku said, his voice still a mix of both Riku's and the one possessing him while he sat up on top of the heart-shaped machine that was being used to create the Keyhole to darkness. "That girl has lost her. She cannot wake up, but then…you already knew that, didn't you?"

"…What are you implying," Ventus questioned, though his hesitance did not go unnoticed. Sure, it could be brushed off as him be cautious as he watched Sora slowly set Kairi back down, but there was no doubt that this person was too smart to believe that was the case.

"You've known all along that girl was the last Princess of Heart, and that she had lost her heart, because you all have been protecting it from harm throughout your journey," Not-Riku explained, revealing that he now knew everything. When he saw Sora looking for some way to deny that, he immediately said, "Don't bother trying to hide it. I sensed her light within one of you the moment you appeared before Maleficent that last time, and I knew that she was within one of you. Just as I know that the Keyhole will remain incomplete so long as the girl still sleeps. It is time for her to awaken and complete the Keyhole."

"Sorry, but if you think we're going to let you lay a hand on Kairi or her heart, then you're sadly mistaken," Ventus snarled, his Keyblade already summoned.

Sora was soon glaring at the person who was using his friend's body like this alongside his master, as he added, "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

Not-Riku just smirked at the two before he declared, "You cannot stop it from happening. Too much has already been set in motion. And before this one can have any chance of being freed, if that chance even exists, you must give the princess back her heart."

The silver haired boy then aimed his dark Keyblade down at the group, and a moment later, a bright light suddenly flashed out from Sora's chest, while he grunted in pain and dropped to his knees, earning him concerned and slightly panicked looks from Donald and Ventus. The two were both quickly asking Sora what was wrong, even though they already had a strong hunch on what the cause was, but if they could hear what Sora was hearing right now, he knew they would be even more worried. Kairi was screaming in pain from inside of Sora's heart, and to say that Sora was especially worried for her now more than ever would have been a vast understatement. "Kairi…what's…" Sora tried to ask, no longer able to keep the question in his thoughts anymore, not that he really saw much reason to since Not-Riku knew the truth about where her heart was.

 _"Something is…trying to rip me out…It's like it's trying to force me into my body or…or worse,"_ Kairi grunted between her cries of pain.

"So it is true. The princess's heart is inside of you, and it's now responding to her body," Not-Riku noted, almost like he was mocking them by showing off how he had learned of these facts. "I will admit, I'm surprised that she is resisting the urge to return to her rightful place, but it won't matter for too much longer."

"You sound really sure for someone who's about to be defeated," Ventus commented.

"Naturally. I know all there is to know."

"Tell us, then. Who are you," the blonde demanded.

Not-Riku only smirked for a moment and then revealed a terrible truth that rattled Donald and Sora quite a bit. "It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, and I will not be denied my prize any longer."

Donald and Sora could hardly believe their ears, and neither could Goofy, since he had heard what had been said too from outside the barrier. Ansem, the same one who had studied the Heartless, and whose report they had been trying to find, was the bad guy that they had been fighting all this time? How was anyone supposed to take that? The only thing more shocking than that revelation was how Ventus was not the least bit shocked, but instead, just smirked at the possessed boy like he had heard some kind of joke. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that," the blonde asked.

"What," Ansem questioned, caught off guard by the blonde's inquiry.

"I know the real Ansem, and I realized long ago that while the pages from the report we've been looking for were written by you, you're not Ansem. Not the real one, at least," Ventus informed him. He then placed a hand to his nose as he added, "Besides, I'd know the stench of your vast darkness anywhere, so you couldn't fool me with that lie even if you wanted to actually try."

Ansem just scowled at Ventus through Riku's eyes, having been able to quickly realize that the blonde was not bluffing, until he finally scoffed and remarked, "So, you think you've become so much smarter, do you, you feckless neophyte? Shame it won't stop me from achieving my goal."

The villain then began to approach the trio, and Donald had instantly charged him with a battle cry and his staff raised, despite Ven's warnings to wait. Donald's charge ended in failure, as Ansem just batted the magician aside with his free hand, and sent Donald tumbling out the other side of the battlefield barrier, letting Ventus know that he was not going to be getting back in anytime sooner than Goofy was going to get in at all. So, it was clearly going to be up to him and Sora to stop this imposter, but before he could move to make a defensive stand in front of Sora, his body suddenly went stiff, like someone had suddenly grabbed and restrained his entire being, proving that he had been caught by a powerful time spell at the very least. Ventus could now do nothing more than glare hatefully at Ansem while his eyes shone with concern for Sora, who was still down on the ground and trying to help Kairi keep her heart from leaving his body, but the closer Ansem got to him, the harder it seemed to become, and it had quickly reached unbearable levels when Ansem finally stood directly in front of him.

"Now, I shall release you, Princess," Ansem decreed, his Keyblade fully prepared to strike Sora in order to carry out his plan. "Complete the Keyhole with your power, open the door, and lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Time seemed to slow down as Ansem drew back the Keyblade of Heart, while Ven's eyes widened in the only small fraction that they could as the weapon drew closer and closer to his apprentice, but just when it looked like it would hit Sora, Kairi managed to finally beat the force that was trying to pull her out of Sora and just in time to warn him of the incoming attack. Sora immediately reacted on instinct, and summoned Kingdom Key to block the dark Keyblade just at the last second, and clash of the two weapons seemed to resonate powerfully enough for the spell that had trapped Ven to be broken, as the blonde suddenly felt all stiffness in his body get blasted out to the point that he almost fell to floor like a lifeless rag doll. When he turned back to the two, he saw Sora holding back the dark Keyblade as he and Ansem exchanged vicious glares with one another, while the boy slowly rose to his feet.

"Forget it! There's no way I'm ever letting you take Kairi's heart," Sora snarled as he finally managed to push Ansem back. "You'll have to destroy me before that can happen."

"And to get him, you'll have to go through me," Ventus promised as he ran over to Sora's side, Guardian Wind in hand and a glare firmly fixed on Ansem.

"Both of those things can easily be arranged," Ansem promised, and he immediately assumed Riku's usual battle stance, showing his readiness for battle, and with that, the duel between the two Keybearers and the Seeker of Darkness began.

Ventus wanted to hold their ground and take Ansem together, but Sora opted to try and take their enemy as fast as possible and immediately charged in. Ven's protests against this action were quickly drowned out by the sounds of clashing blades, and dark powers being thrown out into Sora much faster and more powerfully than ever before. Luckily, Ventus was able to cast an Aero Shield that saved his apprentice from too much damage, but it could only do so much to protect the boy, so Sora ended up getting knocked back by what damage Ansem did get through the defensive magic. When Sora found himself backed into a control console, Ansem quickly moved to run his Keyblade through Sora, knowing that it would free Kairi's heart the moment he did, but Ventus was quick to intervene and push the dark Keyblade back before he started his barrage of sword strikes. Ventus made sure to keep moving as fast as possible in his attacks, never giving Ansem a chance to do anything other than block, but he could not keep it up forever, and as a result, he found one of his strikes finally getting parried when Ansem managed to find a small opening in his assault.

Ventus stumbled a little under the sudden retaliation, but he managed to recover rather quickly and attempt another strike, only to find his swing meeting empty air as Ansem dashed away before his hit could land. The next thing the blonde knew, he was struck in the back by a powerful energy blast, but it turned out that Ansem had actually thrown his Keyblade at the blonde, using a maneuver that was very similar to the Strike Raid ability, and it did not stop at just the one either, because Ansem was soon dashing around the area and slinging out more Dark Raids at the blonde before he finally leapt up into the air and stabbed his Keyblade into the ground, creating a shockwave that was followed by several eruptions of dark energy from the floor. Ventus just barely avoided the attack by somersaulting away, but he was quickly put on the defensive again when Ansem made another leaping strike towards him. This time it was Sora who came to the rescue, as he managed to land a quick sneak attack on Ansem from behind, knocking the villain away from his master and freeing Ventus up for a chance to unleash Freeze Raid on the possessed boy. Ansem easily dodged Ven's attack, but was unprepared for the sudden blast of Blizzara that Sora had suddenly hit him with, and as such, was frozen just long enough for Sora to rain down a storm of lightning bolts with Thundara.

Ansem was not about to let this assaults stand for long, and he proved it by leaping into the air once again and striking the ground, creating a shockwave that was punctuated by more eruptions of dark magic from the floor, this time covering a larger radius, and the two Keybearers were unable to do much to prevent themselves from getting hit by at least one or two of these blasts. That did not stop them though, as Ventus proved by activating his Fever Pitch Command Style, followed immediately by Wingblade. Sora hoped to give his master some cover for what he was clearly planning by firing off a round of Typhoon Barrage, and while Ansem was able to avoid most of his projectiles, the Seeker of Darkness was not so lucky in dodging the mini-whirlwinds that they released afterwards, nor could he avoid the finishing move to Sora's Shotlock completely, as its powerful winds managed to push him a fair distance away from Sora. Ansem would have used his incredible speed to close the gap and unleash another round of his Helm Split attack, but Ventus had already beaten him to the punch and leapt into the air with his own finishing attack.

"Command Style: Wingblade finisher," Ventus shouted as he threw down the energy swords surrounding him so that they would impale the ground around Ansem. When the swords were all in position, Ventus immediately dropped down to the ground, right in the center of the formation, and released an explosion of light that not only seriously harmed Ansem, but left him blinded for a moment as well. This gave Sora a chance to deal out a few more spells while adding in a Strike Raid or two, letting him build up the energy he needed for his own Command Style.

Soon after, Sora was coated in the energy of Destiny Blaze, and he immediately charged in to land as many strikes as he could against Ansem, but he barely got too many good hits in before Ansem managed to cue up a burst of Dark Firaga and blast him back. Sora had to admit, he was surprised by how quickly the Seeker of Darkness had managed to unleash that power, given how it normally took Riku a little bit of time to power it up for even a basic level blast, but considering that this guy was just oozing darkness from his very being, he would admit that he probably should have expected something like that to be little trouble for Ansem. The villain quickly proved how easily he could call upon dark powers when his body suddenly glowed with a faint aura of darkness while he was lifted a few inches up off the ground. The two Keybearers had immediately braced themselves for whatever would follow next, but they had not expected Ansem to suddenly dash forward at an incredible speed, and then vanish after he passed him. They were also unprepared when he reappeared again, still moving just as fast, and slashing at the two as he passed, and he continued this repeated barrage of high speed, dashing strikes, until he finally reappeared above them, and dove straight down so that his Keyblade would impale the ground, unleashing a number of dark flames that erupted over nearly the entire area. The explosions would have no doubt finished the two Keybearers had Ventus and Sora not jumped into the air and used Glide to avoid it at the last second, but they only remained airborne for a few seconds, because Ansem immediately blasted them out of the air once again with a quick barrage of Dark Firaga.

"What's the matter, Keybearers? Was my Dark Aura too much for you," Ansem mocked as he waved his Keyblade down as if he had already finished the fight in his favor and was now about to claim his prize.

"Hardly," Ventus groaned, but if he were being honest, it was more of a show on his part than anything else. That last attack did in fact deal him quite the significant amount of injury, and he was certain that Sora was much worse off than he was.

The blonde was right to suspect that, because Sora was finding it difficult to just keep himself up on one knee, let alone standing up to fight again, and he could not help but think that they were not going to survive this one. At least, until Kairi made him crash that train of thought right off the rails. _"Don't you dare give up now, Sora,"_ Kairi shouted. _"Did you forget what will happen if this guy wins? Not only will he get my heart from your body, but everyone will be lost to darkness forever!"_

 _"Well I'm open to suggestions on how to beat him, because if another attack like that hits me, I'll be lucky to still be alive,"_ Sora informed her, and since he was grunting and groaning even in through his mental voice, Kairi could tell that he was not kidding.

 _"Then let me help you like I did before,"_ the redhead offered, surprising Sora a little. _"Don't you remember when you were fighting Maleficent? How you used that one Shotlock that seemed unfamiliar and strange to you? I don't know how, but I get the feeling that I somehow gave you the ability to use what's actually going to be one of my Shotlocks. If that is the case, then maybe if I concentrate hard enough, you can use some of the other abilities I'll have when I get my own Keyblade."_

Sora could see quite a few holes in that theory, but he had to admit that Kairi might have been on to something when she mentioned her idea on what that last Shotlock he used on the dragon form of Maleficent could have been. He remembered feeling like he was drawing power from another source when he called upon it, so if Kairi was right in saying that it had been one of the Shotlocks she would have when she got a Keyblade, then it made sense that he would have been drawing that power from her heart. Besides, they really had nothing to lose at this point, so Sora could only think of one response. _"Do it."_

 _"Are you sure? We don't really know what might happen if we try this,"_ Kairi asked, showing she was actually nervous about this strategy.

 _"Hey! Remember what Ventus said before? Do or do not. There is no try,"_ Sora reminded her. _"We either do this and win, or we don't do it and end up toast. Sure, we could just as easily be toast if we do it anyway, but it might be better to take that risk than to not take it and fail."_

He could feel Kairi nod inside of his heart, and a moment later, he closed his eyes as the power of her pure light washed over him, quickly healing his injuries in mere moments. When he finally felt he was ready to stand again, Sora immediately moved onto his feet and cast a quick Cura for Ventus, getting the blonde master on his feet as well, while leaving Ansem surprised that they were actually still able to rise up. The dark villain did not let this disturb him for long, and he was soon back on the attack. This time though, Sora was a bit more defensive in his fighting style, only dodging, blocking, or parrying the blows that Ansem tried against him when he saw the best opportunities to do so, while Ventus went on the offensive in attempting to blast the fight out of him. It was odd for Ansem to see such a headstrong boy like Sora suddenly fight so defensively, but he cast it aside as the boy getting desperate and pressed his attack even harder than before. Sora's defense did not waver though, and thanks to Ven's offensive stance, he was able to hold out for quite a bit, until he suddenly felt a surge of energy that felt similar to his Destiny Blaze Command Style building up inside of him.

Knowing what this sudden build up of energy likely meant, Sora immediately directed the power through his Keyblade, and activated a whole new Command Style, while shouting out the name of said ability as he did while the aura around him settled into a bright, white and red glow. "Command Style: Shooting Star!"

 _"Did he say Shooting Star? But that's impossible,"_ Ventus protested in his head as he paused in his attack to watch his apprentice for a moment, using a quick burst of Stopza to hold Ansem in place, for as long as he could any way. Ventus knew full well that particular Command Style should not be one of Sora's due to what he had been through on his first journey through the worlds, even without the fact that Sora had already awakened his Unique Tier One, but then, his senses picked up on something he had been too busy to notice before, and the blonde had to smirk a little at this realization. _"Now I get it. Kairi's lending Sora her own power, so it only makes sense that he would be able to call on her Command Style like it was one of his own. Risky, but it will definitely give us the advantage here."_

Sora then blasted off like a rocket, slashing at Ansem several times over as he passed the villain, much like Ansem had just done to him and his master, until he paused in his slashing for a minute to fire off several rounds of magic homing darts from the tip of his Keyblade. Some of the darts missed their target, since Ansem used the pause to try and charge at Sora, and thus had a bit of an opportunity to dodge, but the ones that did hit him allowed Sora to have time to start racing around the small, enclosed battlefield while casting a series of different spells in quick succession. When Sora next skidded to a halt, he was prepared to fire off the Command Style's finisher, but found himself freezing a little when he saw Ansem was preparing to use Dark Aura again. Sora knew that there was little chance that Aero Shield could effectively block that attack, but he was not sure he could dodge it either, so it was no surprise he was beginning to panic a little. At least he was until he suddenly felt Ventus place a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see his master was pulling him as close as he could before turning so that they stood back to back with one another.

"Stay close until I tell you to move," Ventus ordered, and Sora could only nod in reply, showing that he trusted whatever the blonde was planning. Not a second later, Ansem began his assault with Dark Aura, while at the same time, Ventus raised a hand up and shouted, "Reflega!"

Ansem was not entirely sure what Ventus could have been planning, but it was too late to stop his attack now, and he doubted that the blonde could actually conjuring any kind of spell that would protect them from his wrath, so he pressed his attack, and unleashed the same number of dash attacks as he did last time before going an extra mile and throwing in a few more for good measure. When he came out of the last dash, he stabbed the ground again and unleashed several explosions of dark fire from the ground, which easily covered the entire floor that they were standing on, earning horrified looks from Donald and Goofy, who had been watching from outside the barrier as all of this happened. When the attack ceased, they quickly saw that Kairi's body had remained unscathed, no doubt protected from the dark attack thanks to the light magic it normally contained, but they could see nothing else beyond that due to the smoke. When it finally began to clear, the two grew more and more worried by the second when they saw Ansem standing tall and proud, smirking victoriously the entire time.

That smirk quickly vanished though once the smoke from his attack had completely vanished and allowed him to see his foes in their entirety, because it had quickly turned to disbelief by what he saw. Instead of seeing the Keybearers lying on the ground in defeat, Ansem was greeted by the sight of a large, reflective sphere made up of hexagonal shapes, and before he could move to get a better look at the sphere, it instantly exploded outwards, blasting him away while releasing the two Keybearers that it had previously sheltered from harm. Once the sphere had completely vanished, Ventus dropped to one knee, panting in exhaustion before glancing over his shoulder and shouting, "Now Sora! Hit him with everything you and Kairi have got!"

"Command Style: Shooting Star Finisher," Sora and Kairi both shouted together, the latter doing so from inside of the former's heart. The spiky brunette then spun around on his foot a couple of times, spinning his Keyblade in his hand as he did, while a series of five pointed stars formed around him. Upon coming out of the final spin, Sora swung his Keyblade in front of him, and the stars immediately raced off to fly into and through Ansem, drawing a cry of anguish from him when they all hit.

When the dust settled from Sora's last attack and the glow of his Command Style had faded, Ansem stumbled on his feet for a few seconds, but did not show any signs of falling until finally, the Keyblade of Heart fell from his hand with a clatter, and Riku's body vanished into a faint shadow of darkness. When he saw his friend starting to vanish, Sora immediately tried to go to him, but the adrenaline from the fight ended up choosing that time to leave him, and he dropped to one knee in exhaustion as a result. Luckily, Kairi was still giving him some of her power, so her light had managed to help him heal a little more quickly than normal, for which he made sure she knew he was thankful by giving her a smile along with some well-deserved praise for her quick thinking. After listening to Kairi accept his thanks and seeing her smile in his mind, Sora turned to Ventus to thank the master for his help, only to become worried when he saw that Ventus was not recovering as quickly as he had.

"Ven! Are you okay," Sora asked as he rushed over to the blonde's side as fast as he could, helping his master to stand once he was next to him.

Ventus only panted for a few seconds before he gave his apprentice a small grin and said, "I'll live. Just…Really wondering how Aqua made casting that spell naturally look so easy."

The two Keyblade wielders were soon sharing a laugh at that remark, while the older one of the two made a mental note to practice using his magic like that a little more when he got the chance, but their good moods were soon interrupted when Donald suddenly called out to them. Turning to the duck, they immediately realized that the battlefield barrier must have dropped, because both Donald and Goofy were standing by the heart-shaped machine that Ansem was using to create the Keyhole to darkness, waving them over in a near panic. "Sora, Ven, look," Donald cried out.

"The…The Keyhole," Goofy added as best as he could, looking from his two friends to the Keyhole as he did.

The two immediately nodded in response, and after Ventus quickly drowned an Elixir to regain his strength, they immediately raced over to stand between their two friends, and pointed their Keyblades into the Keyhole. They all stood and waited for a few moments, expecting the usual beam of light to come from the two Keyblades and seal the Keyhole, but the only thing that ended up happening was the Keyhole displaying a mirage of colors inside of it with a few sparks of lightning flickering in the center, while the Keyblades remained completely unresponsive. Ventus insisted that they wait for a few more seconds or so, but when nothing changed, they all found that they had to acknowledge the facts.

"It won't work! The Keyhole's not finished yet," Goofy gasped.

"And despite that, it's still releasing an impressive amount of darkness out into this world alone," Ventus observed as he and Sora dismissed their Keyblades.

"So what can we do? We can't leave it like this," Sora pointed out, but it did not seem like any of them really had any ideas.

Well, Goofy did have one idea, but it was still a very risky one. "Maybe, we gotta go put Kairi's heart back in her body, and wake her up."

"But if we do that, won't that just unleash the everlasting darkness that Ansem was trying to get," Donald asked.

"Most likely. Waking Kairi up now is far too risky, especially so close to that Keyhole," Ventus hesitantly admitted. He knew that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point, and he absolutely hated it. Still, he knew that if they were to stop Ansem's plans, they had to take some risks. "If we can free Kairi's heart and return it to her body, that will complete the Keyhole, but the only way we'll be able to stop the darkness inside the Keyhole from spilling out is by moving fast and sealing the Keyhole the second it's finished."

"Would that work," Donald asked, sounding worried.

"Well it is risky, and the window in which we'll have to seal the Keyhole is rather small, but it's not impossible. More importantly, it's the only option we have now," Ventus revealed with a sigh.

At that point, they all started trying to think of a way to free Kairi's heart from Sora's body without losing Sora in the process, but the boy in question had already started tuning them out. Instead, he just looked down at Kairi's body, wondering just what they could really do to free her heart. Even Ventus had admitted to not having a clue on how to do that, and they did not have a lot of time to try and come up with a safe way for it to be extracted from him safely. Realizing this, Sora's eyes soon fell onto the Keyblade of Heart, and he immediately knew what he had to do.

The others did not seem to realize what Sora was thinking, being too deeply engrossed in their ideas on how to get Kairi's heart out of him, right up to the point when Donald suggested, "Hey, why don't we summon Genie and wish for him to get Kairi's heart back into her body?"

"Yeah! I mean, it should be okay to summon him now, right," Goofy asked.

"Yep. We've definitely reached a point when we can summon him again, and I'm sure that Genie should be able to return Kairi's heart to her body without any risk to Sora. So, mind calling the big guy up, Sora," Ventus asked, only to receive silence in reply. At that point, they all finally realized that the kid was no longer standing next to them, and they all immediately turned to see that the kid had descended back down to where Kairi's body was lying, along with something else. "Sora, what are you doing," Ventus asked in a slight panic, already suspecting what his apprentice was doing down there.

Sora did not answer his master, but instead, knelt down and picked up the Keyblade of Heart, holding it up as he looked it over for a few seconds, and immediately proving he was indeed thinking what the others all feared. "Sora, hold on," Goofy begged.

"No, wait," Donald cried.

"You don't have to do that, Sora! There's another way, I'm sure of it," Ventus protested, now truly afraid for the kid's sake.

Those three were not the only ones who were pleading for Sora to not go through with what he was about to, but Kairi was begging far more passionately than any of them, and Sora could tell that if she could, she would be starting to cry a little as she spoke. _"Sora, please! Don't do this! I refuse to let you sacrifice yourself for me! Please, try anything but this,"_ Kairi desperately cried in misery, hoping that her sorrow would reach Sora somehow and get him to see reason. _"Please! We've already lost Riku! I don't want to lose you too!"_

Sora ignored all of their pleas to stop, and instead turned to his three newest best friends and gave them a smile before raising the dark Keyblade up so that the tip would be pointed at his chest. He then took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do, and then sent one last thought to Kairi before acting that made Kairi's cries come to a complete standstill while her heart seemed to stop within him. _"I love you, Kairi."_

Kairi barely even had time to process or ask if she had heard him right, because a second later, she was right there with the others in watching as Sora stabbed himself with the Keyblade of Heart! When the blade went through him, Sora's arms fell limply to his side, and he barely even registered how it extracted itself from him, or how all of his friends had let out various different gasps or exclamations of dismay and horror, as he suddenly felt like everything inside of him had begun to fall out. After the blade had come out of Sora, it completely dissolved into six spheres of light that immediately flew over to the six Princesses of Heart, showing that it was made up of their hearts. A second later, another orb of light floated up out of Sora and faded into Kairi's chest, and when the Keyhole suddenly flashed brightly, Sora knew that meant it was finally completed, but he took comfort in seeing Kairi's eyes open from the corner of his eyes, because that was the last thing he did see before his eyes fell closed while his body began to fade into several sparkles of light.

"Sora…SORA," Donald cried out, leading the charge over to Sora from the Keyhole, with Ventus right next to him.

"SORA! NO," Ventus shouted as he reached out to the boy with one hand, almost as though he believed he could grab him before he disappeared completely, despite how the kid was fading more and more with every second.

Meanwhile on the other side of the brave young boy, Kairi was slowly starting to sit up, feeling a little groggy after just getting back into her body after so long, but when the last words she heard from Sora suddenly echoed in her mind and her eyes landed on his fading form, her rise became much more hasty until she was finally on her feet again. "Sora," Kairi called out as she ran over, hoping to catch him before he fell, but when she reached him, she was horrified to see that the only thing that landed in her arms was a bright light that quickly broke down into small, fading glimmers of sparks that floated up and twinkled out like stars. "N-no."

"Sora," Donald shouted in dismay. "Come back, Sora!"

Goofy could not do anything at all but sniffle sadly, proving he was about to cry after seeing his friend disappear like that, and Kairi looked like she was not too far behind him. The same could easily be said for Donald, but out of all of them, Ventus was the only one who fell to his knees in his dismay, watching the faint lights that were once his apprentice and friend disappear one by one. When the last flicker of light had finally gone out, Ventus dropped his head in sadness and allowed the slowly forming tears to start falling, while his fists hit the floor a couple of times as he thought, _"Damn it….Damn it all! I'm sorry, Sora. I'm so sorry, Mickey…Aqua…I failed. I failed you all."_

* * *

Somewhere deep within the Realm of Darkness, was a place that many would refer to by the name of Dark World. It was a place where pieces of worlds that had fallen into darkness were gathered together as a testament to that world's falling, and to also serve as a way to possibly break down the resolve any poor soul unfortunate enough to wander in this world of endless shadows until they too became one with darkness. It was in one corner of this world where a small village with what was once a shinning palace currently resided, and through which a young woman with blue hair and bright blue eyes had been previously walking. The woman in question wore a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, a black corset with two pairs of white laces, black shorts, and a pair of intersecting pink straps over her chest, held together by a strangely shaped silver badge, while her arms were covered by white bell-sleeves, with a small segmented piece of armor being worn over the sleeves on each of her upper arms, and her hands were covered by tan fingerless gloves. The other half of her outfit consisted of a pair of black stockings that reached halfway up to her thighs, leaving a small area of skin on her legs bare, while two strips of blue cloth were draped over each of her hips, along with a smaller white strip that was tied around her waist and draped in the same manner. Her outfit was completed by a pair of silver, pointed boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each. In her hand, she carried a Keyblade that had a smooth, cylindrical shaft that tapered outward at both ends, with a boxy guard made up of two small, light grey boxes and copper rod. The base of the guard connected to the grip, and both sported several small indentations lining them up, while the teeth of the blade formed and "E"-shape and the grip turned out to be squared as opposed to the usual cylindrical shape that most other Keyblades had.

This was none other than Master Aqua, now wielding her late master's Keyblade, and she had long since wandered into an area of Dark World that was made up of the remains of the Palace of Dreams, a world she had visited so long ago, but for her, it was really hard to know for certain how long it had been since she had visited this world. Time did not exist in the Realm of Darkness, which was a huge reason as to why Aqua had not aged a day since she entered this place, so as she continued her endless trek through the realm, Aqua had to wonder if days or months had passed with every step she had taken, but after seeing the home of her friend Cinderella was now here, she knew that something had gone wrong. A quick investigation of this place had dredged up old memories of days that Aqua wished she could return to, but she knew that wishing for the past would not help her find an escape, and she hoped that maybe she was close to finding one here.

Sadly, all she ended up finding here were reminders of the past, how she would give anything to turn back time so she could spend one more night beneath the stars with her best friends, and an illusion of one of those friends appearing before her for reasons she could not quite figure out. She had to figure that this mirage of Terra was somehow telling her not to lose heart, but she could feel cracks starting to form in her resolve. Still, as she looked out over the ruined town, she had to smile knowing that the lack of people likely meant no one had fallen into darkness, and Aqua could definitely take a bit of solace from that. There may not have been a way to escape this endless prison here, but Aqua was not going to give up yet. She still had to get back and wake up her other best friend, who also happened to be the one who won her heart in the sense of being who she loved the most.

Thinking of that mission reminded Aqua of a moment earlier when she had somehow managed to reach out and contact the young girl she had met that time in Radiant Garden, and her future self that came back to help change things for a better future, and Aqua's resolve suddenly became stronger than ever. If Kairi could reach her in this place from the Realm of Light, be unintentionally during a Dive to the Heart or otherwise, then that had to mean she was close to a point where she could get out at last. That girl's light was definitely a beacon in the darkness for her at that moment, more so when she learned from the redhead how Ventus was awake and helping to train a new Keyblade wielder at this very moment, and at that point, the slowly forming cracks began to repair themselves just as quickly as they had formed. If Ventus could find his way back then so could she, and there was no way Aqua was going to let another day go by without being in his presence.

Right at that moment, a small flash of light suddenly peaked at the edges of Aqua's senses, and after closer study, she realized with a gasp that she recognized the person it belonged to, and she knew that he definitely should not be here. With barely any time to think, Aqua immediately turned on her heel and sprinted in the direction she had sensed his light from, hoping to reach where it was beginning to take form before it was too late. _"I won't allow you to fall into the same fate as I have. Not while you still have so much to do. No matter what happens, you can't fall into darkness…Sora!"_

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 7**

 **Out of everything involved in training to become a master, there's only one thing that I've always hated almost as meditating: reading. I get that studying up on the information regarding all the different spells is important, and I'm willing to do it too, as Aqua and Master Eraqus would tell you if they were here right now, but what I don't get is why it is necessary to study up on information regarding all of the known worlds. I mean, yeah, it's great to know things about all the places we can go to as Keyblade wielders, and it would be a big help to know whatever you can about each world's different customs and how we should act in order to avoid offending anyone, or letting others realize we're not from their world if we can help it, but there are so many worlds out there its freaking impossible to be able to remember all of this! I mean, do we really need to know everything about every world that we know of? It's not like we're going to visit all of them at some point in our lives, especially when you consider that there's always a new world out there that has yet to be discovered. Okay, maybe we only need to know the basics about other worlds, namely whether or not we would need to alter our appearances so that we don't upset the world order by too much, but how could anyone really remember every basic detail about all of these different worlds? Maybe this is why Master Xehanort went insane: because he got a bad case of information overload that only heightened his curiosity about the Keyblade War to an unhealthy level.**

 **Then again, learning all of this stuff isn't all bad, because sometimes, it does lead to me learning about some pretty cool stuff. Take today for example. I was just browsing through some information, thinking it couldn't hurt to study up on some of these things since Mickey would have Daisy quiz me on my knowledge regarding other worlds every so often, when I came across a few books regarding a group of warriors that protected the balance between light and darkness in their world: the Jedi Order. Apparently, these guys were incredible warriors with unique weapons known as lightsabers, and they could do all kinds of things by using the natural energies of what they call the Living Force like levitating objects of any size, sometimes several at a time, connecting with various lifeforms, including animals, and even manipulating the weak minded to do what they wanted them to do. More importantly, they were dedicated protectors of the peace for their world (which in this case actually refers to a galaxy as opposed to just a single planet like most other worlds), so they will sometimes act as diplomats and overseers for peace negotiations. The more I read about them, the more I felt like they were very similar to Keyblade wielders, and I was especially excited to read that they even trained alongside some of us before the Keyblade War. After reading all of this, I really wish I could actually meet a Jedi myself. But somehow, I kinda doubt that will ever happen.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, before anybody freaks out too badly...I'm going to go over here. Pay no attention to the fact that my position is behind a massive, flame-proof, weapon-repelling, destruction-preventing barrier that is reinforced with all forms of protective magic that have ever existed in all forms of fiction, non-fiction, and beyond._**

 ** _Sora: YOU MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS!_**

 ** _AN: Well how else is Roxas supposed to be created, fool?! A Nobody is created at the same time as a Heartless. Roxas is your Nobody, ergo, he can't be created without you turning into a Heartless. And the same can easily be said about Xion, since she needs to be created after Roxas is born, and by using your memories._**

 ** _Xion: Technically, only the latter of those things is really needed for me to be born, so..._**

 ** _Roxas: Oh, thanks for making me that much more important._**

 ** _Xion: Sorry, Roxas._**

 ** _AN: Anyways! Moving on, let's give it up for our girl Ahsoka, shall we?_**

 ** _[audience roaring, deafening applause]_**

 ** _Ahsoka: Awwwww. You guys are so sweet._**

 ** _AN: Hey, if the lightsaber works...I really hope I did the actions scenes including Ahsoka worked out okay. Watching a Jedi battle, be it a lightsaber duel or otherwise, are all incredible to watch, beautiful at times even, but putting into words...I just really feel like I could never really do it the same kind of justice that the movies, television, and many video games do, but I did my best, so that's all that matters, right?_**

 ** _Ven: Considering how often your best has turned out rather well, I'd say we're probably good._**

 ** _Sora: Can we please go back to the part where he MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS?!_**

 ** _AN: We're getting to that. Just give us a minute. But, back to our original topic, how many of you expected Ahsoka and Ventus to know about their respective orders, or for the Jedi to have met with and even worked/trained alongside Keyblade wielders before? It honestly makes a lot of sense if you ask me. I mean, for the most part, Keyblade wielders are often a lot like the Jedi in the sense that they fight to keep the peace and protect the worlds from darkness. I figured it would be pretty neat to have it so that they would have worked together and known about each other quite well long ago, plus it also gave me a chance to put in a little cameo mention of the Foretellers for the story._**

 ** _Ahsoka: And I'm guessing that's also part of the reason why Ven's Journal Entry for this chapter is detailing how he learned about the Jedi?_**

 ** _AN: Well, yeah, pretty much. I wanted to make it clear that Ven had learned about the Jedi, and go into a little detail regarding what his thoughts about it were when he first found out, while explaining how he knew that Ahsoka was a Jedi to begin with. Speaking of which, for those of you having trouble picturing Ahsoka's appearance, it's her second attire in The Clone Wars, with the second lightsaber and everything. So when we see her again in the next story, you can take that to mean that we're very likely to see her at some point in that part of her life._**

 ** _Ven: Wait, does that mean there's also a chance we could end up seeing her at some point during Rebels as well?_**

 ** _AN: I'll admit, I did think about that, but I feel like it would be better to go with the Clone Wars era, partly due to the fact that Rebels has just recently come to its close. Speaking of which [Spoiler warning for those of you who have not seen the finale of Star Wars Rebels yet] I really hope we get some kind of story or something that tells us about whether or not Sabine and Ahsoka were able to find Ezra, and what happened afterwards, and while I do enjoy all the ideas we've seen so far in fanfictions, I'm actually referring to the official variety. There's no way they can just leave us hanging on that matter, so..._**

 ** _Ahsoka: We get it. And I'm glad that you managed to find a way for me to mention Master Yoda and Anakin while I was summoned._**

 ** _AN: Not to mention the always-most iconic line from Star Wars as well, right?_**

 ** _Ahsoka: That too._**

 ** _AN: Well, I think we've discussed our Star Wars end of this note well enough by now. Let's get into some of the other things that happened here today. I think the most notable of those would be how Sora seemed to use some of the Keyblade abilities that Kairi has, or will have if you want to get technical. For those of you who are wondering, yes that Shotlock Sora used on Dragon-Maleficent was indeed one of Kairi's personal ones, which will be making another appearance later on, and will be getting named as well. Also, I'm sure if any of you have read Keyblades of Future Past, you remember Kairi's Unique Tier One Command Style Shooting Star as well. Someone had mentioned having Sora being able to use some of Kairi's abilities with a Keyblade in this battle a while back, and I thought that it definitely made sense for that happen here. After all, when else would things be so serious that Sora would have to go and do that, unintentionally and/or otherwise._**

 ** _Ven: What about how I got tired after casting that Reflect spell?_**

 ** _AN: Well, to be honest, it was more of the fact that you did not use the Keyblade to cast it that tired you out. You see, when Ven cast that spell, he was basically using the version that Aqua uses in BBS, aka the ability known as Barrier. As has been mentioned, Aqua could use that magic any time at will, without expending any additional magic. It made sense that on his road to becoming a master, Ven would try to learn how to do the same with some of his own spells, but it's not as easy for him here, and when you add in the little bit of magic he did to animate Metal Chocobo last chapter, it would only stand to reason that he would be a little tired afterwards._**

 ** _Sora: Okay, we've gone over all of that, from the details of Star Wars and the Jedi as they are done in this story, to my using some of Kairi's Keyblade abilities, and Ven using a defensive spell like Aqua did, now can we finally talk about how you MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS?!_**

 ** _AN: Geez, get off of that already, will you? Like I said before, Roxas can't be born without Sora falling into darkness, so that was going to happen regardless of what had changed from the canon plot, but as you can clearly see, it still happened differently in comparison. At least Sora finally found the courage to confess his feelings for Kairi before he did it._**

 ** _Kairi: Can I just say that it feels really lousy that it took Sora practically dying for him to tell me that he loved me here?  
_**

 ** _AN: You can, but it's not like you don't enjoy the fact that he admitted that._**

 ** _Kairi: [remains silent and looks away with a blush]_**

 ** _AN: Thought so. Don't worry, Sora will be back in the next chapter, and as we all saw at the end there, he's going to have a little extra help besides just Kairi this time around. Yeah, you're not dreaming. Aqua is back once again, and she's ready to do her part to help change things for the better, while tackling this story's version of the events in Birth By Sleep 0.2. Originally, I was not going to showcase this adventure playing out until after the team got back to Traverse Town in the aftermath of the first trip to Hollow Bastion, at which point we would also see a few other changes as well, regarding another character in this story. I'm sure you can all figure out who that would be, but I got to thinking that maybe it would've been a little too much to have him helping Aqua out during the entire time she was traveling through that part of Dark World. This way, you don't have to read about something you already have full knowledge of with some small changes here and there. The next time we return to Dark World after Aqua helps save Sora, we'll be going into much greater detail, because her journey will have a much more significant change, one that could most certainly change things for the better._**

 ** _Sora: Okay, now I'm really curious about that._**

 ** _AN: Too bad. You're going to have to wait a while. After all, that little moment is still a couple chapters away, and before we get there, we need to run through the conclusion of Hollow Bastion First Trip and the adventures of the next original world. Now here's a little something more to tease your excitement. It starts with me saying Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Sora seems to have fallen into darkness, but despite this, Kairi refuses to let him go so easily. She may not have a choice in the matter, because with the final Keyhole's completion, the Heartless are even more powerful and relentless than ever, and Ansem has now nearly achieved his full power, having now reappeared before the group in his true form for a moment until Riku manages to break through long enough to hold the darkness obsessed man back. Knowing that they have no chance of sealing the Keyhole in this state, Ventus leads the team in a full scale retreat from Hollow Bastion, granting Kairi with a precious gift that will make her more than just a civilian watching from the sidelines as he and the others fight, but do they truly stand a chance of escaping unscathed? And what about Sora? Is he really gone for good? Or can Aqua keep her promise to somehow help keep him from falling into darkness, or at the very least, keep him from going too far before the others can pull him back? The dramatic conclusion of the first trip to Hollow Bastion is coming, next time._**

 ** _So, like I said, I'll be hiding over here just in case anyone's upset with the little cliffhanger I left you all on. But don't worry, Part 3 will be here soon enough. Until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	19. Hollow Bastion Part 3

_**AN: You see? What did I tell you? It might have taken a little longer than I had originally intended it to, but either way, the wait was not long, because we're back again for the conclusion of this story's version of the first trip to Hollow Bastion.**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, there's definitely a reason for you all being excited, but before we get too far into things, let me take a moment to address one or two reviews, really quick.**_

 _ **First off, to "rmarcano321", I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much, but could please try to keep the stuff you say in your reviews focused on the stuff that happens in this story? Seriously, all that information that you've talked about is interesting to read about, but it's stuff that a lot of us could just read in a wiki or something, and it usually has very little to do with the actual story, so when you make the main body of your review about instances of when Ahsoka appeared in Star Wars media, how people interpret her relationship with Anakin, and a bunch of stuff that inspired her appearance, it makes me wonder if you just think that the story itself is just a side-note thing.**_

 _ **Next up to "Haxorus knight", you don't have to worry about that. Roxas &Namine will be happening in this story series. That was planned right from the start. Of course, don't think that means that Xion won't be playing an import role in the series too.**_

 _ **Namine &Xion: Yes! We're gonna be a big deal!**_

 _ **AN: Okay, girls, I love you both, really (not like Roxas and Riku though), but I need you to focus on the here and now. Or did you forget the earliest either one of you is planned to appear in this series will be in the sequel for this story, if not an epilogue for this one?**_

 ** _Namine: Sorry, but you can't blame us._**

 ** _Xion: Yeah, I mean, we haven't really gotten a chance to do very much in any of your Kingdom Hearts stories so far. I mean, you're not even anywhere near a point where we might show up in your Hearts of Avengers series, so natrually, we're gonna get a little excited._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I guess that's fair. Oh, and while we're here, just one last thing to the "Guest" of March 20, Tidus will be making his return soon, and he'll have both a new friend and a new enemy for the heroes to deal with, both of which you might find familiar if you know both your Kingdom Hearts and your Final Fantasy stuff. Just give it about one or two more chapters._**

 ** _All right, that's all I wanted to say for today, so don't let me keep you any longer. Go to the disclaimer and get on with the main story already! It's what we've all been waiting for, you know._**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XVIII**

The Grand Hall had become a lot darker all of a sudden, and it was not due to lighting or the power of darkness that was already beginning to flow out of the recently completed Keyhole. No, the room had started to become darker because a hero had just fallen, and his friends had been helpless to do anything but watch as he had sacrificed himself for the sake of both the worlds and the girl he loved. Goofy and Donald were both already crying quite a bit, while Ventus was still down on his hands and knees, mentally apologizing to both his apprentice and friends for his failure. They had been through so much with Sora, stuck by his side when things seemed to be at their bleakest, and fought together against everything that they came up against. After all the struggles, the hardships, and the victories that they had faced, they never once thought that things could have ended like this. The three were all dealing with a great deal of hurt and sorrow, but none of them were taking the loss of Sora any worse than the fourth member of this sad group.

Kairi could hardly do anything more than stare at either where Sora had previously been standing and the sky where the lights that had once been him had just vanished, her mind racing in an attempt to comprehend several different things at once. Aside from the fact that Sora had just sacrificed himself for her, the one thing that was running through her mind more than anything else were the last three words he said to her before he had stabbed himself with that horrible Keyblade. Her heart seemed to skip a beat or two when she thought about what Sora had said, but it also became so much heavier when she thought about what he had just done. She had seen Sora accomplish so much over the course of this journey, watching him from within his heart, and not once had she ever thought that something like this could have happened to him. Kairi had truly believed that when this was over, she and Sora would have been able to go back home together with Riku, and everything would return to normal, but now, she realized that dream may be impossible with Riku having fallen so far into darkness and Sora's sacrifice. It all seemed so much like a dream that had quickly become her worst nightmare, and Kairi was hardly able to bear the weight it carried.

"Sora…Are you really…" Kairi whispered, still trying to comprehend what had just happened before her very eyes. In the end though, any acceptance of the fact never came to her, but instead, a look of defiance filled her eyes as she glared upwards, clenching a fist over her heart as if to keep it from breaking. "No. He can't be! I won't him go," Kairi shouted. She then turned to the blonde who had been training her friend for so long, and asked, "Master Ventus, isn't there anything we can do to bring him back? You must know about something."

That seemed to stir Donald and Goofy out of their own sorrow, but unlike Kairi, they were not defying what they saw; they were just desperate to change it. "She's right! You must know about some way to get Sora back, right Ven," Goofy pleaded, while Donald silently asked the same.

Ventus just stared at the ground for a few more moments before he finally sat up and gave everyone a regretful look as he replied, "I'm sorry, you guys. I truly wish I knew."

"But you have to know something! Sora's our friend! We can't lose him now after everything that's happened," Donald protested.

"Don't you think if I knew of a way to reverse this I would've done it by now," Ven angrily snapped, startling the others with his ferocity. "If I knew of a way to get someone back from the darkness, then don't you think I would've used it to not only bring back Sora, but to bring back Aqua as well?!" When the others only looked at him in slight fear, Ven realized how he must have sounded just then, took a deep breath to calm down, and said, "Sorry guys. I didn't mean to snap at you like that, and I do wish I knew of a way to bring him back. But…I just…"

"He's not gone," Kairi insisted.

"Kairi, I want to believe that Sora's okay, but we all saw him…" Ventus tried to say, thinking that the girl was just going through a few stages of grief.

"I KNOW he's okay," Kairi insisted. She then placed a hand over her heart and added, "I can feel it right here. He's okay, and he's waiting for us to pull him back before it really is too late to save him."

Everyone was silent after they heard that, though mostly because they were unsure of how to respond. Was Kairi really going through a few stages of grief, or did she actually sense what she claimed to be sensing? Either one was very possible, given her nature as a Princess of Heart allowed her to sense things that others could not, but on the other hand, if she felt as strongly for Sora as they knew he did for her, then it would only be natural that she would be so insistent on denying that he was really gone. None of the other three were entirely sure which was more likely, but any option for them to respond was taken from them when someone else suddenly spoke up, getting their attention with both his voice, and the sheer amount of darkness that he exuded just from speaking.

"Ah, the eternal optimism of a Princess of Heart. It is almost as refreshing as seeing that you have awakened at last, Princess," the deep, dark voice noted, and it was at that point that the speaker fully appeared before them from a cloud of shadows, revealing a very intimidating individual to them all, both in terms of appearance and feeling. The man in question had dark, tanned skin and long white hair, while his attire easily reflected his dark nature. The most noticeable part of his attire was the black leather, high-collared coat that was left unzipped to show how it was red on the inside and lined with yellow trim, while underneath this jacket, one could see a shorter, white jacket that was also high-collared. The white coat was mostly unbuttoned and allowed one to see the man's chest before closing up with three buttons and two belts near his waist, only to flare out again due to the remaining buttons being undone. On his hands was a pair of silver-white gloves, each with a gray wrist band, while black pauldrons rested on his shoulders, each attached to the coat by two straps. Rounding out his ensemble was a pair of black pants and black, silver-lined, knee-high boots, but what really got everyone's attention was how the Heartless emblem appeared to be firmly planted on his chest, even if some of them thought that it was probably just an extra decoration for his coat. For Ventus though, the one thing that he recognized far more easily than anything else was the man's amber-orange eyes, and seeing them immediately drew a hateful glare on the individual before him.

"Ansem," Goofy gulped, already starting to deduce that this was the individual that Sora and Ventus had just defeated. Or at least, they thought they had.

"Indeed," the Seeker of Darkness confirmed. "As you can see, I am not so easily bested."

"You…You don't," Ventus suddenly started to mutter, shaking a little as he did, and drawing concern from the others, while Ansem merely quirked an eyebrow at him in curiosity. Finally, Ventus seemed to snap, as he immediately resummoned Guardian Wind and charged Ansem with a vicious glare firmly on his face, all the while shouting, "You don't deserve to call yourself by that name, and you're going to pay for what you've done…XEHANORT!"

While the rest of the blonde's friends froze a little at hearing the name he just shouted, the Seeker of Darkness merely smirked at Ventus, even as he leaped into the air and swung at Ansem. Ven's strike never reached its mark though, but instead struck some form of invisible dark barrier, which held him there for a moment before it finally blasted the blonde away, nearly sending him flying clear across the room. Donald and Goofy were instantly rushing over to Ven's side, while Kairi could only turn back and forth between the Keyblade master and their enemy in shock at what had just happened, trying to comprehend that it did happen. Ventus on the other hand was now slowly rising into a sitting position again, panting hard as he did, and it was clear that Ansem knew why that was the case just as much as he did.

"So, you really do know my true name. A shame though, that you cannot keep your word on that promise since you have exhausted your powers in that last fight," Ansem mused with a grin, while Ventus just growled in reluctant acknowledgement, showing that the villain was right about him being so tired. Even with the Elixir he had drank earlier, Ventus was still really tired from the previous battle and could not really do anything in a fight against Ansem on his own. Ansem then turned his attention back to both the group at large and Kairi in particular as he declared, "The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose, Princess, but now it's over, and you have become something that could potentially be a problem."

"What do you mean," Kairi asked, but she did not really need an answer since one had already wormed its way into her head. Since she was a Princess of Heart, and she and the other six had been so instrumental in opening the Keyhole to darkness, it made sense that she and the others could somehow hold some power to keep it from causing much damage, even if only for a short while. Add in the fact that she was a future Keyblade wielder, even if Ansem did not know that, and there was no doubt in Kairi's mind on why the dark being would want to get rid of her.

Fortunately, Sora was not the only friend she had that was willing to risk their lives so she would be safe, and two of those friends were already rushing to stand in front of her, ready to fight. "Don't make another move," Donald ordered as he brandished his staff while Goofy readied his shield, though it was obvious that he was not quite as confident about their chances as he tried to sound.

Goofy on the other hand made it no secret that he was worried as he whispered to his friends, "Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves, and while Ven's not at his best?"

"I don't know," Donald admitted, mentally adding that he wished that Sora was here right now. That wish only grew stronger as Ansem just gave a short chuckle in response to Donald's threat and began to approach the four, fully intent on finishing them all off.

"Whether we can or not doesn't matter," Ventus panted as he slowly stood up, readying his Keyblade again as he moved to stand in front of Kairi. "We can't let him harm Kairi or do anything with that Keyhole. But if we are going to go down, we might as well go down fighting, and while making sure that this creep doesn't walk out of here unscathed."

While they were not too fond of the idea of going down, Donald and Goofy did admit that they were in agreement with Ventus on at least making sure they would put up a fight before they were beaten, and better yet, one that would see to it that Ansem was weakened somehow. Still, the blonde's confidence was not quite enough to ease their worries as Ansem drew closer and closer with each step, and Kairi could tell from the look in Ven's eyes that he was just as worried as the rest of them were. They were going to need a miracle if they wanted to get out of here alive, and thankfully, they received one thanks to a friend.

Ansem was about halfway to the team when suddenly froze in his tracks for some reason. A minute later, they all heard him grunting and his body shook like he was struggling against some unseen restraints, while a disbelieving look crossed his face as he tried to comprehend what was happening. When he finally figured out what was preventing him from reaching the four, Ansem's eyes widened a small fraction as he gasped, "Impossible…"

The team was a bit confused as to why Ansem appeared to be fighting with himself, but a minute later, their confusion was quickly replaced with both surprise and slight understanding. Out of all of them, only Kairi could smile a little when she saw a faint image of Riku suddenly appearing in front of Ansem, his arms wide as a show of how he was trying to hold back the one who had possessed his body. "No," Riku growled, showing that he was straining just as much as Ansem, but at the same time, he was not willing to give any ground. "You won't use me for this!"

"Riku," Kairi called out, ready to rush towards him until she was stopped by Ven's arm. She immediately looked to the blonde as if to question why he would not let her pass, but her answer ended up being a look that made it clear that he was trying to remind her of Riku's current state at the moment and how dangerous it made the boy right now. Still, Kairi was not going to just stand there and not try to reach her friend. "Riku, push him out of you! I know you can do it, and so did Sora! Fight him!"

"I'm trying…But he's too strong," Riku grunted. His expression then became panicked as he turned back to Kairi and the others and shouted, "You've got to run! The Heartless are coming!"

"Can't you stop them like you are him," Ventus asked, hoping the boy did still retained some of his control over the dark creatures.

Sadly, the Keyblade master's hopes were quickly dashed when Riku shook his head. "Any power I had over the Heartless is now Ansem's, and it's taking everything I've got just to keep him from getting to you guys. Please, just get out of here while I can still hold him." None of the group seemed to move, and Riku could sense that the Heartless were going to start appearing at any minute, so he leveled on last pleading look at the blonde before him and shouted, "Please, get at least one of my friends to safety while you can, Master Ventus! I've already had to watch this guy play a part in destroying one of my best friends, but I refuse to let him take them both!"

Hearing Riku finally refer to him the way he had would have been enough of a sign on its own, but that second statement was what really showed Ventus that the boy truly regretted what he had done up until now and was trying to make up for it the only way he could at the moment. Knowing this, Ventus saw that he had no other option but to grant Riku's request, but the sudden appearance of several Shadows all around them was a great motivator as well. Add in the fact that more and more were slowly forming as well, and Ven could only nod in response to Riku before he turned to his friends and grabbed Kairi's hand so that he could start leading them away.

Kairi was not as accommodating at the moment though, and she proved it by pulling her hand free from Ven's grasp and glaring up at him as she said, "I'm not leaving yet! Not if there's a chance to help Sora and Riku."

"We won't be able to do anything for them right now. If we stay here we'll be overrun by the Heartless in no time. The best thing we can do for them right now is fall back and come up with a plan for later," Ven tried to reason with the girl. His words did seem to start getting through to Kairi, but for the most part, she was still staring at him defiantly, proving that she was willing to stand and fight if she had to, and while anyone else would have gotten frustrated by such stubbornness, Ventus could only smile in relief as he reached into his pocket and added one final comment. "If you really want to do more than just run though, I think it might be best if you had a way of defending yourself better. So, I guess it's a good thing I've got just what you'll need to do that."

A minute later, Kairi and the others watched as Ventus produced a Keychain from his pocket with a red silken chain and a token that looked identical to a paopu fruit, much to Kairi's surprise. Donald and Goofy were not entirely sure what Ventus was planning to do with that, but the widening of her eyes showed that Kairi at least had an idea. Still, one of the two Disney Town natives had to ask him all the same, and Donald ended up being the one to do so. "What're you gonna do with that?"

"I told Sora earlier that Keyblade Masters can awaken a Keyblade that's resting inside of a Keychain for a couple of different reasons, like to act as a substitute for another wielder's Keyblade if it were ever lost to them, or so that they could pass it on to someone who would be worthy of that particular Keyblade," Ventus explained to his friends while gazing down at the Keychain he held with a bit of fondness. "This Keychain in particular was one that belonged to Aqua long ago, but she had left it behind shortly before she had left to try and find Terra in the hopes that someone she trusted would see that it would reach its rightful wielder someday. And I think that I've just found that very person."

Ventus then closed his eyes, focusing as hard as he could so that he could conjure the same spell that he had used earlier to animate Metal Chocobo for Sora, and a moment later, the Keyblade that accompanied this Keychain sprang forth, shining and glittering brightly after it had, while the others could only gaze at it in awe. In truth, the Keyblade seemed to be rather harmless in terms of actual appearance, and had a kind of girly design to it with its round and curvaceous frame. One side of the hilt formed the shape of a breaking ocean wave, while the other side formed a beige vine of sand that wrapped around the shaft. The shaft itself was colored to resemble a sunset, and the teeth were formed by a bouquet of colorful flowers that were entwined to form a heart, and connected to the same vine of sand. Goofy thought it looked pretty, while Donald could only smack his head in disbelief that his friend would summon forth such a weapon, but it was Kairi's reaction that Ventus was most focused on. While the girl did seem to think that this Keyblade was rather harmless and not likely to be of much use at first, he could tell from the look in her eyes that she thought the Keyblade was rather significant and beautiful, and with the way she was staring at it, Ven just knew that she could sense what he had the moment he had summoned it forth from the Keychain: this Keyblade was calling to the girl, proving what he suspected with ease.

Ventus then held the Keyblade out to Kairi and said, "Here, take it."

"What," Kairi gasped.

"This Keyblade is one that Aqua received on her first trip to Radiant Garden. She told me that she believed that it was meant for a very special person she had met there. If I'm right, I think she was referring to you," Ventus reasoned. When he saw how hesitant the girl was, he immediately added on, "You can sense it calling to you, right? That alone is proof that it's meant to be yours. Take it and speak its name, and you'll know for certain as well."

Kairi hesitated for another moment, but eventually, she nodded in understanding and grasped the handle of the Keyblade in her hands. In an instant, she felt a surge of light and power flow through her, and the Keyblade seemed to sense it as well, because it glowed brightly before flashing once more as if to confirm that it was here to stay. After studying the Keyblade for another minute, Kairi finally nodded and said, "I guess this time…I'LL fight too, and with Destiny's Embrace right at my side."

Ventus nodded in satisfaction, seeing as this had just proved what he already knew, and he immediately summoned Guardian Wind once again, and slashed through a Heartless that just tried to get the jump on them before it could harm any of them. He was especially glad that it had been some time since he had animated Metal Chocobo for Sora, because if it had not, he would have been completely useless in any fights right now, and at the moment, he knew that they were going to have to fight in order to escape. "All right, enough chit-chat. Let's get out of here," Ventus ordered, and they all immediately made a mad-dash for the exit, slashing and blasting any Heartless that tried to get in their way as they did, but not before Ventus exchanged one last, quick nod with Riku, which he was happy to see returned by the boy.

As they reached the entrance to the Grand Hall, they all quickly took note of how both Beast and princesses were all no longer present there, but they had no time to wonder about where they had all gone. If they stopped for anything right now with the Heartless right behind them, they knew that they would get overrun, so they kept going. Seeing the empty pods that the princesses were in before did remind Goofy about something else though, and he was not going to wait before bringing that topic up.

"What about the Keyhole," the knight hollered to his friends, slowing down but not stopping in their fleeing of the room.

"It's too late to try and seal it now! We'll all be consumed by the Heartless if we were to stop and attempt sealing it," Ventus informed his friend, inwardly cursing himself for letting what happened to Sora distract him from such an important matter.

"Let's just get out of here! We can worry about the rest later," Donald shouted, to which Kairi agreed with a nod, and they all immediately picked up their pace, with Ventus and Donald pausing for a moment to discourage too much pursuit with a few quick blasts of magic.

As they were running, none of them ever seemed to realize that something very odd was happening at the place where Sora had fallen. Not many people would have been able to so much as notice or even really see it, but for anyone who could, it almost seemed like a very small, black hole had formed in the floor, and something appeared to be struggling inside of it a little in an attempt to get out. Whatever that thing was though, it was hard to really say at the moment, but that was likely to change at any second.

* * *

 _"Please, let me make it in time,"_ Aqua mentally pleaded as she continued running through Dark World, only taking a mild notice of how her surroundings had started to change. It was not until she was well within tropical surroundings that she finally bean to observe the details a little more closely, and she had to sigh to herself when she recognized it as another place she had been to in what was quickly beginning to feel like a lifetime ago. From what she could tell, this place was made up of the remains of Luau Paradise, a world where another friend of hers had ended up on after escaping captivity and had eventually found him a family, and thinking of the little blue alien by the name of Stitch brought a small smile to Aqua's face. She remembered how so many thought the poor little guy was a dangerous creature, but thanks to her and her best friends, Stitch had quickly started changing for the better. You needed no more proof of that than Aqua's memory of how Stitch had made his own Wayfinder after seeing Terra's and hearing how his friend had given to him, or of how happy Stitch seemed to be after she said that he could be part of her circle of friends.

The nostalgic look on her face remained for a minute, until Aqua finally shook her head in an effort to push those thoughts aside, quickly reminding herself that now was not the time to be getting swept up in old memories again even if they were very precious and happy ones. An old friend needed her help right now, and from what she could tell, his light was somewhere in this area. She just needed to figure out where. Sure, this was not the same Sora that had helped her to rebuild the broken bond between her and her friends, but she could tell that it was the one who was just a small boy from Destiny Islands when she met him, and if she were to judge by the strength of his light, she would guess that he had now gained a Keyblade. She was not entirely sure how that was the case since she knew she had not passed the power onto him when they met, but that did not matter right now. All that mattered was that Sora should not be here, and she was going to make sure he did not stay in this place for long. Besides, she already saved a friend from falling into this place once before, so it would not be a problem for her to do so again, even if it was by a different means than the first time.

There was just one small problem with what she was having to do right now. "How is it that I haven't been able to find him yet," Aqua questioned aloud. "Seriously, aside from the Princesses of Heart, this kid's light shines brighter than that of anyone else that I've ever met. Well, maybe not brighter than Mickey's, but definitely close to that if not exactly as bright. Either way, with a heart that shines so brightly with light, it should not be that hard to find him in this place. It's a powerful light in a world of darkness and that literally has darkness in its name. How could it possibly be so hard to find out exactly where he is?"

Aqua had in fact been searching for Sora's light for a while now, ever since she had rushed away from the ruins of Cinderella's world, and the whole time she was going, she had been following the boy's light as best as she could. The main problem was that Dark World was like an ever-changing maze that was always shifting in some strange, and twisted, unpredictable way. There was no set path to anywhere in the place, and anything that resembled a main road never stayed as such for long before changing again, ultimately leading any who traveled that path in several circles if they were not mindful of where they stepped. Add in the fact that the surroundings were practically unchanging most of the time, and anyone would easily get lost in here without something to act as a kind of guidepost. Aqua was lucky that she had a few things to lead her where she wanted to go up until now, with the light of Sora's heart being the most recent thing for her to follow, but just following one specific thing did not mean that the way to reach it was a straight path. There were always several twists, turns, and barriers that one would have to navigate their way around if they wanted to reach their destination, and if it were any other time, Aqua would have been able to remain patient as she figured out whatever puzzle lay before her. This time was different though, because a friend's life was on the line, and she did not want to be too late in saving him before he was trapped here with her.

Aqua was soon distracted from her thoughts when she noticed a few tiki heads were lining the path she was currently on. It was an odd thing to be distracted by and she likely would have paid them little mind, but it was impossible not to notice them when she saw their expressions slowly change out of the corner of her eye. Eventually, the each of the mouths on the large tiki heads opened wide and began releasing massive fireballs at her or into the path in front of her, and it was only out of well-honed instinct and quick thinking that Aqua had managed to cartwheel out of the way before she was burnt to a crisp. An instant later, she had summoned Master's Defender to her hand and began swinging the Keyblade at some of the fireballs so that they would be deflected back to where they came from whenever she was not able to raise a Barrier around her that would have kept her safe.

After spinning on her heel to avoid another fireball, Aqua quickly released a quick burst of Blizzaga to create an icy path on the ground ahead of her, and then jumped on top of the ice so that she could be carried forward at a much faster speed. When she had landed upon the ice, her body instantly lit up with a blue aura of magic, indicating that she had activated the powers of the Keyblade ability Flowmotion. It was a very advanced technique that she did not really use too often before since she had her armor, Keyblade Glider, and friends by her side most of the time, but since she had sacrificed her armor and original Keyblade to save Terra, Aqua found that she was having to rely on this ability quite a bit. Besides, in this place, Aqua could not afford to hold anything back, so a powerful ability like Flowmotion was definitely necessary for both her survival and for getting anywhere fast, be it so that she could escape from danger, or so that she could enter a battle with a powerful impact. Add in the fact that using Flowmotion helped to enhance her attacks and kept her from being seriously harmed by enemy attacks to a slight degree, and Aqua sometimes had to wonder why she did not use it a bit more often before during the journey she had shared with her friends. That was usually followed by the reminder that she had not quite mastered using Flowmotion back then, and if anyone had seen the aura of the ability back then compared to now, they would have known it too.

You see, when one is using Flowmotion, it is always easy to tell if they have mastered the ability or not based off the color of the aura the wielder's body is surrounded in after activating the ability. When a person first starts using and practicing with Flowmotion, their aura is a magenta color that would sometimes be accompanied by two orbiting lights of the same color. However, if they have mastered it, then the aura surrounding them would hold a distinctive blue color, which served as proof of their accomplishment. To this day, Aqua would never forget how frustrated she would get with learning this particular ability as she practiced at the Land of Departure, often times on her own or with either Master Eraqus or Ventus, the former because he was the one who first told her about the ability and helped her in figuring out how to use it, and the latter because he would often be a great pillar of support if she ever got discouraged. Sure, Ventus had a few moments when he helped to figure out how to better use Flowmotion, but for the most part, it was Eraqus that had really helped the most in her getting a handle on the rather difficult ability. Needless to say, despite all of the efforts she had put into mastering this technique, it was not until after Aqua had fallen into this place that she had finally managed to master Flowmotion, and the irony of how someone who fought to keep the light safe had mastered such an incredible power while lost in the Realm of Darkness was not lost on Aqua for a minute.

That said, Aqua was certainly not going to complain about how she had mastered any of her powers if they kept her alive, and especially not right now, because being able to create a trail of ice to Rail Slide across before leaping into the air to Wall Kick from one surface to another in order to speed up her travels was definitely proving to be a great assistance in helping her to reach any destination that she was having difficulty getting too, or was just very far away from her. Said actions were exactly what she was executing at this very moment, using the tiki heads to Wall Kick off of so that she could speed up her race over to where she had sensed Sora's heart. She could not keep up her Flowmotion-enhanced rush forever though, because it did wear off after a short time if one did not chain another action to it, but with all the enemies around, Aqua did not have to worry about it ending at a bad time. Each time she encountered the creatures of darkness that called this place home, she somehow always managed to make it so that she was landing with a Flowmotion Attack that would destroy all if not a large majority of them, usually making any ensuing fight easier for her. This was not a pattern that could continue indefinitely, but considering that these creatures were slow to learn and acted like animals, Aqua was not too worried about having to change up and improvise any of her strategies very often.

For some reason though, there were not too many of the dark creatures in this area, which left Aqua a bit mystified. Everywhere she had turned in Dark World was crawling with these living shadows with beady yellow eyes, so why was it that this area was so vacant of them? Could it be that they were frightened by the powerful light that was slowly entering this place? Aqua immediately dismissed that theory, because if that were the case, they would probably have left her alone for the most part. Aqua did not want to sound like she was bragging, but she did like to think that her heart and the light it held within were both very strong, and the fact that she had not succumbed to the darkness in this place yet served as proof of that for her, and yet, the creatures were constantly hounding her, ambushing her at moments when she was so certain that she would be able to stop and rest for a moment. Time may not flow in this place, but that did not mean that Aqua did not get tired from walking and fighting almost nonstop. The only thing that made sense to her about why she had not met any of the creatures yet was that they were all gathering around Sora's light, likely believing that he was easy-pickings at the moment, and that theory served to spurn her onward even faster than before.

Eventually, Aqua came to a wide open beach that was no doubt very beautiful once with bright sunny skies and a wonderful ocean, and she had to chuckle a little to herself upon realizing that Sora's light was closer to her than ever. "I guess it only makes sense that his heart would end up here," Aqua noted aloud, her small laughter not quite fading yet. "His world is an island as well, and he definitely seemed like the type to enjoy playing on the beach with his friends."

All amusement quickly left Aqua when she laid on eyes on several creatures of darkness scrambling over one another to reach a large, bright orb of light, and Aqua immediately knew that she had found what she was looking for at last. She may not have been able to tell it was him because of outward appearances, but the warm feeling she sensed from this light was all the indication that Aqua needed to know that this was in fact Sora, and seeing these creatures were attacking him, or at the very least attempting to attack him, Aqua saw no reason to just stand here and let them go unpunished, even as she started towards them with a calm, steady walk. Her pace soon started to quicken a little more, namely after she had summoned her master's Keyblade once again, and she was soon breaking into a full run when she saw the creatures finally take notice of her, leading to some breaking off so that they could attack her instead of the approaching light.

"If you want him, then you'll have to go through me," Aqua shouted at the monsters, punctuating that point by slashing Master's Defender through the closest shadow, destroying it in a single blow. She immediately spun around and slashed through another three that were already preparing to pounce, and then batted away another one so that she could have enough distance between her and it to safely cast Firaga in order to destroy it. This place may have been the home turf of the dark creatures, giving them more power than they would have in the Realm of Light, but after wandering for so long, and fighting so many of them as she did, Aqua was proving to not be an easy opponent for them.

Apparently, the rest of the creatures soon realized this, because they all soon abandoned their attempts on getting to Sora, and turned their full attention to Aqua. The young woman had no problems with that, because it meant that she did not have to keep track of two different groups of enemies with different objectives now, but it did make her fight a little more difficult since she was not just fighting the small Shadows anymore. Now, she was taking on the larger, more humanoid versions, which she had come to call NeoShadows, the winged ones that struck from the air that she had dubbed as Flutterings, and the three elemental based enemies that looked like large orbs that were mixed together with whatever elements that they used in battle against her, or at least, two of them used elements against her. The two that fought her with elemental attacks were what she had dubbed as the Water Core and Fire Core, and as the names suggested, they used the elements of fire and water to fight with. She had mainly named the third one as Earth Core because of how it appeared to be partially made up of rocks, which left most of its body invulnerable save for the face. Getting hit by Earth Cores was not something she had any desire for either, considering how often she was left stunned by the things and left open for any other enemies to take advantage of.

Still, it did not matter if she was fighting a small group, an entire army, or the most powerful of all the monsters in this dark place. Aqua was not going to let anything stand in her way if it meant keeping someone from falling into this place with her. This moment while he was still only beginning to enter the realm was Aqua's only chance to keep Sora from falling all the way into the Realm of Darkness, and no matter what she had to go through, she would not fail him. She made this point especially clear when she finally did something that had not happened in years: she activated one of her personal Command Styles: Spellweaver. The moment the creatures of darkness saw her unleash her Unique Command Style, they all seemed to pause for a moment, proving their animalistic nature by pausing at the sight of something that could be considered a very powerful threat, but they soon went on the attack again, not knowing that Aqua was more than ready for them now.

In mere moments, Aqua was gliding across the battlefield, spinning her Keyblade through the air via light magic, which proved to destroy several of her opponents at a time. As she continued fighting, Aqua could not help but notice how the number of hits she could land in a single combo had increased since she had last used the ability, while the actual strikes were now coming much faster than before. She was not sure if it was a sign of her abilities being able to slowly grow stronger due to their long period of inactivity or something else, but Aqua was definitely not complaining, because it was making the fight all the more easier. Nearing the end of each combo, Aqua would vary between just spinning the Keyblade out in a rapid spin at the Heartless or just calling it back to her hand so that she could fire an orb of light magic into a large group, which she noticed was decidedly larger than before, but the mystery of any other changes to her impressive abilities was put on hold when she felt the energies reach their all time maximum, indicating that it was time to either enter a Tier Two Command Style, or simply unleash the finisher for this one. Aqua decided that it would be better to finish this fight now, and entering another Command Style here would not help with that, so her next move was very clear to her.

"Command Style: Spellweaver Finisher," Aqua shouted, and in an instant later, she had thrust her Keyblade up into the air while she started spinning around on the tips of her toes, and a magical aura erupted from the Keyblade to descend down around her spinning form like a powerful whirlwind of energy. It was at this point that Aqua noticed that the finisher for her Unique Tier One Command Style had also changed a little as well, because a large ice crystal suddenly started to slowly form above her head, and then shattered after she came out of her final spin, bringing a very explosive finish to her technique when it did that saw an end to the remaining creatures of darkness. Aqua took a minute to catch her breath and study where her opponents had previously been for a minute, before she finally smiled to herself and said, "Well, I guess even some magic abilities can grow and change when given a chance to rest for a time. I'm definitely not complaining about it either."

With the battle finished, Aqua quickly dismissed her Keyblade and ran over to the orb of light. When she was close enough, Aqua closed her eyes and held a hand out towards it, focusing her senses just to make sure that she was not wrong in her earlier assumption, and found herself smiling a little, despite the circumstances when she recognized that it was Sora's heart. When that confirmation, Aqua immediately looked up to see that a dark portal was still present a short distance above the orb, and that it was one that only Sora's heart could pass through, so she did not kid herself into thinking that she could hitch a ride out of this place with it. Instead, she focused on using whatever spell she could think of to push the boy's heart back up through the portal it had come from, even going so far as to use her Keyblade to try and bat it out. Nothing she tried seemed to work though, and Aqua was beginning to think she had gotten here too late. Then she reminded herself that the Sora she had met would not give in so easily, and if the portal for him to get out was still there, it meant he was still fighting, so she could not give up just yet. She just needed to think of something that would give him the extra push he needed.

In the end, she found herself just talking to his heart in an attempt to keep it from drowning into the darkness. "Come on, Sora," Aqua encouraged. "If you can hear me, then you can't give up just yet. You've still got so much to do on the other side, and your friends still need you over there. All the worlds need you to be their hero, their light in the deepest darkness, and most importantly of all their friend who never gives up on others. I know you can still get back, so go on and do what you do best: beat the odds and rise up out of the darkest so that you can shine brighter than anyone else ever could."

Apparently, Aqua's words had something of an effect, because the orb that represented Sora's heart suddenly paused in its descent before slowly starting to move again, only this time it was going upwards to the portal. Taking that to mean that she was getting through to him, Aqua pressed on, cheering, "That's it, Sora! You can do it, just keep going and don't give up. Don't lose faith and keep believing that you can get back. Kairi and the others are all waiting for you! NOW GO!"

That last sentence was what finally did it, or maybe it was just mentioning Kairi's name that did, but it did not matter either way, as Sora's heart suddenly shot off towards the portal like a rocket, and Aqua had to smile a little when it finally disappeared through the portal, no doubt emerging on the other side where it needed to be. What happened to Sora's heart next was not something that Aqua could be entirely certain of, but she somehow knew that he would be okay now. After all, like she said, he had friends waiting for him on the other side, just like she did. Seeing Sora's heart escape from the darkness helped Aqua to gather her courage once again, and rekindle her belief that she would soon find a way out of here. All that she had to do now was turn and start walking again, and she immediately did just that, feeling that she would be ready for whatever Dark World threw at her next. Besides, if she could get two friends out of this place, finding a way out for herself should not be that difficult, right?

Meanwhile, at the very same moment, a single Shadow had materialized in Hollow Bastion, right out from the black hole in the floor that had unknowingly appeared in the wake of Ventus, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy's retreat. It did not stay there for long though, but instead began chasing after the four, not to attack them like the others of its kind, but for a much different purpose that it did not entirely understand. All it knew was that it needed to reach the four before any of the other Heartless did, and so that it could make sure that they were safe.

* * *

Getting out of the Grand Hall and back through the castle chapel again was fairly simple for the four retreating heroes, but when they reached the lift-stop, they were met with very unfortunate news. Nearly every one of the elevators had been shut down due to several emergency systems in the castle being activated, and as far as they could tell, the only ones that were working were the ones closest to the entrance hall. Seeing that they were cornered, Goofy quickly put in a call to the gummi ship and asked for Chip and Dale to teleport them out, but that turned out to be no good. Apparently, the Keyhole to darkness had unleashed so much power and dark energies that the ship was not able to get a proper fix on the team while they were still inside or even too close to the castle, so the only way they were going to get back onto the _Kingdom_ would be to get out of the castle and as far away from it as possible. That did not seem like something they were going to be able to do though, because they were going to need to get all the way back down to the entrance hall if they were going to reach such a position, and without the elevators, they had no way of doing so. At least, none that would be considered safe or very sane.

Looking down over the railings, Ventus saw an opening that he was hoping they would not have to consider, but given the fast approaching Heartless, and how many of them were likely to try and cut them off from the other direction, it looked like they had no choice. "We're going to have to jump for it," the blonde called out to the others just as Donald had blasted another Darkball with Firaga.

Everyone instantly spun around to fix Ventus with looks that were all clearly asking if he had lost his mind, be it through comically wide eyes, jaws that had dropped to the floor, or even both. "That's crazy! We'd never survive," Goofy protested, and he knew what he was talking about since he went through several near-death falls quite a bit back in the day and even now.

"Besides, we can't use Glide like you and Kairi can," Donald pointed out as he gestured between himself and Goofy.

Kairi was quickly fixing Donald a look of annoyance when she informed him, "Just because Sora could use magic abilities like Glide or High Jumping doesn't mean that I can use them too! Even if I was inside of Sora's heart and watching him learn how to use them for nearly this entire adventure."

This argument would have gone a little further had Ventus not whistled for attention after blasting away a Wyvern with a quick blast of Aerora. "Even at this height, it wouldn't be safe to use Glide to reach an area that we could teleport up from. We're too high up to reach that distance without having to circle back around several times over, and we'd be left wide open to attack while we were airborne," Ventus informed them. "Besides, we just need to drop down to some of the lower levels of the castle, and I can cushion our fall with some wind magic. In case you guys haven't noticed, the balconies of this castle tend to stick out quite a bit, and one of the lowest ones leads to a direct path through the lift-stop and back into the entrance hall."

Everyone had to admit that they could see what Ven was thinking now, but that did not mean that they liked the idea any better. They probably would have tried to suggest some other ideas had they not heard several Heartless barreling towards them at that very moment. Seeing as they had no other choice, they all nodded to each and immediately rushed over to the nearest edge so they could be ready to jump. Ventus was about to tell them where they should jump and aim for as they fell, but Donald and Goofy ended up being too hasty out of panic and leapt over the side at a random point, not really thinking about where they should be aiming. "No, wait! Not yet you blockheads," Ventus shouted a little too late, much to his chagrin. He then simply sighed, "Like I said before, this charging ahead thing is going to get them into trouble."

"Well we can't just stand here now while they're falling," Kairi informed him, taking a deep breath so that she would be ready for the big plunge.

"No, we can't," Ventus confirmed, and a moment later, he and Kairi had leapt over the balcony as well. While the redhead did as much as she could to make sure she would not fall too fast, Ven had tucked his arms in and made sure that he fell fast enough to get ahead of Donald and Goofy. When he finally reached the two, he signaled them both to try and direct their falls so that they would be closer to his position, and then maneuvered himself over to where he believed would be the ideal place for them to land.

The two warriors of Disney Town must have gotten Ven's message, because they had quickly redirected themselves so that they were as close to falling along the same path as their blonde friend, and a moment later, Kairi was right behind the three as well. When he saw one of the lower balconies approaching them, Ventus immediately angled his body so that his descent would start slowing a little more, and quickly cast a bit of wind magic beneath them to ensure that they would land safely. When they reached the balcony, only Ventus and Kairi had landed on their feet, while Donald and Goofy both fell flat on their faces, much to the amusement of the two Keybearers. It took a minute for the two highly animated fighters to shake off any disorientation their drop had left them in, but they were soon on their feet again in no time and quickly making their way towards the door that lead to the lift stop.

Just as they were about to go through, Goofy suddenly thought of something and asked, "Hey Ven, why didn't you just summon Tinker Bell so we could fly down?"

"I would have if I could, but that battle with Xeha…I mean, Ansem, coupled with conjuring forth Destiny's Embrace from its Keychain has seriously exhausted most of my magic," Ventus informed him. "If I'm not careful with how I cast a lot of my regular spells, aside from stuff like the wind magic I used just now or some of the other most basic spells, I'll be drained to the point that I'll be lucky to be able to so much as summon or dismiss my Keyblade."

The others all nodded in understanding of this. After all, Ventus may be a Keyblade Master, but he did have several limits that proved he was not invincible, but they were still left wondering about his earlier slip of the tongue. This was now nearly the second time that Ven had referred to Ansem by a different name, and if they had to guess, it was likely going to be the same one as before. They all knew that Ventus had accused Ansem of being someone else before that last battle the blonde had fought alongside of Sora, and when they thought about it, Ansem had not denied Ven's accusations either. Rather, the Seeker of Darkness had seemed to revel in the fact that someone actually knew his "true name," as he had claimed it to be. They would have to wonder on that more later, because even after losing most of their pursuers, they still had several Heartless standing between them and the way out of the castle.

Now that they were not fighting swarms of Heartless that were coming from all directions, Ventus took the time to study Kairi's abilities with the Keyblade, and to be honest, he could definitely tell that she had been paying quite a bit of attention to Sora's lessons while she was inside of his heart. Her form was very close to Sora's and was relatively strong as well, but Ven could already see quite a few flaws in it as well. For one thing, Kairi was obviously trying too hard to go for more power than she was capable of in her strikes, no doubt in an attempt to emulate the way that her two best friends fought, when in his opinion, she should be going for more precision and agility in her fighting, being much more, naturally flexible than Sora or Riku. Then again, he was probably basing this idea off of how he saw Aqua fight in comparison to him and Terra, but as he continued to study Kairi, Ven could definitely see that she was not meant to go for a strong-hand approach in the area swordplay. He made a note of helping her to work on that later when they had a better chance, but for right now, her current approach would have to do, and it did seem to be working for the most part, when she did not accidentally overextend herself and nearly end up falling on her face a few times. Thankfully, she did not actually fall, but instead managed to tuck into a roll before jumping up and landing a quick hit or two on an approaching enemy, showcasing the flexibility that he knew should be worked into her fights.

While Kairi's swordplay did leave a bit to be desired, her magic was an entirely different story. Barely even a Keyblade wielder for that long, and the girl was already casting spells like it was as easy as breathing. Not only that, but Kairi even went the extra mile and started to cast some of the more advanced levels of the three basic spells in short order as well. It was nothing as spectacular or advanced as Firaga, Blizzaga, or Thundaga, but the fact that she could manage casting spells like Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara without needing to practice that much was certainly impressive. Ven was not sure if Kairi had spent some of her time in Sora's heart discovering her own magic source after she had gone through her Dive to the Heart, or if it had something to do with her nature as a Princess of Heart, but he could clearly see that Kairi had a natural talent for magic, just like the blue haired Keyblade master that Ven knew had passed the power onto Kairi, even if it was unintentional. Knowing this, Ventus could not help but wonder just how good of a teacher he could really be for Kairi, assuming he did take her on as an apprentice now, because he knew that, while his own magic was not lacking in any way, shape, or form, it was still not an area he excelled in to a great extent.

The blonde quickly shook those thoughts out of his head, knowing that now was not the time to be thinking about whether or not he would be taking on a new apprentice for multiple reasons. For one thing, he had just lost his first apprentice right before his eyes, and said apprentice was not only Kairi's best friend but the boy she doubtlessly loved, especially if her reaction to the loss of Sora was anything to go by. Asking her to be his new apprentice now would definitely have been in bad taste, and likely would have made Kairi think that he was trying to replace Sora with her. That would also no doubt give her a bad opinion of him, even if she did know a bit about him from her time watching the adventure going on from within Sora's heart, and Ventus did not want her to think anymore negatively of him than she probably already did. Kairi may not have said it, and likely never would, but even if she was a Princess of Heart, she could still place blame for the loss of someone she cared about on someone if she believed they held some small bit of responsibility, and the fact that Ven had been unable to stop Sora from using the Keyblade of Heart on himself, or bring the kid back afterwards made him feel like he deserved to be blamed for that. Add in the fact that they were currently in the middle of trying to escape from the Heartless and Hollow Bastion, and all other reasons pretty much spoke for themselves at that point.

Ventus was soon reminded of the situation when they finally reached made it through the Heartless that had appeared in front of them and reached the entrance hall, proving that they were nearly home free, but just as they had descended the stairs, the blonde and his two friends quickly took notice of the fact that Kairi was not next to them. They all panicked and started to think that they had lost track of her during the fight, but they quickly calmed down when they saw her at the top of the stairs, though she was not making any moves to join them on the lower floor so they could escape. "Kairi, hurry," Goofy urged.

"We can't stay here," Donald quickly added on.

Kairi made no moves to grant their requests, but instead just held her ground and said, "No, I won't leave them behind."

Ventus knew that she was referring to Sora and Riku, and he admired her determination to stay and try to help her friends, but he also knew that there was nothing that could be done for either one of them right now. Of course, he knew that chances of saving Riku were now much better than getting Sora back, but he was not going to tell Kairi that when she was so insistent on the idea that Sora could still be saved. More importantly, he was not going to let her stay here and fight a losing battle when it would have been smarter to fall back and fight another day. "Kairi, if you want to help your friends then we need to leave," Ventus insisted. "There's nothing we can do for them right now."

The redhead seemed to wavering in her decision to stay or leave after hearing Ven, but it was not until Goofy noticed something coming up from behind her that she finally moved to join with the others. "A Heartless is after us," Goofy shouted.

Kairi immediately bolted down the stairs and over to the team when she heard that, but she still kept Destiny's Embrace out and dropped into a battle stance even after she was next to the other three. Ventus was about to do the same, but he paused when he let Goofy's words run through his head again and then looked to see that there really was only one Heartless. A single Shadow, in point of fact, and it was all by itself too. As far as Ven knew, a Shadow never went after someone without being part of at least a small group, and even when there were other types of Heartless around, there were always at least two Shadows, so why was this one all alone? It did not make a lot of sense, but it looked as though Ventus was the only one to really think about this, because the others were a bit more concerned about how they were being chased by an enemy.

"I'll take care of him," Donald declared, and when the Heartless finally came down the stairs and over to them, he immediately bashed it in the head with his staff. To their surprise, the Shadow did not disappear, but instead, it just got back up and ran over to them again, prompting Donald to bonk it on the head again. This time, the Shadow did not even get knocked away, but remained standing right in front of them, which was starting to make Donald a little annoyed. "Confounded Heartless," Donald grumbled as he bonked the Shadow on the head a couple more times. "Get lost, will ya?"

"Whoa, hang on a second, Donald. There's something…odd about this Shadow," Ventus finally intervened, grabbing Donald's arm before the magician could whap it in the head again.

They all then looked on in study of the single Shadow, watching its every move carefully in an attempt to figure out what made it so different from the others. At first, it just flittered and twitched like any other Shadow, but it showed no signs of hostility towards them at all. Then again, they could have figured that out from how it did not try to attack them earlier, or even retaliate for Donald's hitting it on the head. It just stood there for a few more minutes before it slowly turned its head towards Ventus, just staring at him for a few minutes like it searching him for something. When the blonde just kept an even yet intrigued look on his face, the Shadow then slowly walked a little closer to them, prompting Goofy, Donald, and Ven to all summon weapons out of reflex. The Shadow immediately stopped for a few seconds, but then started to slowly move forward again, this time turning its attention to Kairi. Goofy would have rushed to the girl's side, but Ventus quickly signaled for him to wait. Most of his reasoning for that was because he knew that if this Shadow did turn out to be dangerous, he could get to the girl faster than either of the other two, but the rest of his reasoning was the simple fact he was curious about what this Shadow would do.

When it finally reached Kairi, the Shadow just stood where it was, looking up at her, and the redhead stared back, not really sure what it was trying to tell her. At least, she was not sure at first, but after a few seconds or so, Kairi began to feel something from this Heartless that was slightly familiar to her. A few seconds later, a crazy thought entered her head, but after thinking it over and focusing on the feeling she was getting from this Shadow, it quickly became less and less crazy in her mind. "Sora," Kairi quietly asked, hoping she was right. "Is that you?"

The three boys all looked a little surprised by Kairi's question, even if it did make sense that this Heartless could be Sora. After all, a Heartless was born when someone lost their heart, but if this really was Sora's Heartless, then why was it acting so unlike any of the others? Could it be that their friend was still in there somewhere? They did not have any time to try and figure it out, because they were quickly surrounded once again by more Heartless, prompting Donald and Goofy into action while Ventus began blasting away any Heartless that tried to get close to Kairi and what she believed was Sora's Heartless. Kairi was already swinging her Keyblade at the ones that had already gotten too close for comfort, because she had quickly realized that a lot of the Heartless were attacking the lone Shadow as well as her and her friends, and if this really was Sora, there was no way she was going to give these monsters a chance to take him away from her again.

"This time, I'll protect you," Kairi promised the Shadow, and she had to smile a little when she saw the little guy apparently nod in thanks to her.

Ventus quickly realized that the Heartless were attacking the lone Shadow as well, like Kairi had, and since the girl was sticking so close to said Shadow, he made it a point to focus most of his attention on the enemies surrounding both her and her charge. The only downside was that he had to be careful in how he attacked, because if that Shadow was Sora and it got hit by any of Ven's attacks, then there was a real chance that Sora would be lost forever. Not that Ven had any trouble with pulling his punches, because at the rate he had been going lately, he felt like he was going to pass out from exhaustion at any moment. That battle with Ansem and conjuring forth Destiny's Embrace for Kairi had clearly worn him out more than he had let on, and his fatigue was starting to show a little more with every second that they spent fighting this battle. At this point, the only thing that was keeping Ven going was sheer force of will, but that would only do him so much good, especially right here and now of all times. Every time a Heartless got past him because of his exhaustion, he had to curse under his breath a little, but at this point, the only thing he could really do was pray that they would somehow make it through.

Eventually, Ven's fatigue finally got the better of him when a large group of Shadows managed to barrel past him and jump at Kairi and the Heartless she was protecting. Ventus tried to warn the girl, but just when he was starting to call out to her, he ended up pinned down by a number of Shadows as well, letting out a cry of distress that alerted Donald and Goofy to his plight. Ven's shouts did at least get Kairi's attention, but when she saw the Heartless pounce, she instantly panicked and acted on instinct, dropping her Keyblade and spinning around to grab onto what she believed was her friend, both in the hopes of keeping him safe, and hoping that he would somehow save her at the last second like he often seemed to. When the Shadow froze under Kairi's hold, the redhead began to grow even more worried, even as the other Heartless dog-piled on them both, and pleadingly shouted, "Sora, help please!"

Donald and Goofy had been too busy getting the other Heartless off of and away from Ven to notice the threat to the girl until it was too late, and when they heard her shout, all three of them turned to see a mass of Shadows piling on top of both her and the Shadow she had been protecting. "Kairi," Goofy called out in worry.

"No," Ventus shouted in dismay, fearing he had just lost both Sora and Kairi now. At least, that is what he was thinking until suddenly, a miracle happened.

From beneath the Shadows that were swarming the two, a bright light suddenly flashed, pushing some of the Heartless away at first, and when it flared again, all of the Heartless that had been surrounding Kairi and the others were suddenly blasted into oblivion. Everyone shut their eyes, trying to block out the sheer intensity of the light's brightness, and when Ventus, Donald, and Goofy opened their eyes again, they immediately gasped in surprise before grins slowly started to form on their faces. There, standing tall and proud, holding Kairi as close as he could, safely in his arms, was none other than their good, brown spiky haired friend in a red jumpsuit, white and black jacket, large yellow shoes, and crown necklace, and when he opened his eyes to look down at the girl lovingly, they all saw them shining with the same crystal blue that they knew could only be his, but this time, there was an extra special kind of shine to his eyes, which was only reflected by how soft and gentle his voice was when he finally spoke up.

"Kairi, thank you," the wielder of Kingdom Key whispered, and that was what finally prompted the redhead to open her eyes so that she could who was holding her so tightly. She had not done so right after the light had passed because she was enjoying the warm feeling that this hug had been giving her. It was a warmth that she had almost thought she would never feel again, because it only came from one person, and she did not want to get her hopes up in thinking it was him only to have them dashed when she finally laid her eyes on him.

Kairi slowly turned her gaze up to the person holding her, and her eyes immediately widened before a bright smile that seemed to light up the entire room crossed her face as she cheered the name of her returning hero. "Sora!"

Indeed, Sora was in fact standing tall and proud before his friends once again, grinning widely as he gazed down at the girl he loved so much. In fact, his smile was so wide it did not seem like it was ever going to disappear, until Kairi suddenly grabbed him by the face, pulled him down to her a little more, and planted her lips firmly over his, much to his surprise. That surprise vanished almost as fast as his smile just had, especially when he felt Kairi's arms begin to circle around to the back of his head, and he immediately tightened his hold on the redhead a little more as he returned the kiss with every ounce of love he possessed for her, showing her that he had not been giving empty words out of fear of the fact that he was going to die or fall into darkness before. At that point, the two were completely lost in their own little world, like there was no one else in existence besides them as they continued to kiss each other, holding on as tightly as they could in a way that seemed like they thought that the other would disappear if they let go. It probably would have lasted even longer if it were not for the fact that they both still needed to breathe, but when they parted, they were both overjoyed to see that they were sharing the same, tender and loving look with one another.

The moment was quickly interrupted though, because their friends quickly reminded them that they were not in fact the only two in the room at the moment by cheering for the conquering hero. "SORA," Donald and Goofy both cheered as loudly and happily as they could, and they likely would have rushed into a group-hug with the boy had Ventus not waved for them to hold off on that for a moment.

Even though he did silently tell them to wait, Ventus found that he could not, because he was immediately rushing to the kid's side, reaching him just as he had released Kairi from his arms, and locked the young Keybearer in a headlock while he gave Sora a hard noogie, grinning all the while. "Sora, you crazy little risk-taker," Ventus cheered, while Sora just laughed at the noogie he was receiving. The blonde then adopted a more serious expression while his tone became more scolding when he said, "Don't you ever do that again! You scared us all nearly to death! How many times do I have to tell you to wait and think things through before rushing right into it?"

"Sorry, but I was only…" Sora sheepishly started to protest in his defense.

"Save it," Ventus snapped harshly, but a minute later, his expression softened into an understanding smile as he finished. "I know. Believe me, do I ever know."

"Glad you're okay, Sora," Donald stated happily, until his tone became more worried. "Because we're all likely about to die."

"Wait, what," Sora asked, not expecting that at all.

"He's right. I can sense more Heartless coming this way. Whatever you just did to come back, Sora, must've grabbed their attention," Ventus reported, already summoning Guardian Wind for action, despite how tired he still felt.

Sora and Kairi both summoned their Keyblades as well, and when the latter had done so, the former could not help but blanch in surprise at the sight. "Kairi, when did you…" Sora started to ask.

"Ven gave it to me after you disappeared. I'll explain more later," Kairi informed him.

Even though he knew that Kairi thought there was more to it than that, Sora had a hunch that it was actually just as simple as her summary was, so he just nodded and dropped into his battle stance. To be honest though, Sora did not feel like he was up for a fight at the moment. For some reason, he felt extremely drowsy, like he had just gotten up out of bed after sleeping for a really long time, and his limbs all felt really heavy. He was amazed that he was able to summon and hold up his Keyblade at all right now, but if they had to fight, Sora was not going to back down and let his friends go it alone. Then again, the others were not in much better shape than him. Between running to escape the castle and constantly fighting Heartless as they did, it would have been amazing if they were not at least a little tired by now. As the number of Heartless continued to steadily grow, they quickly began to worry that Kairi being better rested than the rest of them was not likely going to be of much help either, since she was still new at wielding a Keyblade. She may have a natural talent for magic, but talent alone was nothing without experience and training to better tune it for battle. The odds were definitely against them, but each one of the five heroes was determined to go down fighting if they had to.

Thankfully, they did not have to go that far, because just when the battle was about to start, a loud roar signaled the arrival of their newest friend onto the scene. Turning to where the roar had come from, they were all just in time to see Beast drop down from above and begin batting and slashing away at the Heartless around them. "Go! Now," Beast roared, making his intentions for them clear.

While everyone was willing to listen to the massive beast, Sora was not so eager to leave his friend behind. "Come with us," he pleaded.

"I told you before, I'm not leaving without Belle," Beast growled. He then turned his back on the five so that he could face the next wave of Heartless when they arrived, and roared, "Now, go! The Heartless are coming!"

Sora wanted to protest a little more, but his arguments died in his throat when Ven placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled his attention towards the blonde. "Sora, we can't do anymore now. Most of us are too tired to really fight at this point, and Beast has made his own wishes quite clear," Ventus informed the boy. "Sometimes, it's better to run so that you can return to fight another day, and this is one of those times. Beast is giving us a chance for us to escape, and we can't waste it arguing with him. If we want to stop the Heartless now, we need to retreat and come back when we're better rested and recovered."

Seeing his master's point, Sora finally nodded in concession. "All right. Let's get out of here," Sora agreed. Just before he and the others took off, he paused for a moment to look back at Beast again and promised, "We'll be back as soon as we can. Keep Belle and the others safe until we do."

"You don't have to worry about that," Beast promised in reply, and the boy then departed with a final nod to his large friend.

When he saw the five finally disappear through the main entrance, Beast turned back to see the approaching Heartless, and let out a mighty roar as a way of daring them to come at him. There was no way that these things were going to get Belle, the other girls, or his new friends without getting past him first, and he was going to make sure that they would have to do more than just work for it. They were going to have to struggle for it like their very lives depended on so much as surviving his incredible strength.

* * *

The Heartless must have either run scared or turned all of their attention onto Beast after he had appeared in the entrance hall to save them, because after leaving him in said hall, the team did not see any single one of the creatures of darkness rising up to get in their way. Not that they were complaining; they had no desire to fight anyone or anything right now, especially not in their current condition. All they wanted to do was get back to the ship and put Hollow Bastion as far behind them as possible for now. So, the minute they had stepped out of the castle again, Ventus whipped out his communicator and opened a line to the gummi ship. "Ventus to _Kingdom_ , beam us out of here now," the blonde called, and they all braced themselves for the sensation of the ship's teleporter. Naturally, they were all a little confused when nothing happened, but Ven was more frustrated than confused at the moment. "Chip, Dale, get us the hell out of here!"

 _"We're trying, but you're still too close to those intense levels of darkness for us to get a proper lock on you,"_ Chip replied.

 _"If we teleport you up like this, some of may only end up half way here, and that's assuming you come through in one piece,"_ Dale added.

"You've got to be kidding me," Donald moaned. "How much farther away from this place do we have to go?"

"Let's try that archway down in the Rising Falls," Goofy offered, rushing towards the lift that would lead down to said location as he did.

Kairi ended up beating him there though, and had already tapped the device to call the lift by the time the others had gotten there. "Hurry, you guys! The Heartless might be coming after us again at any second," Kairi called out.

"We're right beside you Kairi," Sora said in reply, proving his point by racing to stand right next to her, and not leaving that spot even after the lift had come up to them.

A few minutes later, it turned out that Goofy's hunch was right, because the second that they had crossed the gap between the castle gates and the Rising Falls, the chipmunk engineers reported that the ship could transport them all aboard now, and they immediately shouted for them to do so right away. Soon after, they all breathed a sigh of relief upon laying eyes on the familiar sights of the _Kingdom_ 's interior, but they did not waste time taking in the relief or kissing the floor out of said relief. No, they all immediately made their way to bridge, with Ventus hopping into the pilot's seat, Sora copilot, Donald and Goofy taking their usual stations, and Kairi situating herself at what had been Sora's original seat when he first came aboard the ship, right at the main weapons controls. Once everyone was settled and buckled in, Ven gunned the engines, and they were quickly pulling out of Hollow Bastion's orbit to fly away from the darkness-infested world.

No one was willing to relax right after they put Hollow Bastion in their rearview mirrors though, because they knew that it was still likely that the Heartless would try something. Still, several minutes ended up passing and nothing came after them, so they figured that they might as well relax for the moment, or at the very least start getting some answers to a question or two that had been bothering them. Although out of all those questions, there was only one that most prevalent in most of their minds at the moment. "How'd you do it, Sora," Donald finally asked.

"Yeah, how'd you change back from being a Heartless," Goofy elaborated.

"Better question is, how did you manage to retain some level of control over yourself after turning into a Heartless at all? You should've just become like any other Heartless and acted out of animal instinct to attack us, and yet, you only chased after us and tried to approach us like you were asking for help, so how'd you manage all of that," Ventus asked.

Sora crossed his arms in thought, trying to recall the details of that moment in time, before he finally admitted, "I…I don't really know. I can't remember that much of what had happened to me. All I can remember right now is a sensation of falling, something closing in and trying to overwhelm me, sounds of a fight, a pair of voices, and then a bright light that was pulling me upwards until I finally came back through."

It was certainly not much to go on, but one thing did catch Kairi's attention. "You said you heard a fight and a pair of voices, right," the girl asked, making sure she heard right. When Sora nodded, she then questioned, "Could you tell whose voices they were, or what was happening in that fight?"

"I'm not sure about the fight. It sounded a lot like when Ven was fighting with a Keyblade, but still different. Like it was someone on another level of strength or something, and they fought using magic a lot more. I remember hearing a lot more spells being thrown out, and someone shouting out…Spell…something…It's hard to really say. I couldn't really tell who the first voice belonged to was, but it definitely sounded familiar."

"What about the second voice," Goofy asked, while Ventus looked like he had fallen into incredibly deep thought something after hearing that Sora had just said.

"I think…No, I'm sure that it was Kairi's voice," Sora revealed, giving the redhead a smile. "I know that I heard your voice at some point while I was a Heartless, and I think that's what helped give me the extra push I needed to get all the way back."

Kairi smiled a little bashfully in reply, while her cheeks gained a faint blush, and both Donald and Goofy could not help but coo at how cute that little moment between the two was. Ventus likely would have done the same as well had he not been so caught up in his own thoughts at the moment. Something about what Sora said had really hooked into his head, and he was not sure if he should get his hopes up or not about it. Still, he just had to ask. "Sora," Ven called, getting everyone's attention with how serious he sounded. "The first person you heard. You said that they had shouted 'Spell-something.' Did it sound anything like Spellweaver?"

Sora lowered his head in thought for a moment, trying to recall that moment in particular as best as he could, before he finally said, "I'm not entirely sure, but it definitely feels like that might have been it."

"THAT'S AQUA," Ventus shouted as he jumped out of his seat in excitement all of a sudden, startling the others when he did. Seeing that he had freaked the others out a little, Ventus tried his best to reign in his excitement as he revealed, "Sora, Spellweaver is Aqua's Unique Tier One Command Style, and if you heard someone shout that, then that has to mean that…"

"Master Aqua helped to save you from the Realm of Darkness," Kairi finished, her voice betraying how great her awe was as much as the expression on her face.

Despite falling silent after that revelation, everyone was now much more excited. The fact that Aqua had helped to save Sora from falling into darkness must have meant that she was closer than ever to finding a way back home again, which could also mean that they might even see her in person the next time they ran into her, and on this side of the wall between the two realms at the rate things were going. It definitely seemed like something that would be cause for celebration had it not been for two things. The first of those things was the knowledge that there was still a chance something far less friendly could slip through whatever opening was starting to form for Aqua, and that alone made everyone much more worried for how the worlds would survive the coming darkness, which was now much closer than ever because of Ansem's actions. The second thing, however, was the one that was of much more immediate concern, and it proved its point when the ship suddenly shuttered and shook under the force of an explosion, nearly throwing everyone out of their seats or off their feet.

Donald immediately scrambled over to his station to check on the ship's status, and what he saw on screen was not good at all. "Shields just took a serious hit," the duck reported. "They're already down to nearly sixty percent of their maximum capacity, and they're still falling by the minute!"

"What happened? What just hit us," Kairi asked as she climbed back into her seat, making doubly sure that she was well buckled in this time.

"It's the Heartless! Several Heartless ships closing in from the stern," Goofy cried out in a panic, having already started to check the scanners to figure out what had hit them after that first explosion.

"Well, they certainly didn't take long to catch up," Ventus muttered under his breath. "How many are there?"

Goofy checked his scanner over, trying to count both with the computer's help and on his own. In the end though, he just gave up and said, "Way too many to count for both me and the ship!"

"And that's not much better news," Ventus noted, and he quickly began programming several different things on the ship. "Strap in, everybody! I'm getting us out of here. Goofy, lock coordinates on Traverse Town. I'm warping us out of here the minute they're in."

"Coordinates locked in, Ven," Goofy reported the minute he was done.

"And we're out of here," Ventus declared, moving to throw the lever that would activate the Warp-G as he did. Just when his fingers were brushing the control though, the ship shook under another explosion. When it finally passed, Ven wasted no time in pulling the lever, but unfortunately, nothing happened in response. There were not even any sounds to indicate that the Warp-G was powering up, and that instantly made everyone more worried than ever.

"Chip, Dale, what's going on down there," Sora immediately asked when he realized that they were not at warp and Ven was having to take some serious evasive action in order to keep them from getting torn apart by the attacking Heartless ships.

 _"That last hit did a lot of damage to the ship, and the Warp Gummi was hit the worst,"_ Chip reported.

 _"It's too damaged to work at all right now! There's no way we can go to warp in this condition,"_ Dale added on seconds later. _"Not only that, but we've got a few hull breaches near the main engines as well."_

 _"If we take another hit like that, the_ Kingdom _'s main engines are going to go completely nuts,"_ Chip finished.

 _"Nuts?! Where,"_ Dale asked.

 _"That's not what I mean!"_

"Stop chatting and get fixing," Donald cut in. "None of us want to get blasted out of the sky now or ever, ya know!"

The chipmunks gave a quick affirmative in reply and then went silent, leaving Ven to try and fly them away from the onslaught of Heartless that were closing in from behind. He was not having very much luck though, and the shields' continued rapid failing were a clear sign of that. "Sora, Kairi, man all rear weapons systems! Get as many of those Heartless ships off our tails as you can," the blonde ordered.

The two were immediately activating the main weapons controls, but when she saw the game controller pop out for her, Kairi hesitantly informed them, "I guess this would be a bad time to mention that I'm not that great at video games."

"You're good at button mashing, so go with that for now," Sora quickly told her, remembering how many times that Kairi had beaten him and Riku in some video games just by doing that, at least when she actually got bored enough to join in on that bit of fun.

Kairi quickly nodded to Sora and began doing just that, and soon enough, the sky was lit up with the weapons fire from both the Heartless ships and the _Kingdom_. Not that the latter was able to send out all that much, because most of the main weapons were mounted on the front of the ship, or were just simply stuck in a forward facing position. Still, the two friends were able to manage for the most part, and it did allow Ventus to fly the ship with a bit more ease, since he did not have to try and pull some crazy flying maneuvers to avoid being hit by enemy fire now, but it was still not by too much. For every ship that Sora and Kairi shot down, it seemed like another five appeared to take its place, and before they knew it, they quickly had more enemies to deal with than they could handle, which forced Ventus back into using crazy flying in order to keep the ship as close to being in one piece as he could once again.

Even with all the weapons fire and impressive flying that the three Keybearers were using though, it did not mean much in the end, because eventually, one or more Heartless ships managed to dwindle their shields down to the bare minimum, and managed to get in one particular hit that proved to be the most problematic for them, as evidenced when the ship shook after taking said hit, and by the explosion that had rocked the entire vessel afterwards. When he noticed that they were quickly losing speed and maneuverability, Ventus quickly grew more and more concerned about just what that explosion had been, but he was still hoping that it was not what he thought it was.

"Guys, tell me that was not our engines that just got hit," Ventus asked the two-man engineering team.

 _"Well…not all of the engines,"_ Chip admitted. _"Just one of the primary engines."_

"That's not much better news, you know," Sora shouted in a panic.

"We're not going to make it at this rate," Donald wailed, and everyone looked like they were not too far behind him in freaking out.

At least, not until Goofy spotted something on the ship's maps. "Hey fellers, there's another world coming up to us now!"

"Goofy, I really don't think now's the time to be telling us about possible stops we could make," Kairi pointed out.

"Actually, the timing couldn't be better," Ventus informed her, and even though he still looked nervous, Sora could see that the blonde had a small smirk on his face beneath that. "Sora, give all weapons control to Kairi. I'm going to need you focused solely on copiloting for me. Everyone else, make absolutely sure that you're buckled in, because this ride is going to get a lot more rough before it finally ends."

"What're you going to do, Ven," Donald asked while he double-checked his seatbelts, turning to make sure that the rest of his friends were doing the same.

"I'm going to drive the ship directly for that world that Goofy just spotted, and make an emergency landing. With any luck, most of the Heartless ships will either back off or just be destroyed by the world barrier," Ventus informed him. He then ignored all shouts of disbelief and protest from the others on the bridge, and tapped the intercom again. "Chip, Dale, divert as much of our remaining power into the ship's shields and engines. Give me as much as you can get to what's necessary for a planetary landing."

 _"Aye, aye, Captain,"_ the two chipmunks replied.

"Ven, this is crazy! I thought we weren't supposed to land the ship on other worlds unless they were like Traverse Town," Sora protested.

"We don't exactly have a choice here. If we don't do this, then we're dead either way," Ventus informed his apprentice. "Now grab those copilot controls and help me land this tub. Everyone else, brace yourselves for what's likely to be one of our roughest rides to date."

Everyone who was not completely essential for Ven's plan had immediately grabbed onto whatever secure surface that they could to brace themselves for the upcoming landing, and the next thing they knew, they were all flying directly towards a large, sandy brown world with several large cliffs and a few small towns here and there at nearly full speed. True to Ven's word, many of the Heartless ships had backed off in full retreat, no doubt thinking that the ship and her crew were done for when they crashed down, but some still continued in their pursuit. Thankfully, Kairi was able to get a good number of them with the _Kingdom_ 's weapons, but a minute later, the remaining enemies seemed to explode upon impact with some invisible shield. It must have been the world barrier, because they could all feel the ship rattle and moan under the power of some invisible force, and when the vastness of interspace became replaced by a clear, blue sky, they all knew that was the case. Still, it did not ease their nerves, because they could also see that they were flying downwards far too quickly for most of their liking.

Ventus was now struggling as much as he could to keep them airborne, at least until he was sure that they would not crash into or too close to any forms of civilization, or at least anywhere that was populated in any way, but between the damage that the _Kingdom_ had just taken in that battle and what it had no doubt incurred from passing through a world barrier, he knew that at this point, it would take either a sheer force of will or a miracle to keep it together for much longer. Thankfully, it was made a little easier having Sora help him from the copilot station, and when the ship finally hit the ground, it was not quite as harsh as it could have been. It was still a rather hard impact that nearly pulled everyone out of their seats, despite being strapped in, but it definitely could have been worse, and it almost was, because after hitting the ground, the ship ran along the surface towards a steep-looking cliff that would no doubt have led to their doom if they went over the edge of it. Everyone ended up screaming in terror as they drew closer and closer to said ledge, but their screams died down when the ship finally came to a grinding halt, with only the nose hanging over the side of the cliff.

When the ship did stop, everything in the cockpit suddenly went dark. All the main systems, the lights, and everything in between other than life support systems went completely offline, and that alone was all the sign that the team needed to know just one thing, even without the incoming damage report that Chip and Dale were rapidly giving them. "We made it," Ventus started to say, though his tone was far from celebratory. It was actually very grim. "But for now, we're not going anywhere else. We're stranded here."

"Any idea just where here is," Kairi asked, hoping that it was at least somewhere that would be safe for them.

Ventus looked out the viewport in the hopes of recognizing the world based on their current surroundings, but that hope was in vain, so he ended up having to sadly reply, "Not a clue. Whatever's out there, we're just going to have to hope that it's not more Heartless, and that the locals are friendly."

* * *

Around the same time as the most recent plight that had befallen our heroes, far away on a distant world that rested near the very edge of the border between the realms of light and darkness, a young boy had just woken up outside an old, abandoned mansion. The boy in question had golden blonde, spiky hair that looked almost windswept, a somewhat muscular build, and very dull blue eyes that gave off the impression that he was not entirely there. His attire consisted of a black, high-collared jacket with a zipper that looked like a pointed cross. Over this, he wore another jacket that was left unzipped and was colored white with several black block designs and a grey hem on the ends of each sleeve. The white jacket's collar was folded back to reveal the it was red pleated on the inside. His pants were colored black at the top and beige on his legs, starting from just above the knees, while his shoes were black and grey with red straps in place of laces. To round out the boy's attire, he wore a wrist band on his left wrist that had a black-and-white checkerboard pattern, along with a black ring on his left index finger and a white ring on his left middle finger.

After a moment of just lying in the grass, the boy finally stood up, and glanced left and right, not knowing where he was, but not really appearing to care all that much, until he finally looked down. At first glance, one would think he was very deep in thought, but in reality, he was not really thinking that much at all. In fact, he was not entirely sure what he should be thinking, or even feeling for that matter, because he did not really seem to feel anything at all. It was actually right when he had this realization regarding his lack of feelings that he heard something from in front of him, and he looked up to a very tall, rather imposing figure in a black coat approaching him. Even if he were to look up a little more, the boy would not have been able to see the figure's face right away due to the person in question keeping his hood up, but when the individual spoke, his very deep voice gave him away as a man, but his cold, neutral tone seemed to give the young blonde a few chills at first, making him wonder if he should be afraid.

"You seek answers," the man said as if he already knew what to expect from this boy. When the boy nodded, the man waved his hand and a word spelled out in rather fancy letters materialized before the boy. The blonde could tell that it spelled out "Sora", and for some reason, that had a familiar ring to it, and yet it also made him feel like it was not suited for him. "You feel nothing. Nothing is real," the man continued, almost sounding like he was chanting. "I can give you purpose."

The boy was not entirely sure why he felt so hesitant to trust this individual, but considering that he could not remember anything or anyone from before he woke up, he did not think he really had much to lose either, so he simply nodded in acceptance. The figure then waved his hand at the word between them, and the letters started to rapidly circle the boy several times. When the figure waved his hand again, the letters came to a stop while a large, rather oddly decorative letter "X" was added into the middle of them. When the boy looked up at the word again, he felt an odd sense suddenly come over him, like this was a name that would be much more suitable for him, and it must have shown a little, as his once dull eyes suddenly became a little brighter, even as he finally spoke up, slowly uttering the name that was now before him. "…Roxas."

"That's right," the man confirmed, pulling Roxas's gaze up to him, and allowing the boy to see his tan skin, a few hints of silver hair, and amber-orange eyes, along with the smirk on his face. "The new you."

He did not know why, but seeing those eyes made Roxas feel even more uneasy for some reason, but he was not entirely sure how he was feeling anything at all. This man had just said that he felt nothing, and Roxas knew that was true, or at least he felt like it should be, so why did his stomach suddenly start getting an odd ache in it that made him want to be cautious of someone with eyes like that? He did not know for certain, but he also did not want to stay here, and the man had made it clear that he wanted Roxas to follow him, so Roxas ignored the feeling for now and followed after. He did shiver a little when he passed through the rather dark portal that the man created for them though, but that was it. He just had to hope that no one noticed that. When they walked out the other side of the portal, the blonde found himself quickly taking in a whole new set of surroundings.

No longer were they outside of a mansion under a twilight sky. Instead, Roxas and his new acquaintance were in a very dull looking, grey room with a large window that displayed a very dark sky on the outside. There was some furniture here and there about the room, but since it was the same color as the rest of the room and so sparse, Roxas had almost missed it entirely. More to the point, there were some gaps in both the floor and walls, through which one could see some pipes or other inner workings of wherever they were. The only other thing to note was that Roxas and the other man were not here alone, because just as they had come through the portal, a very tall man with crimson red hair and dressed in a black coat like the one worn by the man that had brought Roxas here walked in.

When he saw the two, the redhead immediately smirked a little and called out, "Hello! Didn't know you had gone out, Boss. So, who's the kid?"

"The newest of our number, and our long awaited thirteenth member," the hooded man said, gesturing to Roxas. "Get him a coat while I summon the others so that we may give him a proper welcome."

"Yeah, you've got it, Xemnas," the redhead waved, almost seeming like he did not care too much. He then guided Roxas out of the room to somewhere that Roxas was not entirely sure if he would remember the location of later, and as they were going, the redhead decided now was a good time to introduce himself. "By the way, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"…Yeah," Roxas nodded after a minute.

"Good. You're a quick learner, huh," Axel teased, but he was a little disappointed to see that he did not get any reaction from the kid. "So, what's your name, new guy?"

"Roxas," the blonde replied, and when he heard that, Axel had grin a little, because he had a hunch that he was going to get along really well with this kid. At least, that is what he would say if he was capable of feeling anything.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 8**

 **It finally happened. After all this time, after waiting and training for so many years, my Keyblade has finally evolved to its final evolution. I have to admit, it was not quite what I had expected. I mean, I always knew that my Keyblade's final form would look like a more refined and/or powerful version of Wayward Wind, but still, I didn't think it would be so similar to it. I mean, it is longer, and it's definitely still meant for someone who primarily fights with a reverse grip like I do, but aside from one or two other differences, you would be hard-pressed to think it was that much different from Wayward Wind. Still, I have to admit, Guardian Wind is definitely a Keyblade I could quickly get used to using, and more importantly, this means that I might finally be ready to take the Mark of Mastery Exam. The minute I realized that, I quickly went to find Mickey so I could show my Keyblade's new form to him. He looked like he was just as surprised as I was when I first summoned it and the Keychain for Guardian Wind materialized into my free hand, but a minute later, Mickey was grinning like no tomorrow and told me that all my other training for today was canceled so that I could get some rest. When I asked why, he told me that he and I were going to take the gummi ship _Imagineer_ to see Master Yen Sid first thing tomorrow morning. If that's not a sign that I'm going to be taking the Mark of Mastery Exam tomorrow, then I don't know what would be.**

 **Now, I can hardly sleep. I'm just too excited, because tomorrow, I'm finally going to take the Mark of Mastery Exam and prove that I'm ready to be a full-fledged Keyblade master. I don't know if it will be like Terra and Aqua's exam, or it will be something else entirely, given that each master's exams are different, sometimes based on their own style or based on the student that their testing, but whatever it is, I know I will do my best to be ready for it. Mickey said that I should be prepared to face something that I will likely not expect and be caught off guard by, and I believe him. After all, Yen Sid is the most powerful sorcerer in all the worlds and a former Keyblade master for a reason, so I'm already expecting anything to happen tomorrow. No matter what happens though, I'm ready to show everyone from Mickey, to Master Yen Sid, and to all the rest of the worlds and those close to me that I do possess what it takes to have the Mark of Mastery.**

* * *

 _ **AN: Aaaand that's that for Hollow Bastion Round 1. When I was playing through the first Kingdom Hearts game, and even looking back on it, I did sometimes wonder about why Donald, Goofy, and Kairi did not just teleport up to the gummi ship once they were at one of the save points, and while some would say that it would be for plot convenience, or because that teleporting shtick is only a mechanic for the gameplay and that story for whatever reason, I still felt like I had to justify the reason why they couldn't do so here. So, what better reason would there be than the darkness that was spilling out of Ansem's big bad Keyhole to darkness?**_

 _ **Sora: Makes sense to me. I'm just glad that I made it back from darkness.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, that's what you're glad about. I'm sure that little lip-lock with Kairi was nothing too special in comparison.**_

 _ **Sora &Kairi: [both blush as red as tomatoes]**_

 _ **AN: Before anyone asks, yeah, I did intend for that to happen. It was a last minute decision, but considering what Sora said before he stabbed himself with the Keyblade to free Kairi's heart last chapter, I would've been crazy to not have them kiss in this chapter. Besides, it's not like we haven't all thought that moment would've been the perfect time for Kairi to plant one on her dashing hero in the first game, or at least one of the perfect moments.**_

 _ **Moving right along to our trip to Aqua's side of the story. Not really too much to tell there, aside from one or two details. If you've read Keyblades of Future Past, then you're probably familiar with how I had the heroes of that story venture to the world of Lilo & Stitch, namely the actual movie where Stitch met Lilo and found his ohana. Now with that said, Stitch was going to have to get to Hollow Bastion when we got to the KH2 part of this series somehow, and I figure that part of the reason there would involve his new home falling into darkness. That's the reason why I had it there in Dark World as the location where Aqua found Sora's heart. You know, aside from the reasons that Aqua herself gave. Moving on from that sad detail (seriously, it's okay if you want to go ahead and cry for poor Stitch. I won't judge, and neither will anyone else), let's talk about Aqua's abilities.**_

 _ **I'm sure some of you are already aware of this, but for those of you who aren't, sorry for the spoilers. In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage, I'm sure no one noticed that Aqua's abilities were a lot different from what they were when we last saw her in BBS. Like the fact that she had Flowmotion, or at least part of the ability as far as we could tell, and her magic abilities were very different in that she used situation commands as opposed to Command Styles, and yadda-yadda-yadda. Well, I didn't want to just cast the Command Styles aside, so I just left that as is, but I did make sure that Spellweaver was shown to have changed since the previous story like it had in that game, and gave something of a reasoning for why the change too. Hey, people do grow when they get a good sleep, so why shouldn't the same be said for certain magic abilities in this instance? As for Aqua's Flowmotion, it's aura was indeed a different color from what it was in Dream Drop Distance, so I felt that needed to be explained as well, along with why Aqua even has it. The answer: a surprisingly simple solution. She's always had it but chose not to use it because it was unnecessary, and she was still practicing. If she had used it, it would have had the same color aura as Sora and Riku's Flowmotion during their Mark of Mastery in 3D, but since she's now mastered it, the color changed to signify her mastery.**_

 ** _Riku: Was it really that necessary to include her here though?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, yes it was. What, you didn't think I would have her show up and start moving to help Sora out of the Realm of Darkness last chapter and not expand on that a little more here, did you? As I've said before, Aqua will be appearing again, and next time, she won't be by herself, at least not for too long._**

 ** _Kairi: And let's not forget that I've finally gotten my Keyblade, and I'm already really good with it._**

 ** _Ventus: Yeah, for a rookie._**

 ** _AN: Well, while Kairi was an awesome Keyblade wielder in Keyblades of Future Past, I couldn't really have her be that good here, because she did just get it. As for the whole scene of how Kairi was given Destiny's Embrace, yeah, I'm well aware that it's almost an exact copy of how Riku gave it to her in KH2, and that's kinda the whole point. It made a lot more sense for Ven to give the Keyblade to Kairi this time around, and only partially because Aqua was the last one to be seen using its Keychain. Plus, now you know a big reason as to why I gave Ven the ability to conjure up Keyblades from their Keychains in this story, besides giving Sora a temporary one after he lost Kingdom Key. I figure that some people might possess such a power in KH, which would explain how Riku was carrying Destiny's Embrace around without anyone appearing to notice it before. Besides, I did mention earlier that Kairi was not going to just sit on the sidelines here, and I'm keeping to that promise._**

 ** _Kairi: For which, I thank you so very much._**

 ** _Sora: Hey, is Ven going to explain the whole Xehanort thing to us sometime soon? We're obviously really concerned about that now, considering what was said in this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Don't worry, he'll get around to it. He's just not too willing to share right now given the current situation and the fact that hearing Xehanort's Heartless use the name of a friend of his like this clearly upsets him quite a bit. As seen here. [points to monitor that shows a replay of Ven's angry attack on Ansem, Seeker of Darkness after he first appeared at the beginning of the chapter] Wow, who would've thought Ven could look that angry at someone other than Vanitas, right?_**

 ** _Ven: Hey, I've glared angrily at other people before._**

 ** _AN: Not like you had to Vanitas though, and this is a close tie to that. Oh, and by the way, look who showed up sooner than originally planned: it's our main dual Keyblade wielding man himself, Roxas, plus some special appearances by Xemans and Axel as well. I'm sure we all remember seeing how Axel had escorted Roxas into the big meeting room of Organization XIII in 358/2 Days, so here's what I think the reasoning for that was, and besides that, what better time to show how Roxas came to be here than right now?_**

 ** _Roxas: Haha! I finally made an appearance at last!_**

 ** _Axel: And along with your best buddy! Can't forget that, ya know. Got it memorized?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah Axel, we got it memorized all right._**

 ** _Xion: So not fair that you two get to show up now._**

 ** _AN: Hey, that's not my fault. You were born a week after Roxas was, so having you appear now would be just weird and a little hard to really explain. Now, onto the final note of this chapter. Of course I wasn't going to make their escape from Hollow Bastion too easy. After all, what better way or excuse could they have for traveling to one of the last two remaining worlds in this story than what happened here? Don't worry, you'll find out more about where they ended up in the next chapter. Though I will give you a hint about it. Think back to one of the worlds that the heroes visited in Keyblades of Future Past, then remember the movie that served as inspiration for the series that world comes from and you'll know that this new, original world journeys to the other side of that very great_ Story _._**

 ** _Riku: I think that might be a little too vague._**

 ** _AN: Well hey howdy hey, don't blame me if they can't figure it out without going Onto the Preview!...Ahem, that's the cue to start the preview for next chapter, you know, so get to it already!..._**

 ** _While Donald and Goofy remain to help repair the ship, Ventus leads Sora, Jiminy, and Kairi out to both explore this unknown world, and to try and continue Sora's training while giving Kairi a crash course. The latter is necessary because they all believe Kairi will need to be ready to fight alongside them in the coming days now that she wields a Keyblade as well. What they don't expect is to encounter a rather friendly sheriff and his pals to greet them with a bit of a surprise, or for their adventure to suddenly take a wild west turn. Saddle up and be ready to run the like the wind, next time._**

 ** _Starting to get it now? If not, then you will when the next chapter is posted. For now though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	20. Hey Howdy Hey

_**AN: [seen playing the fiddle to the very specific tune of a certain old west show from one of Disney and Pixar's greatest trilogies.]**_

 _ **Sora: Wow, he must be really excited if he's playing that song on the fiddle.**_

 _ **Roxas: Forget about that. I'm surprised he knows how to play the fiddle.**_

 _ **Ven: Well a lot of his family has done something with music, himself included, so maybe it's just a matter of being something in his blood.**_

 _ **Sora: Yeah, like how midiclorin levels determines how strong a Jedi someone can be.**_

 _ **Kairi: Um Sora, I'm pretty sure that only determines how strong someone would be in the Force. It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they would be a Jedi.**_

 _ **Riku: Still, shouldn't we get on with the story? I know I'm not in this chapter, but I'd like to hurry things along so that we do get to a chapter where I finally show up again, and the next time it happens, I won't be acting like a total jerk! Hurray, at last!**_

 _ **AN: [stops fiddling but the music still continues, showing that it was just a recording] Hm? Did you guys say something.**_

 _ **Everyone other than AN: [deadpan looks between AN and the music player] Really?**_

 _ **AN: What? I'm not a violinist, but I do like this song. [hits pause on the music player and tosses fiddle somewhere off stage] Anyways, welcome back everyone to the next chapter of Dual Keys and to our story's next original world!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, you all know you're excited for this, and some of you did already guess where we're going to end up this time too after the last chapter's preview. Props for you guys. Here's hoping this chapter will be just like rootinest, tootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west!**_

 ** _Donald: Just answer some reviews so we can start already! It's been days and you said this would be up sooner!_**

 ** _AN: Hey, practically this whole chapter is original content and I got busy with other stuff, like as in stuff that would help pay the bills, so give me a break, huh? Ahem, anyways, let's do just as the rather impatient, short-tempered duck here has suggested and answer a review or two before we ride on into the fun._**

 ** _Donald: Hey!_**

 ** _AN: Don't deny it, Donald. We all know it to be true._**

 ** _Donald: Aw phooey. [grumbles incoherently]_**

 ** _AN: Let's start off with "Keeper of Worlds", I like the idea you suggested regarding backstory for the Nobodies we don't know anything about yet, and the example you gave. I might take it under advisement later if I can figure out a way to work it in, but I won't make any promises just yet. I don't want to say I'll do one thing and then turn around and forget to do it later, ya know._**

 ** _Next, let's have a little shout-out to "rmarcano321". I get what you mean when you say that you find it interesting, both in regards to Ahsoka and the KH stuff, and I appreciate it, really, but there is a time and a place for that kind of thing. I wasn't telling you all of that to be mean, I was just simply making a small request/suggestion before things got a little too out of hand with that and you just ended up forgoing writing reviews that had nothing to do with the story content of that chapter at all. Sorry if I made you feel that was not the case._**

 ** _Let's move it right along to "Dragon Rider 66". I don't really know about Axel just yet, but I can confirm that Roxas will appear two more times in this story at most. One time after the second trip to Hollow Bastion, and a second time will be in the epilogue for this story. That is the plan as it stands for the moment._**

 ** _Roxas: Yes! I get to show up more!_**

 ** _AN: Hey, don't get too excited. It's not like you're going to have any action scenes or something. As for your guess about where they end up, it's not something from Buzz Lightyear, but it is something that features a hero from Toy Story, so you were close in that regard._**

 ** _Next to be answered, it's none other than regular reviewer "Monkey D. Conan", don't worry about anything too much. You'll get quite a few answers to those questions soon enough. Oh, and just allay some of your worries, Kairi will not be stuck in the Realm of Darkness at the end, but I do have to admit that she will end up separated from Sora._**

 ** _Kairi &Sora: Awwwwwwwww! Why?_**

 ** _AN: Because there will still be work for Sora to do before he can go home. We all know what I'm talking about at this point, right?_**

 ** _Anyways, I can neither confirm nor deny if Ven will be joining Sora and the others for their journey through Castle Oblivion and their resulting year-long nap without giving away major spoilers at this time, or if he and Aqua will have a moment together before everything in this adventure is over._**

 ** _Aqua: You're kidding, right? We all know that you're going to figure out a way to do that, assuming you haven't already. You're a sucker for romantic stuff, so why keep that kind of thing from happening?_**

 ** _AN: You mean aside from how it would make an even bigger impact in the sequel?_**

 ** _Aqua &Ven: [Both glaring at him slightly]_**

 ** _AN: What? You know I'm right. But yeah, you do have a point. Anyways, back on track with our previous review answer to our good buddy, I like that suggestion you made about giving Ven and Aqua a moment that's similar to the one from Pirates of the Caribbean 3 with Mickey officiating and all that, and I've actually got a few ideas already forming as a result now. I may run with that later on, but I don't think it will be in the sequel to Dual Keys. If anything, it'll more than likely be in the sequel to that story, which would put us at this continuity's version of KH3, so there's that to have fun with. Though in terms of Ven actually proposing to Aqua...Well, that may very likely be an entirely different story. Hard to say for now._**

 ** _Ven &Aqua: [both blushing heavily with small smiles]_**

 ** _AN: Now, let's wrap this up with the guest reviewer "Guest" from 3/25/18. No, I don't really have any plans for Kairi to gain Sync Blade from linking her heart to Sora's at this time, and I don't really thing that's going to change any time soon. Yes, she will most likely gain Drive Forms, like we saw she had in Keyblades of Future Past, which would allow her to use two Keyblades, but that would be it. As for your question regarding Namine and why she was born in Castle Oblivion, I can't say that I do know why that was. Maybe it was for a similar reason as to why Roxas was born outside the old mansion in Twilight Town or something, but I don't think Namine was all that scared about where she was born. In case you haven't noticed, the girl does have a bit of a thing for the color white, even she does do a lot of drawing._**

 ** _Namine: I'm pretty sure everyone's just basing that off the fact that the dress I'm always wearing is usually that color. I do have other colors in my regular attire too you know._**

 ** _AN: But the all white dress is the most notable part. No need to be getting all that technical or upset about stuff. Besides, it is your color, so why change that?_**

 ** _Namine: Okay, that's fair, I guess. Can we start the story now?_**

 ** _AN: Yes we can, so let's get right to it. Run like the wind to the chapter, everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XIX**

A loud sputtering noise could be heard echoing from atop the cliff overlooking a large canyon, and the source of said sound could only have been the damaged _Kingdom_ as her crew tried to get her started up again. After their crash landing, they had all been doing whatever they could to get something on the ship working again, but even after a few hours of hard work, the only things that they were able to get working besides the most basic of systems, like life support was intership communications and the main hatch. None of that was going to be of much help with getting the team off the world that they had landed on, and with the Heartless now stronger than ever, thanks to the Keyhole to darkness being completed, they could not afford to stay here for very long. Sadly, the decision to stay was currently out of their hands, at least until they could get the ship flying again, and it did not look like that would happen very soon, given how the sputtering engines only drew an agitated sigh from Ventus before he shut off the main engine.

The blonde then picked up a handheld radio that the crew had been using to communicate with each other in an attempt to save power, and hit the button to call down to the main engineers so he could report on the most recent failure in their attempts to get the main engines working. "Sorry guys, but that didn't quite do it. The engine's still sputtering like the main batteries are dead," Ventus reported.

 _"Yeah, we noticed,"_ Chip replied from the other end of the radio. _"We're gonna try something else in a minute."_

 _"But it would be easier if we could see what we were doing a little better,"_ Dale added just seconds behind his brother.

"We're working on that," Ven reassured the chipmunks. He then set his radio down so he could turn to the two who were trying to get the basic systems of the ship back online, or at least fix it up so that they could turn the lights back on again. "How's it going over there you two?"

"Just a minute, Ven," Kairi called over from where she was kneeling next to a console that she and her repair work partner had just opened up. She looked into the small opening and asked, "How're you doing, Jiminy?"

There were a few sounds of things being connected, disconnected, reconnected, and sometimes even hammered before Jiminy shouted back, "Need a couple more minutes."

 _"Need a couple more minutes,"_ Jiminy's echo suddenly rang out in response, making the little chronicler pause for a second as he looked around, wondering how he could have an echo in the console he was working inside of for a minute.

"That's what I said," Jiminy finally noted after not figuring out the answer. He then went back to the wiring he was reworking, trying to fix any that were broken in either the attack or the crash, putting all of his attention on that and nothing else, until he ended up with a very shocking surprise after connecting one particular wire. When Kairi saw the inside of the console suddenly light up, she quickly moved back just in time to avoid being hit in the head when Jiminy was sent rocketing out of the console and into the wall behind her by a small static jolt. "Whoa…That hurt a lot more than a lock I once had to try and open for Pinoke," Jiminy woozily commented before he slid off the wall.

Kairi quickly rushed over and caught Jiminy in her hands before the poor guy dropped to the floor, and once she had, she quickly cast a healing spell to reverse any injuries he might have gained after that little jolt. "You okay, Jiminy?"

"Yeah. Thanks Kairi," the cricket nodded in gratitude, and his smile quickly grew a little more when the lights in the room all suddenly flickered on, followed by the ship's main console.

Goofy immediately dropped what he was doing, having been helping Sora and Donald with trying to repair any fried circuits that were necessary for the ship's primary flight and weapons controls at the time, and quickly checked the monitor at his usual station to see what they just restored. "Hey, looks like all the basic systems are back online," the knight cheered happily.

"Great job, Jiminy and Kairi," Donald praised the two, knowing that they had to be the ones to do that.

The two smiled in thanks for Donald's praise, while Sora asked, "Does this mean we can finally lift off again?"

"Afraid not, Sora. Until we get the engines fixed up, we're still not going anywhere," Ventus informed the kid as he set aside the walkie-talkie he had been using. "But, we don't have to worry about draining power using the ship's intercoms and our other communicators anymore, and we can finally figure out just where in interspace we've landed."

Jiminy quickly got the hint, and hopped over to the computer that accessed the ship's main star charts, while Donald let Chip and Dale know the good news as well. Everyone only made a mild note of how the chipmunks said that they would have a full status report on the ship's remaining damage soon enough though, as they were far more interested to learn what world that they had landed on. What they found out turned out to be far more surprising than some of them were expecting though, as Jiminy just hummed in thought for a few seconds before turning a surprised look to them. "You fellas are not gonna believe this," Jiminy declared. "But wherever we are, it isn't on any of the world listings in our database."

"You mean we're lost," Kairi worriedly asked, praying that was not the case.

"No, we're not lost. The maps clearly indicate that were somewhere around halfway between Hollow Bastion and Neverland," Jiminy clarified for them, drawing sighs of relief from everyone. The last thing they needed right now was to be lost in interspace. "If anything, this means that the world we've landed on hasn't been discovered until now. In fact, the coordinates of it were not even in the computer until Goofy spotted it as we were about to fly past in an attempt to escape the Heartless."

"So basically, we've just discovered a whole new world," Sora asked in awe, feeling his excitement rising despite the circumstances.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that it's entirely new, Sora," Ventus told the boy, drawing looks from both Sora and Kairi. "Yes, it is new in the sense that no one has ever been here before, but it's clearly been around for some time. We all saw that there were some signs of people living here, so whatever this world is, it's definitely populated, and we're likely the first outsiders to ever land here. But either way, since we've discovered it, that does make it a new world from our perspective." At that point, Ventus found a small grin of excitement etching its way onto his face as he sighed happily, "It actually makes me think about some of the stories regarding earlier days of Keyblade wielders when they would go out to not only protect the worlds, but to discover just what they were like as well."

"You mean the early Keyblade wielders were not powerful fighters that fought the darkness," Sora asked, finding this very intriguing.

"No, they've always been especially gifted warriors, but they weren't always focused on just battling those who would upset the balance between light and darkness," Ventus explained. "Back in the earliest days, people were just discovering other worlds, at least in the sense of what were considered other worlds back then, so Keyblade wielders often acted as the leading pioneers in discovering the mysteries, wonder, and dangers of whatever world they happened to find, ensuring that others would not have to fall prey to anything they would not be ready for. Even after the Keyblade War, some Keyblade wielders would spend their lives discovering new worlds so that other wielders would not be too terribly lost and confused when they happened upon them. But while exploration of the worlds is a vital part of being a Keyblade wielder, our first and most important responsibility will always be to act as guardians of the balance between light and darkness above all else, especially since there are so few of us now."

"In other words, now that Sora and I are Keyblade wielders, we also have a mission to protect all the worlds from darkness and other similar dangers, to seek out new worlds and learn about their ways of life, and to boldly go where no one has gone before," Kairi asked.

"Pretty much," Ven said with a grin. "It sounds like a regular star trek, huh?"

"Yeah, and we've already discovered a new world now," Sora cheered happily. "I can't wait to go out and see what it's like here!"

"Sora, you do remember what I said about how our first priority is to keep the worlds safe from anything that would bring harm to them, right," Ventus deadpanned in response to the kid's excited outburst.

"Well we might actually be here for a while, because the ship's definitely not going anywhere," Chip's voice suddenly squeaked, and the bridge crew quickly turned around to see said Chipmunk scampering into the room with Dale not too far behind him.

"What've you found out," Ventus asked. He was very worried about the answer, but he knew it was going to come whether the question was asked or not.

"Everything on the ship is completely toast," Dale replied, getting right to it with the bluntness of a sledge hammer. "That battle has torn the _Kingdom_ up so bad that any patch work we do will be about as effective just tying it together with some flimsy rope or something."

"And that's not the worse news! The main engines are so damaged that we won't even be able to get the ship off the ground for so much as hovering in the air, let alone leaving the world," Chip revealed. "All the shields are practically gone, save for what we would need to leave this world, and the weapons systems are barely functioning anymore. We're going to have to get back to Traverse Town if we want the _Kingdom_ to be anywhere close to acceptable working order again, at least for a flight that doesn't include use of the Warp-G."

"What about the Warp Gummi itself," Donald asked.

"It's offline, but we can definitely fix it. It'll just take a lot of time, and that's without accounting for the work we'll need to do on the engines and shields so that we can leave and start flying again," Chip revealed.

"And I'd really recommend against getting into anymore fights with Heartless ships, because so much as one small hit could end up tearing the whole ship apart in seconds," Dale added, just to make sure that detail was crystal clear to everyone.

Ventus nodded in reply to that report, and quickly crossed his arms in thought. To be honest, the damage was not sounding as bad as he originally thought it would be. Yes, they no longer had weapons or proper shields, but they did have enough shielding for leaving the world. All they needed at this point was to get the engines fixed up so that they could take off again, and if they got the Warp Gummi fixed, they could get back to Traverse Town without having to worry about anymore in-flight skirmishes with the Heartless. "Can you get the engines, shields, and Warp-G up and running again if you focus on those and nothing else," the blonde finally asked after another few minutes of thought.

"Sure, if we work around the clock," Chip replied with a smile.

"At least, we hope so," Dale admitted

"Well turn that hope into a solid belief, and make it happen. I don't care of this thing is held together by chewing gum. We need to get back to Traverse Town so we can start planning our next moves, especially with the Heartless now stronger than ever," Ven ordered. The two chipmunks immediately saluted in response and scampered off the bridge, leaving Ven to turn to the rest of the team so that he could give out their assignments. "While those two are doing that, we've still got a few jobs of our own to do; the most important one being to seal this world's Keyhole. If the Heartless didn't know about this world before, then they definitely do now, no doubt thanks in part to us having to land here, so we need to make sure the Keyhole here is locked up tight for when they come."

"But what if they find the ship while we're looking for the Keyhole," Donald asked. "You heard Chip and Dale. The _Kingdom_ can't take much more damage from the Heartless, or we'll never be able to leave."

"Not to mention, there's no telling what might happen if some local person were to find it while we were looking," Goofy pointed out.

"At this point, I don't think we need to be too concerned with protecting the world order, at least beyond the basic rule of not letting anyone know we're from another world," Ven pointed out. It really did seem like that was all they were really able to do these days in order to preserve world order, because meddling in the affairs of other worlds had started to become something of a habit for them over the course of this journey. Then again, they would not have to meddle so much if the Heartless were not around, but that was not the point here. "Still, you guys do make a good point on not being able to leave the ship here, which is why the only solution is for us to split up."

"Split up? But we all just got back together again," Sora protested.

"I know, Sora, but right now, that's all we can do if we want to make sure the Heartless don't cause anymore damage to either the ship or this world," Ventus pointed out. It took a little while, but the boy did eventually nod in acceptance of that, prompting Ven to continue on with laying out the plan he had formed in his head. "Donald and Goofy, you guys stay here and help keep the ship safe. Do what you can to assist Chip and Dale, but your main priority is to keep anyone away from it, or even noticing it." The Disney Town duo immediately saluted in response, and Ven then turned to the other three. "Meanwhile, Sora, Kairi, Jiminy, and I will head out and start getting the lay of the land while looking for the Keyhole."

"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to come with you, Ven," Jiminy asked while Sora and Kairi exchanged a quick high-five in celebration of the fact they were on the same team. "I'm pretty sure I'd be of more help with fixing up the ship."

"True, but I seem to recall that your main mission was to chronicle the journey, and as Hollow Bastion proved, the most exciting stuff seems to happen around anyone wielding a Keyblade," Ventus argued. "Besides, we need someone to take note of everything and everyone we encounter while we're here, especially in regards to what we learn about this world, so who better to do that than you?"

Jiminy placed a hand to his chin as he mulled that logic over, and after he had done so, he let out a small smile as he admitted, "Well, I guess it would be fun to be the cricket who notes down everything we learn about this world that we've discovered. Okay, I'm in."

"Perfect," Ventus nodded, and he then turned to the two, young Keybearers. "And while we're going, you two will also be doing some serious training."

"What? How come," Sora nearly whined. Nearly because he did not mind training, but he was hoping that they would be putting it aside for a minute so that they could learn about the world that they had all just discovered.

"We need to find out if having Kairi's heart extracted from you has had any effects on your abilities, Sora, like in regards to your magic abilities and control. Even before that fight with Xeha…er, Ansem, you could've been relying a little on her heart's magic without even realizing it. Plus, after just getting pulled back from falling into darkness, you will most likely need to shake off any lingering side effects from being in such a state," Ventus explained as simply as he could. "Meanwhile, Kairi's just recently gained a Keyblade, and while I will admit that she's a rather gifted natural when it comes to magic, raw talent alone can only get you so far before you start to hone it to its fullest. She's going to need to learn everything you did when you started, but much more quickly."

"But I already know about all of this stuff from watching you train Sora," Kairi protested. "Doesn't that count for something."

"Watching someone perform an action and doing it yourself are two different things, Kairi. Why do you think there are so many things in movies or television that tell you not to try certain stunts at home," Ventus countered, throwing in a small bit of a joke at the end just to help with making his point while keeping the mood light. "Any other questions?" When everyone just shook their heads in the negative, Ventus started moving towards the door as he said, "All right then, let's move out, and best of luck to us all."

* * *

After leaving the _Kingdom_ and watching Donald hide the ship behind an invisibility spell, the three Keybearers and their cricket friend began a long trek across the rather vast desert, making sure to keep a lock on the ship's location via the device Ven would use to signal for when they wanted to teleport aboard. As they walked, Ventus made sure to run Sora and Kairi through various drills to determine each of their individual status in their abilities as Keyblade wielders. Sora was able to shake off any side effects from being a Heartless rather quickly, and his magic abilities all seemed to be just as strong as ever, but his magic control seemed to need a bit more work now than it did before. Ven's remedy for that was to have Sora spend most of their hike using Glide for as long as possible, since it required a precise level of magic control for various aspects of its use. The goal there was for Sora to practice how he flew through the air using said ability until the kid was able to adjust his magic for the various aspects of Glide with as minimal thought as possible, and in doing so, Sora's magic control would not only increase greatly, but so would the amount of magic he held as well. It was a little tiresome and boring for Sora, but if it did help him in the long run, he was not going to complain. Too much.

Kairi on the other hand was the one that Ven was most focused on. As he had mentioned before, the girl was definitely a natural at magic, and her level of control over magic was vastly more impressive than Sora's, as she quickly proved when she managed to get a handle on both High Jump and Glide much more quickly than Sora had. However, what Ventus was most focused on was her swordplay skills. While said abilities were not necessarily bad, they were also not too great either, and the main reason that Ven could see for that was because Kairi was trying to fight like Sora did. Not all of her swordplay was similar in style to Sora's, of course, but Ven could definitely tell that she was trying to put more power into her attacks and strikes than she was probably capable of, and that was going to hurt her more in the long run. He learned all of this by watching as Kairi ran through some basic drills, and when he saw Kairi go for a powerful swing only to trip over and tuck into a roll in order to regain her balance, Ventus decided that enough was enough, and it was time to fully address the matter.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Ventus stated, immediately moving to stand next to Kairi as she stood up again. "We've got a serious problem that needs to be addressed here."

"What're talking about? I can still keep going," Kairi insisted, obviously not seeing what Ven had.

"I'm not saying you can't, but you're also not going to get any better like that," Ventus clarified. "You're trying too hard to go for power strikes and attacks that would finish the fight quickly, or to put it another way, you're trying to be too much like Sora, or me, or even Riku, if I'm guessing right." Kairi said nothing in response to that, proving Ven's point easily, and prompting him to continue. "While it is good that you're following the examples of others, you can't just take one person's fighting style and expect it all to work just as well for you. You need to learn how to adapt and improve a style so that you can make it into your own while finding your own rhythm to flow into."

Kairi just stared at Ventus for a minute before she finally said, "I don't think I get it. Are you saying I'm not strong enough to fight like you guys?"

"Not…entirely," Ventus hesitantly replied, thinking over what he was trying to say in his head. "You see Kairi, Sora's attacks are so strong-handed because he's able to use such tactics, but at times, he does know that he can use his speed to his advantage as well. You're not built like Sora or me, so you're not going to be able to do what we do and get the same results, but at the same time, you can have a better advantage over us. You should try focusing a little more on your agility. Your naturally more flexible than me or Sora, which means you can also be a bit more agile than us. Being able to avoid an enemy until you're in a position to land a critical strike is just as effective as just blasting your way through, if not more so."

"So I should try to run away more," Kairi asked.

"Not run away. Just don't put so much energy into your attacks, especially when you're not able to finish a fight by overpowering the other guy," Ventus clarified, spotting a small stream close to where they were currently walking when he did. He quickly waved her attention towards it and explained, "Imagine a river, similar to this one if you will. Many things will often stand in its way from trees, to boulders, to even mountains, but the water continues to flow. Patient, persistent, the water finds a way around, eventually wearing down whatever lies in its path, until only the water remains. I can see your own fighting style often being similar to this. Simply going with the flow and letting your opponents waste their energy until the ideal time to strike. Understand?"

"I think so," Kairi slowly replied. "Basically, I need to not waste too much energy trying to muscle my way through, but let the other guy wear himself out before hitting him with my own attacks. Right?"

"Exactly," Ventus confirmed. He then summoned his Keyblade and assumed a ready position as he prompted. "Let's try it out, and remember, be flexible with a steady flow, like the water. Don't try to muscle your way through, and use what you can to your advantage."

Kairi nodded in response, and assumed a ready position as well, while Sora landed on the ground in time to watch the two. A moment later, Kairi had lunged towards Ven in an attempt to drive her Keyblade through him, but Ventus simply sidestepped the strike, and let her rush past. Kairi stumbled for only a moment, but easily spun on the heel of her foot so that she could avoid the blonde's attempt at retaliation. Coming out of the spin, Kairi quickly leapt back to gain some ground, leaning to the side a little in order to avoid another swing before aiming a swing of her own up towards Ventus. The blonde easily parried the strike and attempted another counter, but only found his Keyblade meeting air as Kairi quickly dropped down to dodge him and slash at his legs. She managed a glancing blow only, since Ven managed to jump back at nearly the last second, but that still gave her enough time to throw out a blast of Blizzara with her free hand that forced Ventus to retreat even further.

"Good, that's much better already," Ven praised. "You're already taking advantage of your smaller size to dodge me while keeping your moves as unpredictable as possible. Adding in the use of magic without channeling it through the Keyblade itself is definitely a nice touch and shows even more of your natural talent for it. Keep going."

The redhead nodded in reply, but this time did not make an attempt to charge. Instead, she simply assumed another ready position, waiting for Ventus to come to her, and the blonde did not let her wait for too long. When Ven saw that she was waiting for him to attack her, he instantly rushed forward and began a furious blitz of attacks through use of the ability known as Ars Arcanum, but Kairi managed to dodge a good number of these attacks while deflecting whichever ones she could not. She then slipped around Ven on his last strike and attempted to hit him from below again, only for him to suddenly snap his leg out and kick her back, making her tumble over backwards as a result. After getting to her feet, Kairi attempted a quick charge, thinking Ven would not expect it, but the blonde proved otherwise when he blocked her next few strikes, and parried the last one before erecting an Aero Shield that served as protection from the next blast of ice magic that Kairi tried on him.

"Don't let yourself become predictable. Let your actions flow and adapt, never letting your opponent get an idea on how you'll move," Ventus coached, while noting that Kairi was waiting for him to strike again. "And another thing, don't wait for your opponent to come to you. It will only leave you more vulnerable. Take the fight to them at every viable chance you have."

To prove his point, Ventus quickly rushed in and unleashed a fury of strikes on Kairi that left her very little room to block or parry. She was able to dodge most of them, but whichever ones she could not dodge or block left a very noticeable sting on her. "You're holding the Keyblade too tight," Ventus cautioned, prompting her to loosen her grip much more than she should have, and allowing Ven to knock it out of her hand with his next strike. "Now too lightly," Ventus stated as he pinned the Keyblade to the ground with Guardian Wind, while aiming his free hand at Kairi, a wind spell quickly building up in his palm. "Try to keep a steady grip at all times to guarantee the best results, and block as many distractions as possible, whether they come from your opponent or from others."

"Good advice," Kairi admitted as Destiny's Embrace suddenly appeared in her hand, much to Ven's surprise. The blonde's shock nearly lead him to be struck by Kairi's next attack, but he immediately jumped back before she could hit him, and he had to smile a little at the fact she was learning quite quickly. The fact she used his own moment of pause to teach as a distraction so she could retrieve her Keyblade certainly showed that.

"Impressive," Ventus complimented, standing down when he did as a silent signal to end their spar. "I think you're starting to get it. Just keep what we just went through in mind, and improve on it whenever possible."

"Right. Don't try to outmuscle everything, and don't go for moves that have more power than I can manage, right," Kairi recited.

"Exactly," Ventus nodded. He then silently added, "Though I still get the feeling that Aqua would be a better teacher for you."

His latter comment went unheard, but mostly because Sora spotted something that they had missed up until now and called their attention to it. "Hey guys, I think there's a town up ahead," the boy informed the other two. "Maybe there's someone there who can tell us a little more about this place, or give us a clue on where to find the Keyhole."

Ventus and Kairi both turned to where Sora was waving, and quickly spotted the town that Sora had sighted before following after him in a rapid rush to reach it. When they reached the town, they saw that it was mostly made up of small buildings that only reached three stories at most, all made out of wood, with one or two larger buildings here and there that looked to be either barns or storage houses of some kind. A large sign hung over a couple of buildings to designate those buildings were the school house and the saloon, while a third one had the word sheriff over the entrance, with a large star embedded on the doorway. Looking around, one would be hard pressed to not think that this was similar to a town right out of the old west, and while Sora and Kairi were a bit apprehensive about how empty the place seemed to be, Ventus actually appeared to be getting more excited.

"This reminds me of all the Old West movies that Terra, Aqua, and I used to watch back when we were all training together," Ventus noted in fond nostalgia, finally explaining his excitement to the other two a little bit.

"You actually watched movies like that with your friends," Sora asked.

"Well, mostly Terra. Aqua usually preferred musicals or a good romance story, but she would join in on one or two of the Old Western films that Terra and I watched," Ven admitted with a shrug. He had to go to a lot of effort to keep down a blush at the memory of watching some of Aqua's favorite musicals with her, and how he could swear that her hand had almost intentionally slipped into his once or twice at some of the sweeter scenes. Even now, he was almost positive that she had been trying to give him a subtle hint about her feelings for him back when she first started doing that.

All reminiscing was put on hold though, when Kairi asked, "Don't you think it's a little strange that we haven't seen anyone yet, though? It's kind of making me feel a bit uneasy."

Sora nodded in agreement with the girl and said, "Yeah, this place is a real ghost town. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing anyone or anything along the way here, either."

"Yeah, you guys do have a point," Ventus admitted, his expression quickly becoming serious again as he slowly looked around. "Be it out in the desert or even here, it doesn't seem like there's any sign of intelligent life anywhere."

"Hello," a cowboy greeted after suddenly appearing before the three almost out of nowhere.

"HOLD THAT THOUGHT," Ven immediately shouted, while Sora, Kairi, Jiminy and the cowboy all let out cries of surprise or terror. The three Keybearers were immediately jumping back and summoning their Keyblades, either to have at the ready or to point them at the surprised cowboy who had just snuck up on them, and they quickly took the time to study the individual in question. They all saw that he was very tall, had short, brown hair and eyes, relatively tanned skin, and his outfit was that of a regular cowpoke. He wore a yellow, plaid shirt beneath a black and white, cow hide vest that had a gold star pinned to the left side, while a red bandana around his neck was tucked into the collar. Moving on down, they saw he also wore blue jeans and a pair of brown cowboy boots with gold spurs, while an empty gun holster rested on his right hip, hanging down from the brown leather belt that was held in place by a gold rancher's belt buckle.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Easy there, partners! Did I frighten you," the cowboy rapidly asked as he waved for the three to wait.

"Um…Yeah! What do you think is going to happen when you suddenly sneak up on someone from out of nowhere in the middle of a nearly empty town," Sora rhetorically asked.

"Right," the cowboy nodded in reply. "Didn't mean to. Sorry about that."

"Well you should be. It's not nice to go around scaring people like that," Jiminy scolded after he had jumped up on Sora's shoulder. He was especially miffed since that little scare almost sent him flying out of Sora's jacket pocket, and he had been doing a lot writing in his journal at the time. He was really hoping that he did not find a huge mess in the precious little book because of that later.

The cowboy did not seem to be too bothered by seeing Jiminy, but instead just moved along from that as he went to introduce himself. "Anyway, let's start over. Hey howdy hey, my name is Woody, and this dusty little town is Roundup Ranch. That's all I really wanted to say, and there seems to have been a bit of a mix-up. See, we were trying to evacuate the town, because of…"

As Woody was introducing himself, Sora took the time to better study the cowboy, looking for anything that might indicate he was going to attack them. Just because the guy's gun holster was empty, did not mean he was not a threat, and the boy's study eventually lead him to get a better look at the badge on Woody's chest. "You're the sheriff of this town," Sora asked, lowering his Keyblade and interrupting Woody when he did.

"Huh," Woody asked, before he glanced down at the badge and grinned with pride. "Well as a matter of fact, I am the sheriff around these parts, which is part of the reason why I asked the rest of my Roundup Gang to evacuate the town."

The others did not really seem to take notice of that last part, as they were more fixed on the fact that they had just drawn weapons on a sheriff. "Oh, we're really sorry about that, Sheriff. We shouldn't have just jumped to conclusions even if you did startle us," Kairi immediately apologized after dismissing her Keyblade, with Ven doing the same an instant later while his expression turned thoughtful.

"Ah forget about it, little lady. After all, it was mostly my fault for scaring you guys like that," Woody waved off. "More importantly though, I'm trying to tell you guys that you need to…"

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute," Ventus interrupted. "You said your name's Woody? And you're the sheriff?"

"Yes, that is correct, and I really need to get you guys out of here before something happens," Woody replied, only to find himself getting a fiercely excited handshake from Ven a minute later.

"Oh my god! You're Sheriff Woody of Woody's Roundup Gang," Ventus cried out excitedly while he shook Woody's hand. "I'm a huge fan! My best friends and I used to hear and tell stories about you and the rest of the gang all the time when we were growing up."

"You don't say," Woody grinned appreciatively, apparently forgetting about what he was saying before. "You know, I don't think I ever got your names."

"Oh! I'm Sora, but you can call me Jiminy, and this is Ventus, Kairi, and Ven," the blonde quickly replied, only to realize his embarrassing slip up a second later. "I-I mean, I'm Ven, but you can call me Sora, and this is Kairi, Jiminy, and Ventus. Ah! No!"

"Easy, easy, partner. Just breathe," Woody coached after finally getting his hand back while Ven started to take a few deep breathes in order to calm down. He then looked to the other two and said, "Maybe I should be asking one of you for your names?"

"Well, I'm Sora, and the excited old man is my master, Ventus, but he likes to go by Ven," Sora explained.

"Hey! Who're you calling an old man, you little runt," Ventus playfully teased while mussing up Sora's hair a little.

"Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service, Sheriff," Jiminy then introduced with a tip of his hat.

"And this is Kairi, my…uh…" Sora was now a little stuck. He was not entirely sure if he could introduce Kairi as just his friend after their little moment back at Hollow Bastion, but he did not want to make her uncomfortable by assuming that they were a couple now if Kairi did not really feel the same way. Then again, she did kiss him, but did that mean she did feel the same? Either way, the rest of his explanation came out a little weirdly. "My…friend, who's a very…very beautiful girl…and who…kissed me…and who I kissed back…and…yeah…"

Kairi's face quickly began to turn as red as her hair at Sora's introduction of her. That kiss she shared with Sora and the words he said to her before his apparent sacrifice were still at the forefront of her mind and making her wonder some of the same things about her relationship with her best friend that Sora was. Still, she was able to keep more of her composure than Sora seemed capable of at the moment, and she quickly held out a hand for Woody to shake in order to save Sora further embarrassment. "It's nice to meet you, Sheriff."

"Well now, no need to be so formal, partners. Just call me Woody, okay," Woody requested while returning the girl's handshake.

"Yeah, definitely," Ventus immediately replied, almost sounding like an excited child on his birthday when he did.

Sora and Kairi could not help but smirk in amusement at Ven's sudden change into a complete fan-boy. Really, one minute the guy was all serious and being a wise, powerful, experienced master, and the next thing you know, he had turned into a little kid who had just met his favorite superhero. It was hard not to find it at least a little laughable, really. Then again, looking between the two, and remembering what they had been through together so far on this journey, Kairi had definitely started to see a lot of similarities between Ventus and Sora, so she had a much easier time believing this was actually happening, which only made it even funnier for her. In fact, it proved to be so funny that a giggle or two actually slipped past her lips, despite her best efforts to suppress them, much to Sora's confusion. That confusion was quickly forgotten though when they noticed their eyes had started to linger on one another, and they quickly turned away with a small blush on their faces.

Even while he was practically dancing with excitement over meeting one of his childhood heroes, Ventus managed to notice that last exchange between the two, and he mentally rolled his eyes in response. It was not a surprise that the two were uncertain of where they stood with one another after all that had happened back on Hollow Bastion, but seeing them act like a pair of nervous school kids who were near their first crush in the way that they were was still somewhat painful to watch. Sure, he was left pretty stunned and out of it after he had his first kiss with Aqua, but they were at least still able to be like they normally were around one another afterwards. Then again, considering that he and Aqua had to go into the final battle of their first journey through the worlds seconds later, and how said battle had the fate of so much riding on its outcome, it was not like they really had time to get nervous and ask the questions that the two kids were clearly wondering right now, so maybe he could not make that much of a real comparison between the two situations. Still, he knew that they were going to need to sort things out, and it needed to happen very soon.

The blonde was about to attempt to tear himself away from meeting Woody when the sound of someone yodeling loudly reached their ears. When they turned to the source, they were just in time to see a horse with light brown fur galloping over to them as fast as possible, and sitting in the saddle on said horse's back was a cowgirl with long red hair tied into a ponytail, and dressed in a white shirt with a yellow collar and cuffs, blue jeans with cowhide chaps, a belt that matched Woody's, brown boots, and a red cowgirl hat. When the horse skidded to a stop, the cowgirl immediately descended from the saddle and rushed over to Woody. "Everything's all clear, Woody," the cowgirl reported. "Bullseye, all the friendly critters, and I managed to get the last of the townsfolk to safety before I told the critters to scurry off to some place safe too."

"Well, I'd hate to break it to you, Jessie, but I'm afraid you missed a few," Woody informed his friend, indicating the three Keybearers and Jiminy when he did.

When Jessie glanced over at the four in surprise before turning somewhat sheepish, Ven was instantly prompted to say something in her defense. "To be fair, we did just arrive in town today, so we wouldn't have known that people were being evacuated until now," the blonde pointed out. "Besides, at least this way we get to meet both Sheriff Woody and more of his Roundup Gang, so that makes things a lot better."

"Well, I guess you're a fan, huh," Jessie asked with a grin.

"Yeah, me and my two best friends, but Aqua especially liked you the best out of everyone in the gang when we were growing up with the stories," Ventus explained. "I still remember her sometimes saying how she wanted to be just like you when she grew up, always happy, fun, and ready for an adventure at any turn."

"Yeee-ha! Sounds like my kind of girl," Jessie excitedly declared. "Well, I'm sure you already know this, but my name's Jessie." Just as she was midway through her sentence, the horse came up and started licking Ven like an excited puppy. "And this here's Bullseye, the fastest, most loyal horse in all the west."

Ventus could only laugh for a few more minutes as Bullseye continued to lick him, until he finally managed to get a hand on the horse's muzzle to both get the horse to stop and so he could pet him a little. "Hey Bullseye. Who's a good horsey," Ven cooed, earning an approving neigh in response.

Woody then took the time to introduce the four to Jessie and Bullseye, while Kairi moved to pet Bullseye as well, before he finally said, "Well, now that you've met us, you should really leave town while you still can. It's not safe at the moment."

"Maybe we could help out somehow," Sora offered, earning a slightly skeptical look from both cowpokes in response. "Hey, helping others and fighting monsters is something we've become real pros at, so why not let us? What's the problem anyway?"

"Some really dark critters suddenly moseyed their way into town a little while ago and attacked the townspeople. The worst part is that those people that were attacked turned into more of the nasty critters while others kept appearing after the ones that came in first," Jessie revealed, her tone much more subdued than it was before.

Hearing her mention "dark critters" quickly got all of the Keybearers' attention, but only Kairi was able to ask what they were all hoping was not true. "Did they look like…living shadows or have a heart-shaped emblem on them anywhere?"

"Yeah," Woody nodded, and his face quickly turned slightly panicked when he noticed something behind the three, and shouted, "Just like them!"

The three Keybearers immediately spun around to see what had startled the sheriff just in time to see some old foes materializing into the town. Most of them were Shadows while others looked a lot like old west bandits with black hats, dark colored cowboy outfits, and a pair of six-shooter pistols in their hands, but no matter what they looked like, they were all still the same breed of monsters that the three Keyblade wielders were all too familiar with. "Heartless," the three shouted, and they summoned their Keyblades an instant later as they entered battle once more.

Jiminy had taken a moment to jump clear from Sora's jacket, taking cover over at one of the nearby buildings as he studied both the surroundings, the two townsfolk and their horse, and the newest Heartless, and making notes on it all in his journal. Given the circumstances, he felt that it would be better if he was not spending all of his time riding around in Sora's jacket at the moment. Besides, it was really hard for him to write properly while Sora was fighting. "Hmm…another new breed of Heartless, and these guys definitely seem like they would be unique to this place," the cricket noted as his pen rapidly scratched words across the pages of the journal with new notes. "Think I'll call these new Heartless…Gunslingers."

The others were not really paying too much attention to Jiminy at this point, but only because they were more focused on the fight with the Heartless. Bullseye, Woody, and Jessie were all engaging the dark creatures hand-to-hand, with Woody using a lasso he had on his belt to spin a few Heartless into one another on occasion, Bullseye kicking them with his hooves, and Jessie just smacking the evil creatures silly, much to the other three's impression. On a more spectacular note though, the three locals found themselves left in awe by the Keyblade wielders' amazing combat prowess, as they all danced across the battlefield in a spectacular fashion. Even Kairi, who was still adapting her fighting style so that it was not just something that she was copying from watching others fight, was showing remarkable talent and change as she maneuvered around her opponents with elegant grace and agility before dealing a finishing strike on a Heartless or two every few minutes or so. Ventus made sure to make fast work of any Heartless that dared to approach him, striking down both old and new ones with his usual flash of speed and power, while Sora varied between supporting both his master and the girl he loved as much as he could, be it with sword strikes or magic attacks. Ven normally would have said that Sora should focus on his own fights more than the others, but the kid was actually doing a very impressive job of acting as support for both him and Kairi, and he could see that he was managing to keep up a pace that allowed him to fight some on his own when he found an opening to do so. It definitely showed a remarkable amount of advancement in Sora's skills and abilities since he first became a Keyblade wielder, making Ven wonder if it had really been as long since that time as it had actually been.

As the fight continued on, often times leading to a few Heartless getting thrown through the doors of a saloon like some guys often would in some cowboy movies, Ventus was overcome with another feeling in the fight: nostalgia. Fighting alongside Sora and Kairi as part of a team of three Keyblade wielders made him think that this was almost just like the old days when it was him, Terra, and Aqua against the forces of evil, and there was little reason why it would not. Sure, the roles were reversed so that he was the oldest of the group while the other two were the ones who were kids, but aside from that, one could see quite a few parallels here. There was Kairi serving as the natural mage that Aqua had once been, Sora was the excitable, eager apprentice that he was at the boy's age, and Ven himself had become a mix of Aqua and Terra in the sense that he was the sole master of the group, and the powerful, strong warrior that his brother in all but blood had been. It continued to show more and more as the three fought together, as evidenced when Kairi created an opening on a large group of Heartless, paving the way for Sora and Ven to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Ventus immediately jumped into the air to avoid a retaliation from a couple of Shadows, allowing Sora to slice through them once the blonde was clear. When a pair of Gunslingers tried to zero in their sights on Sora, Kairi quickly discouraged them with a few quick blasts of Blizzara, leading her to activate Diamond Dust so that she could take down a much larger number of Heartless at once.

When Ventus saw Kairi activate a Command Style on her own for the first time, he could tell that it was not just battle instinct fueled by adrenaline like it had been for Sora. In point of fact, it just provided further evidence that Kairi's natural magic talents were proving to be even more apparent than ever. With how the girl was dancing across the battlefield even while unleashing the icy Command Style's power, Ven had a feeling that he would not need to worry about teaching her too much in regards to magic, but he quickly noticed something else. Kairi was clearly going through spells a little too quickly, which would no doubt drain her of her magic energies in short order. Sure, she had a bit of extra magic in her reserves as a Princess of Heart, but all the same, she still had to be careful when using spells so rapidly, otherwise it was going to leave her very exhausted and with nothing to rely on other than her swordplay, which was still in need of some more work, even with her recent improvements.

Luckily, no one had to worry about tiring themselves out in any way, shape, or form at the moment, because shortly after Kairi had unleashed the Diamond Dust finisher, all of the Heartless had been destroyed, and they were all able to relax. "Well, you certainly weren't kidding when you said you could handle a rodeo like that," Woody remarked to the three Keybearers as he and Jessie approached them. "And you definitely seemed to have an easier time dealing with those nasty little critters than we've had."

"Those ain't no critters, Woody. Critters are all nice, sweet, and loving. Those things are just downright bad news," Jessie disputed with a frown.

"You don't know the half of it," Ventus groaned while he dismissed his Keyblade. "They're called the Heartless. Dangerous creatures that prey on the hearts of others so long as there is darkness in their hearts."

"They've actually already destroyed several…uh, towns, including mine and Kairi's home," Sora revealed, a sad frown coming to his face as he thought about Destiny Islands. He quickly shook it off though, and added, "But we're trying to stop them from hurting anyone else, and from destroying anyone else's home."

"Well then, you've got a few good cowpokes right here willing to back you up anyway that we can," Woody reassured them. "So how do we stop them?"

"They're looking for something called a Keyhole. If they find that, they'll be able to destroy the entire town," Kairi informed them. "If we find it first though, we can seal the Keyhole shut and prevent them from getting into it."

"Don't suppose you would know anything about something like that, would you," Jiminy asked after he had hopped back up onto Sora's shoulder.

Woody and Jessie both rubbed their chins in thought, while Bullseye furrowed his brow in a similar manner, until the sheriff of the group said, "Sorry, but no. I don't think any of us have heard of anything like that before, but there can't be too many places where it could be hidden around here."

"You'd be surprised, actually," Ven muttered just low enough for only Kairi, Sora, and Jiminy to hear him, all of whom could only nod in agreement.

"You know, maybe Prospector knows something about it," Jessie suggested, but a minute later she let out a horrified gasp. "Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln! The prospector! Woody, we forgot all about him!"

"What?! Oh no, you're right! We were so busy worrying about the townsfolk we forgot that he had gone out on another gold hunt," Woody exclaimed in panic.

"Wait, wait! Calm down a minute. When you say the prospector, do you mean Prospector Stinky Pete," Ventus asked.

"Yeah, he said this morning he was going up to one of the abandoned mines to look for gold again, but with the attack of those Heartless things, we forgot all about him," Woody explained. "Come to think of it, he's usually come back by now. Something must've happened to him, which means we need to get up to whatever mine he had his sights on this time."

"I think Bullseye knows the one. You went with Prospector to check it out the other day, right boy," Jessie mentioned. Bullseye immediately nodded yes in reply, which served as all that they needed.

"All right, then let's saddle up, partners," Woody declared as he jumped into the horse's saddle, pulling Jessie up so that she was behind him once he was on. He quickly spared a look to the Keyblade team and asked, "Do you think you'll be able to keep up?"

"Don't worry about us; just go! We'll catch up as soon as we can. Besides, if there are any other Heartless along the way, it'll be better if we destroy as many of them as possible," Ventus reassured Woody.

The sheriff nodded at that and turned his attention to the way out of town as he shouted, "Run like the wind, Bullseye!"

With that, the three locals of Roundup Ranch had raced off in the direction of the mine that the prospector was supposedly inside of, leaving the other four with a chance to finally talk freely. "So Ven, how do you really know about those folks," Jiminy asked.

Ventus smiled nostalgically once again and explained, "It's just like I said before. The stories of Sheriff Woody and his Roundup Gang are ones that Aqua, Terra, and I all loved when we were growing up. The only difference is that they weren't stories shared around a campfire or anything like that. It was actually stories of a really old TV show called _Woody's Roundup_. Each of us had at least one toy based off the characters from the show, save for Aqua who had both Jessie and Bullseye. Even though he's Woody's horse, she always insisted that Bullseye liked Jessie better because she was such a good friend to all critters."

"Huh, that's pretty cool. Who would've thought that one of the worlds we would find out here would actually be like your favorite childhood show brought to life," Sora commented with a smile. He then grew a little more thoughtful and said, "Now I can't help but wonder if any of the shows or video games I liked are actually other worlds too."

Ventus could only smirk in response to that, knowing of at least one world that was exactly like that, but he made sure to hide it as best as he could, and simply shrugged as he said, "Who knows? After all, they say that every star in the night sky is the heart of another world, and as I'm sure you know, the number of stars in the sky is endless, which makes the possibilities of what the other worlds may or may not be the same."

Kairi could only smile in good humor, knowing that hearing Ven say that was only to get Sora to start dreaming of teaming up with Buzz Lightyear or something, but she also felt that she had remind the two boys of what they needed to be doing right now. "Maybe we should talk about this more later. Right now, Woody and the others still need our help."

"You're right, so let's stop standing around here and move it out," Ventus ordered, leading the charge out of town and off in the direction that Bullseye and his passengers had run off in, all the while hoping that they would not be too late.

* * *

As it turned out, the mine that was closest to the town was a fair distance away, but given what he knew about the prospector's hunt for gold in the old show, Ven just knew that they were lucky it was not several miles away from them. He was able to remember an episode when Stinky Pete had dragged the Roundup Gang on a very long, tiring excursion that spanned across the half the west at minimum quite well when he thought about how long it had taken them to get here, and after informing Sora and Kairi of that, they both had to agree that this was definitely much better in comparison. At least it probably would have been if there were not several boulders blocking the entrance into the mine, and from the looks of things, it appeared like those rocks had only just recently fallen. When the team had gotten there, Woody and Jessie were already trying their best to move the rocks out of the way, with Bullseye helping a little as well whenever he could, but it did not look like they were going to get very far too quickly and time was likely of the essence here if there were any Heartless inside the mine with Prospector.

They found out just how little time they had to help Stinky Pete shortly after the Keybearers had arrived, because Jiminy quickly caught a glimpse of something that the rest of them seemed to miss. "Hey, I think there's something trying to get out of there," the cricket called out.

Everyone immediately turned and saw that a little jackrabbit was in fact trying to crawl its way out of the mine by going between a couple of the rocks that had blocked the entrance, and Kairi and Jessie both immediately rushed over to help the little guy in his escape. Once they had made the opening big enough, the jackrabbit was soon followed by several other small animals that all looked really panicked, at least until Jessie let out a quick yodel that seemed to calm them down. "Hey critters, what's the matter," Jessie questioned.

The critters all started squeaking at about a mile a minute again, while Sora and Kairi just thought Jessie was being silly in thinking that they could really get some answers from animals like these. They were soon proven wrong when Woody's expression became much more worried after the squeaking finally stopped. "What," the sheriff gasped. "Prospector ended up trapped in the mine after it suddenly caved in because of the Heartless, and the prospector just lit a stick of dynamite thinking it was a candle, and now he's about to be blown to smithereens?!"

The jackrabbit from earlier instantly nodded in reply with another pair of similar sounding squeaks, and while that served to make the Roundup Gang redouble their efforts at digging the prospector out, Sora and Kairi could only gape in disbelief at what had just happened. "He got all of that…from just a few squeaks," Sora asked in disbelief.

"How did he get all of that from a few squeaks," Kairi asked in a similar manner, having just as hard a time believing this as Sora was.

Ventus only smiled and replied, "Because he's Sheriff Woody, the rootinest, tootinest, shootinest, hootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west." When the other members of his team all gave him odd looks in response to that, including Jiminy, Ven grinned sheepishly and explained, "What? So that's a line from the show's theme song, but it isn't any less true."

Sora and Kairi ended up able to do nothing more than smile and nod at that point, feeling that any other response was going to lead the Roundup Gang into realizing they were from another world or Ven into fan-boy rant, but their list of responses quickly grew when the Heartless suddenly began to appear around them once again. The two kids both reacted on instinct and immediately summoned their Keyblades so they could rush into battle once again, only to realize a little too late that most of the Heartless were not interested in attacking them. No, most of the dark creatures were putting their focus into attacking the mine, either to make sure that they did not unblock the entrance before the dynamite went off or to cause another cave in that would crush the prospector beneath the rocks. When he did finally realize this, Sora quickly cast a quick blast of Stop to prevent too many more from getting any closer, leaving Kairi an opening to blast the frozen Heartless with a few rounds of various other spells while he took down the ones that were already at the mine with Ven.

The blonde master was quick to tell Woody and Jessie to keep digging while he and the others held off the Heartless, but he knew that it was going to take a lot more than just the two cowpokes and their horse to unblock the mine, even if they did have assistance from him and his fellow Keyblade wielders. Thankfully, that problem had an easy solution: summon charms, and he knew just the summon for the job in this case, which was why he immediately drew the charm for that person from his pocket the minute he found an opening. "Ahsoka, we need your help," Ven called out as he lifted the charm above his head, and a second later, the Jedi Padawan was standing among the group once more, ready for action. "Help Woody and Jessie unblock the mine entrance while we keep the Heartless at bay. Take down any of the Heartless if they get too close only if you have to."

"You've got it, Sun-Spikes," Ahsoka nodded, and she immediately began using her Force abilities to move several rocks out of the entrance at once, while Ven could only look back at her in mild surprise.

"Sun-Spikes," Ventus muttered, wondering why he was dubbed with that nickname, but he quickly turned his attention back to the fight when a Gunslinger suddenly tried to jump and hit him with the butt of its pistol. He would ask Ahsoka about the nickname later.

Woody paused for only a moment when he saw Ahsoka suddenly appear and start lifting several rocks out of the way just by waving her hands at them, but he quickly brushed it off as unimportant for the moment. Right now, his friend was still in trouble, and the strange girl was helping to get him out of there a lot faster than before, so Woody was not going to complain. Instead, he got as close up to the entrance as he could, and called out, "Prospector, can you hear me in there?!"

"Woody? Woody is that you," a voice called back. "Oh thank goodness! Hurry, I don't think it's going to be much longer before the dynamite in here goes off, and there are a lot of really strange critters appearing down here that look like they want to eat me!"

"Don't worry, Prospector, we'll have you out of there before you know it," Jessie promised as she hefted another large rock out of the way, whilst Ahsoka kept another three from falling into the spot where said rock had previously been.

"Well don't worry, I'm sure I'll have managed to put out the flame on this thing before you get here," Prospector reassured them, probably as a way of trying to keep his friends from getting too worried or because he was about to do something stupid. It turned out to be the latter, because the next time they heard him yell, they all figured that he must have tried sitting on the dynamite's fuse in an attempt to put out the flame. "YEOW! My biscuit's a-burning!"

"Suddenly, I'm reminded of the last episode that my friends and I saw of Woody's Roundup," Ven commented after he heard that, having gotten well into the midst of the battle that the Roundup Gang would have been unable to hear him.

Sora soon spun around to stand back-to-back with his master, with Kairi soon after as she unleashed a few more spells, and once she had, Sora took the time to ask, "What happened?"

"Jessie and Prospector were trapped in the mine, Prospector lit a stick of dynamite thinking it was a candle, and the episode ended with Woody and Bullseye trying to jump a large canyon as they raced to their rescue," Ventus replied before using Freeze Raid to encase several Heartless in ice long enough for him to blast them into oblivion with Thundaga.

"Did they make it in the next episode," Kairi asked as she let loose a few more blasts of Fira and Blizzara in two different directions, only pausing in her barrage to slash at any Heartless that actually got close to her.

Ventus frowned a little at the girl's continued overuse of magic, but he shook it off, knowing that now was not the best time to critique someone's fighting style, and replied, "That was actually the last episode of the series. The show was canceled after that."

"What?! Why would they cancel a show before resolving such a huge cliffhanger," Sora demanded, his disbelief nearly distracting him from the Gunslinger that was about to shoot him full of holes had Kairi not zapped it with Thundara at nearly the last second.

"Hmm…I don't really know. The show was a little old even back then, and we never really bothered trying to find out why it was canceled," Ventus admitted just at the same time as when he fired off Meteor Shower.

"Maybe you should have this conversation at a later date," Jiminy suggested as a reminder of their current situation, and the three were soon returning their attention to the fight that was currently at hand.

Unfortunately, that soon became a little harder when something that Ven was worried about ended up happening sooner than any of them would have liked. Kairi was just starting to cast another barrage of spells, but a mere second after firing off the first two, she suddenly felt overcome with a feeling of exhaustion that made her whole body feel much heavier, almost like her limbs had turned into lead weights. Somehow, she managed to stay standing long enough to bat away a few Shadows and some shots fired by Gunslingers, but after that point, she could not stop herself from dropping to one knee as she panted in exhaustion. The question of what was wrong with her at the moment was soon running through her head so rapidly that she completely missed when more Heartless suddenly materialized near her position and made to attack her. Thankfully, Sora did not miss it, and immediately dashed to the rescue, cutting down the vile creatures before they could come within a hair's breadth of laying a finger on the girl he loved. An instant later, Sora's body had lit up with the power of Destiny Blaze, and he was soon racing across the battlefield even faster than ever to tear through whatever Heartless remained, pausing once or twice to throw out a Shotlock or two for good measure.

Ven noticed Kairi's condition very quickly as well, and immediately rushed in to stand in front of her while firing off a few Shotlocks as well before he passed her an Ether, telling her to drink it all up as quickly as she could. Kairi was not going to argue with him right now, and immediately guzzled it down as fast as she could, nearly choking once or twice when it came close to going down the wrong pipe. The minute the Ether had all gone down her throat, Kairi immediately felt completely rejuvenated, and jumped right back up to join in on the fight once more, instantly going for another magic barrage, much to Ven's displeasure. Really, you would think that she would have learned after draining herself that quickly, but considering the situation they were in, it did make sense that she would fall into a knee-jerk reaction with little time to think it through. His complaints soon disappeared all together when Kairi suddenly began to glow with the power of her own Command Style, and soon enough, she too was racing across the battlefield along with Sora, empowered by the strength of Shooting Star when she did.

Not wanting to be outdone by the two kids, Ven immediately activated his own Unique Tier One Command Style, and soon enough, the Heartless were being blasted away left and right by the powers of the three Keybearers. Even when the dark creatures suddenly gained some extra air support from a few new Heartless that Jiminy identified as Flutterings based on the notes in his journal, the Keybearers did not slow down even the slightest bit. In fact, they actually sped up a little while changing their tactics slightly. While Kairi and Ven focused primarily on the ground forces, Sora turned most of his attention to the Flutterings and unleashed several Shotlocks and long-range spells on them in order to keep them off his friends. Sure, it may have caused him to lose a little bit of power in his Command Style to stop and fire a Shotlock right now, but considering how much better Sora was with Shotlocks than Command Styles, no one was going to complain at the moment.

With all of this going for the three, it made sense that the Heartless were all soon wiped out by the Keybearers, with Ahsoka using her lightsabers to deliver the final blow after clearing one last large boulder for Woody and Jessie. Afterwards, the Jedi Padawan only had enough time to throw out a farewell salute to the three before the magic used to summon her here wore off, leaving the group with the cowpokes and their recently rescued friend. When they looked over to the mine, they immediately spotted Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and a short, rotund man with a grey beard in a red shirt, blue overalls, and large black hat running towards them as fast as they could, shouting for the Keybearers to either take cover or get back, and they were not really planning to argue considering what they knew had been down there with the prospector. Barely even seconds after they had gotten to a safe distance, the mine exploded with a loud boom, and they all looked back to see that anything that was left of the mine was now long gone, much to the rotund man's dismay, confirming for the team that this was most likely the prospector that they had come to try and rescue. Not that Ven really needed any confirmation, since he knew that the moment he saw the shorter man.

"You okay, Prospector," Jessie asked once she had finally caught her breath.

Prospector nodded in reply before he glanced around and moaned, "Aww, I lost my gold." A minute later, one last rock came falling from the mine, this one colored gold and shinning as brightly as the sun, and it dropped right on top of Stinky Pete's head, much to everyone's surprise. "Found it," Prospector moaned.

"I'm not so sure about that, Prospector," Woody informed his friend with a slight grin as he picked up the rock.

After Woody's grin widened a little more, Ven instantly figured out what that likely meant and said, "Let me guess: it's just a chunk of fool's gold?"

"Yep, got it in one, partner," Woody chuckled. He did not really want to laugh at his friend's misfortune, but after seeing the prospector fail in his quest for gold so many times now, it was starting to get a little funny, and the others soon joined in afterwards.

"Ah tarnation," Stinky Pete sighed in misery, only just now realizing all his hard work for today had been for nothing. His quickly perked up a second later with a smile though when he said, "Well, at least I've always got the best treasure a man can have."

"Really," everyone all gasped at once. While Woody and Jessie were surprised to hear that the prospector had found any treasure at all, and Sora and Kairi were curious as to what that treasure could be, Ven was probably more shocked than anyone. He and his friends had seen every episode of _Woody's Roundup_ , so he knew full well that Prospector never found any gold despite all of his best, yet very humorous efforts. Just what the old man was talking about just now, the blonde could not really say, until Prospector explained it.

"Of course. Great friends who care about me so much," Prospector replied with a smile to the rest of the Roundup Gang, earning smiles from said friends in return. He then glanced over to the three Keybearers and slowly added, "And apparently, that includes a few new ones as well…Who're all of you?"

The Keybearers were about to answer when they all picked up on the sounds of more Heartless forming, and quickly turned to see the dark creatures crawling out from the remains of the mine. No doubt these were the ones that had tried coming after Prospector while he was down there, but from the looks of things, it did not seem like they were going to be able to put up much of a real fight, considering that just about all of them were limping along or just struggling to move period. Still, the heroes were not going to take too many chances, and they immediately moved to stand against the Heartless, with Ven and Woody taking the center position of the group with Keyblade and lasso ready for action.

"Reach for the sky," Woody slowly ordered the Heartless, earning a small grin from Ventus when he did.

 _"He said it just like the toy Woody I used to have did whenever you used its pull string,"_ Ven thought to himself excitedly. He managed to keep most of his giddiness down though in order to keep up the serious posture that they needed right now, and the next thing they knew, the Heartless actually ended up making a smart decision and vanished all on their own in a hasty retreat, leaving them to breathe sighs of relief that they would not have to get into another fight again.

Prospector then turned to the group once again, ready to repeat his earlier question, but Ven saw it coming and immediately said, "It's been a very long day that's accompanied by a really long story, Prospector."

"Well, considering what just happened here and how long it'll be before we get back to town, I think we've got time," Woody reminded him.

The Keybearers immediately smiled in response to that, and quickly began explaining to Stinky Pete what they already told the rest of the Roundup Gang while beginning their long trek back to town, all of them noting that they were riding off into the sunset as they did in one way or another.

* * *

When he heard the details of the Keyblade wielders' story, or at least the ones they could share without disrupting the world order, Prospector did indeed confirm that he knew where the Keyhole could be, and much to everyone's surprise, he informed them that it was near the sheriff's building. When they got back, they were more than set to start scouring around that area for the Keyhole until Kairi informed them that it was indeed there, and immediately pointed to where it could be. When the Keyhole appeared seconds later, they were all left in awe by her ability to have sensed that so quickly, and after the day that they had all had, Ven and Sora agreed that Kairi should be the one to seal this Keyhole, if for no other reason than to commemorate her recent awakening as a Keyblade wielder. Afterwards, the Roundup Gang offered to treat the team to some ice cream as thanks for their help with both the Heartless and saving the prospector, and the team would have taken them up on that offer had Ven not received a call from Donald saying that the _Kingdom_ was ready to take off and return to Traverse Town again just seconds after Kairi had sealed the Keyhole. Despite their reluctance, the group knew that they had to get going right away, so they bade Woody and the others farewell for now with a promise of coming back to visit someday soon if they could.

"We'd like that, because I've got to admit, you all are now my new favorite deputies," Woody grinned happily. "Don't be strangers, partners."

"You got it, Woody," Ventus agreed with a smile, and with that, the three began their trek back to the ship. Of course, Ven knew that there was still something that needed to be addressed, and as soon as they were well out of both the Roundup Gang's hearing range and the town, he looked to his two young charges and said, "All right you two, it's time you got a few things settled."

"What do you mean, Ven," Sora immediately asked with a slight tremor in his voice.

"Don't play coy with me, Sora, you and your girlfriend know exactly what I mean," Ventus immediately replied.

"I'm/She's not his/my girlfriend," Kairi and Sora instantly disputed at the exact same time, earning blushes from them a second later.

"That little scene back at Hollow Bastion says otherwise, and clearly a few other things happened between you two that you don't want to share with me yet. Not that I plan on prying," Ventus pointed out with a knowing grin, causing the two's blushes to grow a little more. He then turned serious and said, "A big part of being a Keyblade wielder is to always be true to your heart, and you can't do that if you're not completely honest with at least yourself about your feelings. Just stop denying what you and everyone else already know and get it out there. Besides, like Prospector said, the greatest treasure is our friends, family, and loved ones, so why deny yourselves of that?" When the two said nothing in reply, but instead just looked at each other a little nervously, Ven knew that they were just seconds away from starting that conversation, so he quickly informed them, "Jiminy and I will try to give you as much space as possible, but do us a favor and at least try to get it all out there by the time we've gotten back to the _Kingdom_."

Jiminy quickly jumped out of Sora's jacket and onto Ven's shoulder when he heard that, and with all of that now cleared up, the two moved further up to a point where they were giving the Destiny Islanders some space while still being close enough should they need help at a moment's notice. It was a couple of minutes or so before Sora and Kairi said anything to each other, but it still felt like an eternity before they had finally mustered up enough courage to try and speak up. When they did, they ended up speaking at the exact same time, and immediately fell silent again as they waited for the other to speak. They both then tried to speak up again when they realized this, but ended up repeating the process once more, and a few more times again until they finally ended up just laughing at how silly things were between them right now. It took another minute or so for them to calm down, after which Kairi offered for Sora to go first, mostly because she really wanted to hear what Sora had to say more than anything else right now. Sora would have protested and insisted that Kairi go first, but from the look on her face, he knew that it would have been pointless to argue with her right then, so he quickly went into his speech.

"Kairi, I meant what I said when I used that Keyblade to free your heart," Sora admitted, feeling that it would be better to not beat around the bush. "In fact, I've had feelings for you for years now. It started out as a small crush at first, but over time, I found that there was very little I didn't like about you."

"Just what is it that you like about me," Kairi shyly asked, brushing her hair behind her ear with a small smile as she did, a little nervous about what she would hear and eager to know all the same.

"I like your smile when you're truly happy or excited, how you leap at the chance of a real adventure, the fact you're not afraid to speak your mind on something, the way your eyes shine as we're watching the sunset or stargazing together…There's so many things about you that I like that I feel like it would be easier to list the things about you that I don't like," Sora admitted with a shy smile of his own, but despite that expression, he could not help but feel his confidence building more and more with each second.

"And what exactly about me is it that you don't like," Kairi asked, her tone turning slightly demanding when she asked, almost as if she were daring him to say something he would not like.

"Well the fact that you can be really stubborn sometimes would be one thing," Sora replied, though his smile gave away that he was at least partially joking. When Kairi giggled a bit in response, Sora smiled a little more before becoming serious again as he continued. "I've thought you were the prettiest girl I've ever met for years now, Kairi, and that's never changed, not even once during this whole adventure. I said it before, and I'll say it again if you really need me to."

"And what if I just want you to," Kairi asked.

"I'd say it then too, and any other time as well just so that everyone in all the worlds knew how I felt," Sora replied with a smile, noting that Kairi had moved a little closer to him just now.

Kairi was soon standing so close to Sora that she could feel a few hints of his breath on her skin now, but all the same, she kept her eyes on his, staring into the beautiful blue orbs that had her so memorized for so long now, while she whispered, "Tell me then."

On instinct, Sora raised a hand to cup Kairi's cheek, making her gasp a little when he did as she took in the feeling of his hand caressing her face, but her breath was soon taken away when Sora repeated the same four words he said in Hollow Bastion once again, and with all the same amount of feeling and caring that he had given them before. "I love you, Kairi."

In that instant, Kairi did not need to think at all. She just reached up and pulled him close as she captured his lips in a sweet, chaste kiss which Sora had no problems returning with great vigor. It did not stay all that short though, as Sora was soon wrapping his arms around Kairi's waist while she wrapped hers around his neck in order to hold one another closer while holding their kiss a little longer, neither of them knowing that Ven and Jiminy were both shooting them knowing smiles from where they had stopped up ahead in order to wait for them, after realizing that the two kids had stopped as well. When they finally released each other, Kairi's gaze was just as loving and heartfelt as the one Sora was giving to her, and she had to giggle a little when she said, "I get the feeling that this is what you had promised to tell me after this little adventure was over."

"What," Sora questioned, a perplexed look quickly breaking through his loving gaze.

"Remember back in Atlantica? You promised you would tell me why you couldn't think of Ariel as more than a sister after the adventure was over. Or more accurately, after we got my body back, knocked Riku to his senses, and saved the worlds," Kairi reminded him with a knowing look.

"Oh yeah," Sora chuckled a little sheepishly. "Well…I guess we have technically done at least one of those things, so…"

"Shhh," Kairi hushed with a finger to his lips, silencing Sora's small bit of nervous bumbling before it could really start. "You don't hear me complaining, do you?" When Sora said nothing in response but merely smiled as a hopeful look reached his eyes, Kairi went on to add, "To be honest Sora, you're not the only one of us who's had strong feelings like that for a long time now…Because…I've actually been in love with you since practically the moment when we first met."

When Sora heard that, his grin seemed to light up even more brightly than anything else, and he quickly scooped Kairi up into his arms and spun her around with a victory laugh, earning a chuckle from the redhead in reply when he did. After setting her down on the ground again, Sora quickly took the initiative and started the kiss this time around, with Kairi returning it in full seconds later, neither of them knowing that Ven was taking pictures of them from afar, despite any scolding that Jiminy was dolling out to him for doing so. The blonde had quickly silenced the cricket by pointing out that this was a very happy, memorable moment for the two that he figured they would want to remember later on, and after letting the two have a few more minutes with each other, the blonde finally decided to break up the romance so they could get on with their mission.

While Sora and Kairi were hesitant to break apart, they still did so, knowing that Ven was right to remind them of their mission. After all, Ansem was still a threat and so long as the Keyhole to darkness remained open, there was no telling what could happen to the worlds. They had to get back to Traverse Town as soon as possible, because their friends there needed to know what had happened, and it was the safest place for them to plan right now. They just had to hope that they had not been stranded here for too long.

* * *

 ** _AN: You see? Just it's just like I said last chapter. If you're familiar with how things played out in Keyblades of Future Past, then you most likely know that our heroes went to the world of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in that story, so it made sense to have them travel into Woody's show in this story. Plus, I'm sure you all caught when I referenced the previous story's adventures earlier in the chapter, right?_**

 ** _Sora: I feel like I got teased a lot at that point, to be honest._**

 ** _AN: Ah don't sweat it too much, Sora. It's not like it was anything more than some good natured fun. Anyways, I'm sure you can all see why I had them come to this world in the way that they did. If the team had not crash-landed on Roundup Ranch, this chapter would've ended up being nothing but an unnecessary filler, and since I like Woody and everyone else from Toy Story so much, I was not okay with it being just a filler chapter. Plus, it did have the benefit of letting us see Ven figure out what he had to work with now that Kairi's heart is not inside of Sora and how he could help Kairi get started with her training as a Keyblade wielder._**

 ** _Kairi: I feel like I'm not going to really get that much time training under Ven even if it wasn't near the end of the story._**

 ** _AN: Well, like the blonde said, there was someone who would be much more suited for training you than him, and she is definitely going to get her chance to become your teacher soon enough._**

 ** _Ven: I can't help but notice that you did a bit of Star Trek reference here as well. You know, right around the beginning of the chapter._**

 ** _AN: Well you have to figure that the Keyblade wielders were not always just fighting bad guys all the time back in the early days, so what else could they do besides exploring and discovering other worlds like the crew of the various starships in Star Trek? Personally, I think that it makes a lot of sense that they would be doing that kind of thing. I mean, what's the point of fighting to protect worlds if you don't really go out and explore to see just what you're protecting, right? And when you think about it, a lot of what the team did in KH2 is exactly that as well for a few different worlds. Sure, there were some reunion with old friends, but a good deal of it was still exploring other worlds, even if they were fighting bad guys for the most part._**

 ** _Sora: He has a point._**

 ** _Goofy: Yep, and it was a lot fun seeing all these new places too!_**

 ** _AN: Wrapping up the highlights of this chapter is Sora and Kairi's finally confronting the moments they shared in Hollow Bastion, and it having a rather beautiful and touching resolution to it, if my own opinion counts for anything that is._**

 ** _Ven: I think it would be a little weird if your opinion didn't count for something, considering this is a story that your writing._**

 ** _AN: Good point. Anyways, part of me did want to just let them deal with all of the romantic stuff that's developed in their relationship after getting back to Hollow Bastion, but I feel like it made more sense for them to deal with it as soon as possible, even if they do need a little bit of an extra push. Plus, it would help them to better focus on the jobs that await them later on in the journey, so there's also that._**

 ** _Btw, originally, I was going to add in a few more action sequences to this chapter. Namely, a little scene in the mine where Jessie got grabbed by the Heartless, and the team would chase after her in an effort to save her with Woody and Kairi riding on Bullseye while Ven and Sora rode on Ven's Keyblade Glider, Woody and Sora would jump onto the mine train that Jessie was pulled onto for the final dash, and basically a little rendition of that whole scene at the airport from Toy Story 2. It was a good idea to be sure, but I felt like it made the chapter unnecessarily long, and well...I was not entirely sure how to resolve it at the end. Plus, I had already come up with a new breed of Heartless that would be unique to this world, and I did not want to really do that and come up with a new Heartless Boss as well. It just felt out of place to make an original Heartless Boss here, or really add in any Heartless Boss at all. Besides, I'm sure we all want to get on to the stuff that will happen in the next chapter, right?_**

 ** _Sora: Like what?_**

 ** _AN: Let's find out a few clues, shall we? Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Our heroes return to Traverse Town and reunite with Leon and the others once again so that they may fill them in on what happened on Hollow Bastion. When they hear of this, the Traverse Town gang quickly informs the team that the Heartless had already grown stronger in the haven world, and that it seemed to be the same in all of the other worlds, indicating that they were running out of time to stop Ansem, Seeker of Darkness much more quickly than they would like. Of course, there is more that is revealed here than that, as Ventus finally tells them the truth about the dark being that has taken over Riku's body, and the new information shocks many of them to a great extent. Revelations aside, they still need to prepare for their return trip to Hollow Bastion, and aside from resting, be it the usual way or through a trip into Merlin's book, Ven knows that the best way to do that is to up Sora and Kairi's training to a level that can only be reached in one place. At least as far as he knows. The Keybearers next destination will lead to even more surprises though, and another reunion or two, but will they survive one of those surprises? Enter the arena and all of its mirages if you dare, next time._**

 ** _Well, looks like a lot is going to happen next time, huh? Just to be clear, we'll see someone adding the missing pages from Pooh's book back to where they belong before apparently getting sucked into it, Leon and the others learn about what happened on Hollow Bastion, and Ven takes Sora and Kairi to another world for some intense training where they'll meet up with someone they know. Here's a hint: he's the only other notable person from Destiny Islands that we haven't seen yet, and he's not going to be by himself, either._**

 ** _Kairi: That's not so much of a hint as it is a dead giveaway._**

 ** _AN: You po-tay-toe, I say po-tah-toe. Anyway, I'm sure if you all know BBS, then you've probably already figured out what the next and final new world of this story is going to be from the little hint in the preview, so with that said, I guess there's really only one thing left for me to say..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	21. Reunions, Training, and Going Forward

_**AN: Hey KH Fans, we're back again, and this chapter's a long one, and I don't want to take up too much of your time today so you can get right into it, so there won't be any review answers this time around. And in point of fact, we're also going to be jumping over any discussions with the cast since its just that long. The fact that most of them are so exhausted from all that went into this chapter, rehearsals for the upcoming chapters, and preparations for the immediate sequel and all the sequels after that have nothing to do with it.**_

 _ **Riku: [groaning in exhaustion] I'm barely even in the next story all that much, and I'm still wiped out!**_

 _ **Xion: [groaning in exhaustion] How do you think Roxas and I feel? We're two of the main stars right from the beginning!**_

 _ **Sora: Hey! Mister author, Xion just gave away a spoiler! Can we do a quick gag to punish her before starting?**_

 _ **AN: No time! Big events are happening here! Need to get right into things. Besides, it's not that big of a spoiler. I'm pretty sure I've implied pretty heavily that Xion would be in the sequel to this story a few times already. Now, disclaimer and chapter, go!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XX**

Even though it had been given the minimum amount of necessary repairs, it still took a little while before the _Kingdom_ managed to get off the ground and off the world it had crashed down on. All the same, the team breathed a sigh of relief when they finally managed to get off of Roundup Ranch and put it in their rearview mirror before activating the Warp-G on a course for Traverse Town. While they were on their way, they made it a point to call ahead to Cid in order to let him know that they were probably going to be coming in for a rough landing at the port due to receiving seriously heavy damage, and Cid had assured them that he would be ready for them when they arrived. Apparently, the gummi engineer did not really expect the _Kingdom_ to be as banged up as it was, because when they did come into dock at Traverse Town, Cid's jaw dropped down to the floor, bounced back up, and dropped again at the mere sight of how bad the ship had been damaged. Ven could have sworn that the man looked like he was going to start crying over the amount of harm that had come to the _Kingdom_ , and probably would have laughed at the man for it too if they did not have more pressing needs at the moment. Once he had pointed that out to the gummi engineer, Cid quickly set to work fixing up the gummi ship, with Chip and Dale pitching in while Ventus volunteered to stay behind and help as much as he could while getting a run-down of how long it would take for the trusted ship to be restored to full functionality, leaving Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to call together Leon and the others so that they could inform them of the events that took place in Hollow Bastion.

Once they learned that Leon and the gang were all waiting for them at the Traverse Town crew's new base of operations, the group of four quickly raced over to the Third District as fast as they could, but they quickly found getting there a lot harder than expected. As it turned out, the Heartless that had made Traverse Town their hunting ground were now much stronger than ever, right to the point where some of the more powerful Heartless that they had encountered in Hollow Bastion were appearing in the haven world as well. It did not make much sense as to why so many Heartless would be here now, be it the ones that had appeared here originally or any new ones, because with the Keyhole sealed, there was no reason as to why the Heartless should remain, at least not beyond their base instinct to seek out the hearts of others. Either way, the four found themselves having to fight their way over to the Third District house, and it was not that easy of a fight. Yes, it was easier than fighting the Heartless in Hollow Bastion, but it was still difficult. Naturally, they were all glad when they received a last minute save from Yuffie and Wakka, who provided them with covering fire until they had gotten to safety inside the house, and after Aerith had cast a quick light spell that destroyed the ones that remained while Selphie glomped Kairi in an excited hug to show she was glad to see the redhead again at last, Leon brought everyone's attention onto the group by asking for the adventurers to tell them what happened.

Sora took point on the story-telling for the most part, at least up until the point where he became a Heartless, at which point Kairi stepped in to fill them in on what happened while Sora was a Heartless, and neither one of them held back any information at all. There was not really any point to keeping something secret now, including the fact that Kairi's heart was inside of Sora, and their friends needed to know everything if they were going to so much as understand the new situation they were now in. There were several different reactions throughout the story and after they had finished, though the most notable would be how everyone let out gasps of horror when they heard Sora used the Keyblade on himself to free Kairi's heart, and how mad Selphie got when she found out that Sora knew Kairi's heart was inside of him the whole time and did not tell her or Wakka. The Blitzball player was much more calm about it, even before Sora explained their reasons for not telling the two, so he was a big help in calming Selphie's rage on the matter. That did not mean he did not still punch Sora at least once for withholding that information, but he insisted that it was just because the Kingdom Key wielder still deserved it even if he did understand the reasoning. Sora let Wakka have that, but ultimately shrugged it off, because there was still something more important to deal with: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and the Keyhole that had unleashed such powerful darkness into the worlds.

There was a moment of silence after the story was finally finished, and it rested heavily in the room until Leon finally broke it. "I see. So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole."

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith noted sadly. "The only way to stop it is…"

"Seal the Keyhole, right," Sora asked, proudly displaying Kingdom Key so that everyone could see that he was more than willing and ready to go for it.

"Maybe, but no one knows what will happen once its sealed," Leon informed him.

"Well we can't just stay here. We have to do something," Kairi protested.

"She's right. We've still got a friend back there," Sora added.

"I'm not so sure about that, considering what that _friend_ has done recently," Wakka growled, earning surprised looks from the others. "Come on, after all that he's done, do you really think we can still call Riku a friend? We wouldn't even be in this mess right now if he hadn't started messing around with stuff that shoulda been left alone, ya?"

"It's not all Riku's fault. He's been possessed by Ansem, remember," Sora pointed out.

"Only just recently, ya, but what about before dat? Was he possessed when he did all that other stuff too? Was he possessed when he opened the door that destroyed our home and got us all separated from our friends and families? Or when he teamed up with pirates to keep you from getting Kairi's heart back into her body? Or how about when he fought against you all those times," Wakka immediately questioned.

"No one's saying that Riku hasn't been making some bad, stupid choices lately, but it wasn't all his fault, and he was at least able to hold Ansem back long enough for us to get away," Kairi reminded, trying to stick up for her friend.

"Yeah, he held him back, but if he could do that, then why didn't he try to hold Ansem back when he was fighting with Ven and Sora, huh? Why wait until after Sora had practically sacrificed himself to actually do something to help," Wakka demanded. "You ask me, Riku's long gone, and there's no saving him now. Besides, he wanted to get away from home so bad he let it get destroyed, so if that means he gets possessed by some creep while da rest of him is sent off to somewhere else, then I say good riddance!"

"Wakka! What's the matter with you? None of us are saying that Riku's innocent, but you can't really mean any of that, can you? Sora and Kairi are right, he's still our friend and he needs help," Selphie shouted, hardly believing that her friend was so willing to write Riku off like that.

"I…I know. I'm sorry, but it's just been getting really tough, ya," Wakka sighed in defeat, proving that he was just venting without really meaning anything behind it. "The Heartless have all suddenly gotten stronger, the guy we all thought was good is actually the one behind all of this, there's still no sign of Tidus, and…we can't just keep going like this forever, ya know? Sure, fighting Heartless and keeping people safe is all well and good, but there's only so much we can do, ya?"

No one wanted to admit it, but Wakka did have a point. They could fight the Heartless while protecting everyone here all they wanted, but at the end of the day, it was just a stalling tactic that would not last forever. Not only that, but like Leon said, even if they did seal the Keyhole, there was no guarantee that the Heartless would disappear or even get weaker. For all they knew, the dark creatures could actually end up getting worse, or something else just as dangerous might happen, so going forward with any plan definitely had a wellspring of risks. Everyone was feeling the weight of that falling on top of them, and they were all soon hanging their heads in dismay as they thought about all of this more and more. At least until someone finally spoke up again to remind them why they had to keep going.

"We can't just give up," Kairi insisted with a smile and an upbeat tone. "We still have a chance to set things right. We can still seal the Keyhole, save Riku, and get everyone's homes back to the way they were before all of this had happened."

"And how do you figure that," Yuffie asked. She was feeling a little better after hearing Kairi say that, but she was still curious on how they were going to pull off what she wanted them to try and do.

"Because one of us has already beaten the darkness countless times, saved his friends, and returned from the darkness," Kairi reminded everyone, looking to Sora with pride and love when she did. "Sora not only used Riku's Keyblade to free my heart and return it to my body, but he managed to beat the darkness and come back to us. He might have had others to help him, but all we did was give him a push and a vague direction. Everything else was all him."

"She's right," Leon immediately agreed, surprising everyone a bit. "Not only that, but Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts, just like that Keyhole you all saw. Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Meaning that Sora's not just saved himself and Kairi from the darkness, he's also saved the other princesses as well. If anyone can save his friend, he can."

Sora was flattered by the confidence everyone seemed to have in him, but he was not entirely sure how much of it he really deserved. Yeah, he did do all of the things that they said he had, but it was not like he did it alone. He had help from all of his friends, be it ones he knew or had only met once, and he was just acting off instinct most of those times. Well, instinct and the things that Ven had taught him, but that was beside the point. Could he really save Riku? Looking around at the others, he began to think that maybe it was possible that they were right, and he found himself remembering one of the most important lessons he had learn since this journey started. He did not need to know if it was possible; he just had to believe, and it would become possible, be it because of his own actions or not. Sora was not going to leave any of his friends to fall into darkness now or ever, and that included Riku.

With his resolve now firmly secured, Sora felt that he was now ready for anything, but before he could comment, Aerith felt the need to speak up again. "There's something else about all of this that bothers me," the kind hearted woman admitted. "I know that the darkness is stronger now than before, but I thought it would be much stronger once that Keyhole was completed."

"Seriously? The only way it can get any stronger is if all the worlds had already fallen to darkness," Selphie pointed out, hardly able to buy what Aerith was trying to say.

"No, I think Aerith has a point," Kairi revealed. "I can't explain it, but I've felt like something more powerful than any darkness that's been unleashed until now was inside of that Keyhole. Something really dangerous that scared me completely, but for some reason, it hasn't come out yet. All that we've seen until now is the Heartless getting stronger while more powerful Heartless are also appearing in places that they did not before like how there are now Defenders and Darkballs appearing here in Traverse Town."

"It's almost like something is holding the darkness back," Aerith added on.

"Which is all the more reason why we need to get back to Hollow Bastion right away," Sora declared, pulling the room's attention onto him. "We're not out of this fight just yet, so I say we head back and show that we're not going to stop no matter what."

"Hate to break it to you, but we're not going to be able to go anywhere near Hollow Bastion right now," Ventus's voice announced, and everyone immediately turned just in time to see the blonde walk in with a downcast expression. "All scans that Cid and the _Kingdom_ have done of the pathway there showed that there are Heartless ships swarming every inch of the route. Any attempt at flying straight there is going to end in disaster, even if you're flying the best gummi ship ever designed by the great gummi block engineer in all of the worlds."

"So we can't get back at all," Donald asked.

"I didn't say that," Ventus pointed out. "Cid's already got a way around that, and it's one that allowed him to bring himself, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith here when Radiant Garden fell and became Hollow Bastion." The blonde ignored the confused looks that were shared between the three he had just mentioned, because this was far more important. "He has a special navigation gummi that reveals a wormhole passage way that will lead us around the Heartless ships and right up to the doorstep of Hollow Bastion. After arriving here, Cid removed it from his own ship and hid it in the secret waterway, not just to keep others from finding it and accidentally leading all of those Heartless here, but also in case he ever needed it again."

"Well, I'd say that we definitely need it now, so how about you guys go get it and have Cid install it on your ship," Yuffie encouraged.

"And we will, but even without that gummi, we won't be going anywhere for a few hours," Ventus revealed sadly. "Just installing that gummi is going to take time, and that's without accounting for how heavily damaged the _Kingdom_ is after that last fight she was in. Adding that bit of repair work in with the installation of that gummi is going to take hours at best, even with Cid, Chip, and Dale all working together nonstop."

"Which means we're stuck waiting here for now," Goofy finished sadly.

"Well, you're partially right, Goofy," Ventus corrected. "Yes, we're stuck here, but there are other things we can do besides just sitting around and waiting. For one thing, we can finally return those missing pages to Merlin's book, and help Kairi to better hone her magic talents as well. Not only that, but we can also take advantage of this time to get some very overdue rest in, and I highly recommend you get that rest in particular, Sora."

"What? But I'm not even that tired," Sora protested.

"Maybe, but you did just get pulled back from the darkness, and we have no idea how much of an adverse effect that may have had on you. For all we know, you're going to collapse at any minute. Besides, it's not like any of us have really done that much sleeping since we started this journey."

Sora would have argued with that if a yawn did not choose that moment to slip past his lips, earning amused smiles from everyone in the room. "Okay, fine. Can I at least go with you guys to return the pages to Merlin's book and get that navigation gummi first, though," he conceded with a quick last request.

Ventus thought it over for a minute before he finally shrugged and said, "Oh, okay why not? You and Kairi go on ahead to Merlin's and I'll meet you guys there. There are a few things I want to discuss with Leon and the others really quick."

Sora and Kairi nodded in response and quickly rushed out with Donald and Goofy so that they could head for Merlin's, and as soon as they were out the door, Leon decided to get right to the very matter that Ventus wanted to talk about. "They're not going to be ready for what they'll face in Hollow Bastion as they are now."

"Yeah, I know," Ventus admitted. "If we want to survive that onslaught, we'll need them at their best. Not the ideal best, because that's still very out of reach, but definitely at the best they can achieve right now."

"Well you're not going to get them there with a little nap and some magic practice," Leon remarked. "It's going to take a lot more than that."

"So we help them practice and get better. They'll be better than the rest before you know it with our help, ya," Wakka declared, sounding absolutely confident, and there was no doubt that he really did believe that idea.

"Yeah, we'll have Sora and Kairi up to the level of masters before you know it," Selphie agreed, obviously thinking along the same lines as Wakka.

"I'm sure they would appreciate that as much as I do, you two, but it's going to take a lot more than just some sparring practice with friends. In point of fact, it's going to take a lot more than they can get training just anywhere, even if they were to train at Olympus Coliseum," Ventus replied. After a moment, a small smirk started to form on his face as he finished, "And I know just the place where that kind of training is possible, but we can't go without those two getting something special first." He looked to Leon and his friends again, and asked, "Did you guys happen to find the items I told you about after I first got here?"

"Yep. We even found enough for two. Why do you ask," Yuffie asked. Ventus did not say anything at first, but instead just simply continued to smirk with some eagerness. As it turned out, that was all the answer that he needed to give, because the others all quickly caught on. "You can't be serious," the ninja of the group gasped.

"Believe me, I am," Ventus replied. "I truly believe that there is no better time than now. The worlds need a lot more than just a pair of Keyblade wielders right now."

* * *

The first thought that came to Merlin's mind when he saw Sora and his friends come in was that they were back for more magic training. While that was partially true, they soon revealed that they were there for other reasons, and the first of those reasons was to return the missing pages to the special book he was still keeping on a small desk. Before that though, Sora quickly went to talk to Fairy Godmother in order to get the summon charm he had recently found restored, and once that was done, they quickly returned the pages to their rightful place. They figured that they would just place the pages in the book and hope that Merlin would use a spell to make sure the pages stayed, or that people would just be careful when reading it in the future, but to their surprise, Merlin did not need to cast any spells at all. Instead, the pages magically reattached themselves into the book, with any signs of the tears vanishing the minute that they were in.

"Whoa! I guess that book really is just as special as Merlin and Ven said," Goofy noted.

"Oh, the book is special for reasons beyond just that, Goofy," Merlin informed the knight. "After all, it does contain an entire world inside of its pages."

"So is there some way to get into this world," Kairi asked, honestly curious about the whole matter.

"Oh I don't think so," Merlin replied. "You could access a part of it to gain new powers to be certain, but that was before it fell into such a damaged state, back when Ven and his friends had first found and read it themselves."

Whatever was said next, Sora had not noticed, because his attention was firmly fixed on the book in front of him. He was very curious about how a world could be inside of a small book, but more than that, he felt like the book was calling to him, or rather, something inside of the book. He could not explain why he felt that way, but he did not hesitate in approaching the book and opening it up again. Looking through its pages, Sora saw what looked like a map of a small forest, with small drawings of what appeared to be animals around certain locations, but what he did not see were any words. Despite that, he could somehow see various different stories unfolding from within this book, almost like he was right there in the middle of them, and he was so fascinated by that, he never once realized that the book had started glowing until the light had grown too bright for him to keep his eyes open while Kairi cried out his name in what sounded like startled panic.

When Sora opened his eyes again, he was surprised to find that he was no longer in Merlin's study, but a wide, open field in the middle of a forest beneath a clear, open sky. Looking around, Sora found that aside from the green grass, there was nothing in the clearing, until his eyes finally rested on a large log that was sitting in the middle of the clearing, and from where he was, Sora could see that there was something sitting on top of the log. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Sora decided to take a closer look and walked up to the log, until he was close enough to see that the thing he saw was actually what appeared to be a small, stuffed toy bear in a red shirt. What came as especially surprising was that the bear was moving and speaking all on its own, and from what he could tell, the little guy seemed to be really deep in thought on something.

"Think, think. Think, think," Sora heard the little bear mutter once he got close enough, and given that he did not react badly to his approach, Sora figured that the bear was not harmful, so he might as well see if he could help somehow.

"Hi there. What's wrong," Sora asked once he was close enough.

"Nothing. Just thinking," the bear replied.

"Oh," Sora nodded. "What about?"

"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh," the bear informed him.

"Pooh?"

"Yes," the bear asked, but the way he said it almost sounded like he was letting someone know they had his attention, which quickly clued Sora in on something.

"Wait a second. You're Pooh," Sora asked as he settled into a spot next to the little bear.

"Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short. Who are you?"

"I'm Sora."

"Oh. Hello, Sora. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too," Pooh asked, and while it was a sad question, he said it with a surprising amount of innocent curiosity that Sora had to wonder if he was upset if that was the case.

"Well, no," Sora replied with a small laugh. "Why would I do that? We've only just met."

"Because everyone's gone away," Pooh replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood," Pooh explained. "And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh Sticks, and every day, I'd eat some honey. Just one small smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone. All my friends, and my favorite Hunny Tree too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think…So, who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself?"

As Pooh started thinking on his conundrum again, Sora began to think on a few things as well. Could Pooh's friends' disappearance have anything to do with how the book had lost some of its pages? It definitely made a lot of sense, and it would explain how Pooh's Hunny Tree would have disappeared all of a sudden, so maybe returning the pages into the book brought it all back. It was certainly worth looking into, and doing this definitely seemed like a nice relaxing job in comparison to either training or fighting the Heartless like he had been lately. Besides, Ven just said that he had to get some rest. He did not say how he needed to get that rest, so that made his decision easy.

"Hey Pooh, maybe your friends have come back while you were thinking. Why don't we go and look for them," Sora offered, and the idea seemed to make Pooh very happy, so the two were off to find the bear's friends.

* * *

Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Merlin all stared at where Sora had previously been reading the mysterious book, hardly believing their eyes. One minute, Sora was reading the book, the next thing you knew, the book was lit up like a sun, and Sora had vanished into thin air while the book had dropped back onto the desk it had previously been resting on. While Merlin just looked on in curiosity, the other three were all experiencing a sense of déjà vu, and with it came a feeling of dread, because the last time that Sora had vanished like this, he had reappeared as a Heartless. Not one of their best memories in so many different ways, and Kairi really hoped that this was not the case. None of them were sure what had happened to Sora, but thankfully, someone did, and they did not hesitate to give it.

"Well, it seems that Sora found a way to access the book's powers after all," Merlin remarked as he stroked his beard.

"He did," Donald and Goofy both asked in surprise at the same time.

"As I've said, the book contains an entire world inside of it, and after falling into a damaged state, its powers had changed. Apparently, one can now access that world by simply reading the book," Merlin explained.

"Well, can't we get him out," Kairi asked.

"Hmm…I believe we might be able to, but it would be wise to not attempt anything should there be a risk to the world inside the book," Merlin replied.

"I wouldn't worry about him too much," Ven's voice suddenly said, and they all turned to see the blonde entering the room with a small smile on his face. "There's nothing in that book that could be considered a threat, so if anything, Sora will just be getting a nice relaxing break for a little bit. If I'm right, when he does come back out, it'll be his choice, and he'll be much more rested than he would be just from taking a nap." He then paused for a moment before finishing, "But I'm still planning on making him get some sleep before we go back to Hollow Bastion."

"So we just need to wait for him to come out," Kairi asked, relief clear as day in her voice.

"Pretty much, and while we're waiting, we can help you practice your magic," Ventus informed her. "We don't want you to wear yourself down into exhaustion because of back-to-back casting again like you did before on Roundup Ranch."

Kairi immediately nodded in reply, instantly agreeing with Ven's decision. She could well remember how horrible it felt to suddenly drop down in exhaustion like she had during that particular fight, and she was not too eager to repeat that experience. If practicing her magic would help her avoid that, she was all for it, so they quickly moved up to the study where Merlin had helped Sora to hone his magic and set to work at once. Even while they were doing that, Kairi could not help but wonder what Sora was doing inside that book right now, while at the same time worrying about Riku's current state. Wakka may have been right in that so many of the tragedies they had been dealing with up until now were his fault, but despite all of that, Riku was still their friend, and one of her best friends. Add in the fact that he had helped to save both her life and that of her newest friends, despite his initial feelings towards some of them, and Kairi was just as sure as Sora that they could still help Riku.

* * *

Darkness. Vast, endless darkness. That was all that he could register beyond the ground which he walked on at the moment, and he could barely feel anything else, including his own body. He had a faint sense of his being, but just barely enough to know that he was on the edge of life and able to move. More than that, he could also feel an odd sense of pain throughout his body. It was hard to really describe it, but if he had to narrow it down, he would have to say that it was close to a sensation of burning and flash freezing at the same time, if that made any sense. Physical pain was nothing to him at the moment, because right now, Riku was feeling far more pain in his heart.

"Sora…Kairi…I'm sorry," Riku muttered aloud, as he struggled down the winding path he was currently on. He had done so much to harm them, never realizing that he was doing so despite his best efforts to do the opposite. Well, maybe not entirely in Sora's case, but he was still trying to help them both, and yet look what happened. Their home was gone along with most of their other friends and family, Sora doubtlessly hated him for keeping Kairi's body away when all he wanted to do was get her heart back into it, and let's not forget about how he had insulted both his friend and the blonde master that had taken on his younger friend as an apprentice. That last one did make Riku a bit jealous of Sora, even without the fact that Sora had gained a Keyblade while he did not, but that was no excuse for how he had responded. Now, all Riku wanted to do was find a way to make sure his friends were okay, but given what this place seemed to be, that might be a little harder than he would have liked.

"Is this the afterworld," Riku questioned. A moment later, he found himself stumbling a little while something started to grab hold and pull on him, like it was trying to pull him under water and hold him there until he drowned. Riku was not one to go down easily though, and he was not going to start now. "I'm not ready. Not yet," Riku groused. "Not until I see Sora and Kairi one last time…"

After he said that, something else suddenly reached his senses, and it was far different from what he had been feeling when he first came to in this place. This was not the same odd sense of pain or drowning he felt before though. If anything, this was so far different, one could say that it was like night and day, and more than that, this definitely belonged to a person who felt very familiar to Riku. He was not sure where, but he did feel like he had felt a presence like this somewhere once before a long time ago. Then, it seemed to either vanish or fade away just as quickly as it had came. Riku was already questioning what that could have been when another one suddenly reached his senses, similar to the first but different at the same time. Partly because this did not feel familiar to him at all, but mostly because this one actually spoke to him in his mind.

 _"Riku, can you hear me? I'll be there soon,"_ a voice called out, no doubt belonging to whoever emitted this new presence.

"Who is that," Riku called out as he attempted to find the person speaking, only to find nothing but the surrounding shadows. He did not receive a straight answer though, but then again, the answer he did get gave him a few clues.

 _"I'm trying to get the other Keyblade,"_ the voice revealed. _"The one that belongs to this world."_

"Huh," Riku questioned, not quite understanding what the voice meant by that or why he was telling him this.

 _"There are two versions of every Keyblade, one that exists in the Realm of Light, and a copy of it that exists in the Realm of Darkness, and if we are to survive the darkness that is threatening the worlds, we needed a Keyblade from this world that is the opposite and equal to one of the newest ones. The one that chose your friend Sora as its wielder."_

"So then why are you telling me this," Riku asked.

 _"Because I need your help as much as I need Sora and Ven's,"_ the voice said. _"I've been trying to get through to you, but the darkness in your heart kept me away."_

"How can I help? I've done nothing but hurt my friends and the worlds ever since I left my home," Riku questioned. "I've made nothing but bad choices lately."

 _"You made some misinformed choices, but the fact you regret your actions is a sign that you can still overcome and truly control the darkness, just like the one who passed the power to wield a Keyblade down to you. Besides, you can still help make things right."_

"Before that, can you tell me what's happened to me," Riku asked, and the answer came very quickly.

 _"Your heart won the battle against darkness, but it was too late for your body. That's why you're here, in this place of darkness where hearts are gathered."_

Riku let that stew for a minute, and took that to mean there was still a chance for him to get back, and that made it easier for him to ask the next obvious question. "So what do I do?"

 _"The Door of Darkness will open soon, but it's a door we can't enter,"_ the voice explained, and Riku was about to protest against that until this mystery person preempted that question. _"It has to be closed from both sides. To do this, you need two keys and two hearts. In order to make absolutely sure of this, we can use a second pair of hearts and keys. The other two keys don't have to be reflections of each other like the two Kingdom Keys. It'll work so long as they are both Keyblades of true wielders. Maybe you're here for one of the same reasons that I am. Maybe it was fate."_

"Fate, huh," Riku scoffed lightly, but he was willing to believe just about anything at this point. "You seem to know everything, don't you? Then tell me: Are Sora and Kairi okay?"

 _"Don't you feel the echoes of their hearts,"_ the voice asked in reply. _"You already know the answer. Look inside your own heart."_

Riku did just that, closing his eyes to better focus, and when he did, he could feel the light of his friends shining in his heart. Not just shining, it was radiating brighter than it ever had before, at least to his knowledge, and somehow, he could feel they were still going to come after him in an attempt to save him, and feeling this made Riku smile an honest smile. If his friends were not going to give up on him then he could not give up yet either. Still, that left one thing unanswered. "Do you know what that other presence I felt before was? The one I felt just before you started speaking to me," Riku asked. "It felt like a very strong light, but then it seemed to fade away, and I could swear that I had felt it before."

 _"What,"_ the voice exclaimed in surprise. It was then silent for a moment before saying, _"I guess this means you're here for all the same reasons that I am, because if you could sense that light, then it means that you can help me save the person it belongs to. But if that light did suddenly fade like you said it did, then that means we're running out of time to help her. Please, help me save her?"_

Riku could only smile a little more before he nodded and said, "Okay. Might as well do some good while I still have the chance."

He soon heard the voice send him some thanks, and he was off once again, this time with two directions to go in. Out of those two though, he was more focused on getting to that light that he had first sensed a moment ago, because it belonged to someone who needed to be saved from darkness.

* * *

Kairi's magic training, while productive, was a bit slow in its progression. It was not that she was not capable of getting better with her magic abilities, she certainly did, and all the way up to the level of being able to use some very impressive and powerful spells like Firaga, Curaga, and more, but the real problem was that she was too quick to jump right from one spell to the next. Ven had done his best to shake her out of doing so, knowing that it would lead her to exhaust herself mid-battle like it had the last time, but helping her to break that habit was proving difficult. He did his best to make it clear that she needed to not cast so many spells in a row so rapidly, but helping her to put that exercise into practice was another matter.

"Don't just cast spells back to back like you're trying to cast them all at once. Pace yourself and try to take a pause in between or do something that doesn't require magic every so often," Ventus had coached time and again, and Kairi would simply nod and heed his advice for a moment before going right back to her rapid fire of spells again. Thankfully, it took a bit longer every time, so Ven was sure that she would get it eventually. He still made a note to buy as many Ethers at Huey, Dewey, and Louie's shop before they left though.

Aside from that, he also had Kairi practice unleashing her personal Tier One Command Style, thinking she might be able to use it already after seeing Sora use it against Ansem, but while she was able to access said ability, it took a long while for her to do so. This definitely proved an earlier point of his when he said that watching others unleash certain powers was a lot different from using them yourself, because despite being able to use an ability that was unique to her, it was still the first time that Kairi was using Command Styles herself, so the feeling was still new to her. Shotlocks on the other hand came a little more easily to her, and she managed to unleash two or three different ones. It may not have been as many as Sora could use, but definitely an impressive amount for someone who's just started. In fact, she eventually managed to use the same Shotlock that Sora had defeated Maleficent's dragon form with, which she revealed to be named Starlight Storm, and Ven had to admit, it looked a lot more beautiful when she used it.

They were just about to move on to the next round when Merlin called up to let them know that Sora had finally returned from the book, putting an end to the magic practice so that they could rush down and see him. When they arrived in the main study, they found that sure enough, Sora was back and looking much more relaxed and rested than he been before he had gone into the mysterious book, and he was smiling a great deal as well. Seeing that smile quickly brought smiles to the faces of the rest of his friends, while prompting Kairi to joke, "Guess you had quite the vacation in there. I'm a little upset you didn't bring me along now."

"I'm a little upset that I didn't get a chance to bring you with me too," Sora quipped in response. "You would've liked meeting everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood."

"We have no doubt about that, and while I am glad to see you well rested again, Sora, did you guys ever get around to getting that navigation gummi Cid will need so we can get back to Hollow Bastion," Ventus asked with an amused smile, clearly already knowing the answer even before the smiles that the others had turned sheepish with matching chuckles. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"Sorry Ven, but we got a little more curious about the book when we saw it apparently repair itself after we placed the pages into it," Goofy explained.

"Plus, I had a new summon charm I needed Fairy Godmother to revive while we were here," Sora added, pulling out the charm in question to show Ven. Looking at the charm, one could see that it was gold and red in color, with the image of a fire-breathing dragon curling around on the medallion's center. "I figure that it must be pretty powerful based on both the image on it and the fact that I found it after we beat Maleficent the second time on Hollow Bastion."

Ven studied the charm for a minute before he replied, "I think you might be right, Sora, but if it doesn't turn out to be what you think, try not to be too disappointed. After all, it's not wise to judge a book by its cover." When Sora nodded in reply, Ven smiled and said, "Now, let's go and get that gummi so that Cid can install it and finish up with the repairs to our ship."

The team immediately agreed, and after getting permission from Merlin, they quickly took the secret path from his study to the waterway to retrieve the navigation gummi. Admittedly, it made sense that Cid would hide it here, since it was not a place that you would hide very many things, but that same reason also made it hard to figure out where the thing could be hidden. There were very few places that something could be hidden which was also easy to remember, and they all doubted that Cid would have hidden it under one of the rocks or in the water, so they had a hard time figuring out where it would be. At least it would have been difficult if Kairi had not noticed something that the others had passed off as unimportant before. Down in a corner of the waterway, there was a small mural of a shinning sun in the middle of a blue sky with some fluffy white clouds that broke off into a pair of waves. It was truly beautiful, but there was something about it that Kairi found to be a little hypnotizing in its own way.

Feeling that it was too hard to ignore, Kairi slowly walked over to it, drawing the boys' attention to her the minute her feet hit the shallow water. They all watched as she came closer and closer to the mural, until the mural suddenly flashed with a faint light and then changed into a crescent moon in the middle of a night sky, surrounded by small stars. When it did, Kairi quickly held out her hands so that she could catch something that had fallen from where the moon was on the mural. When she looked down at the item she now had in her hands, she immediately grinned and rushed back over to show the rest of the team, letting them see that it was in fact the very navigation gummi that they were looking for and bringing grins to their faces as well.

"I get the feeling Cid had Merlin or Aerith's help in hiding this," Ventus muttered under his breath with a smile, since he knew that Cid was not too big a fan of magic. He then turned serious again when he turned to Donald and Goofy, and asked, "You guys take this on over to Cid and meet us back at Leon's place. We're going to stay here for a couple more minutes."

The two animals nodded in response and set out, leaving the three Keybearers behind for a moment. Even after they were sure that the two had departed, they all remained silent for a few moments. Sora and Kairi did not say anything because they believed that Ventus had something to tell them, and while the blonde did in fact have some information he needed to share, he was not entirely sure how to tell them what he knew, so he kept quiet. This all made the silence rather heavy, but it was far from awkward. If anything it was actually rather peaceful and somewhat comforting. After all, you do not always need to say anything when among good friends. Sometimes, a little silence can be rather relaxing, as it showed that you had confidence and trust in the friends around you. That does not mean that it should last too long though, and it was starting to reach that point rather quickly for the three.

Eventually, right when it was reaching the point where it would become awkward, Ven finally spoke up, noting the mural that Kairi had pulled the navigation gummi from when he did, feeling it would make a good icebreaker for this conversation. "It's a lovely mural, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Sora admitted.

"Almost hypnotizing, really," Kairi agreed. Her gaze soon turned wistful while a smile slowly stretched across her face, as she whispered, "A light at the end of the tunnel…"

"Oh yeah, like your grandma's story, right," Sora asked in remembrance.

"Right," Kairi smiled in response, glad to hear that he remembered that memory she showed him, while Ven looked between them with a look of slight confusion. Of course, that expression was just a cover for the knowing look in his eyes, since he had a pretty good idea what they were talking about, but he was not going to tell them about that. If he did, it would lead to him having to explain a long list of things that would be hard to really explain or even believe.

Sora grinned a little at seeing Kairi smiling again, when he thought of something. "You want to know something a little funny," he asked, and he did not hesitate to answer before they could ask him to explain. "I get the feeling that if Ven never told me you were in my heart, I would've looked everywhere for you, not knowing you were with me all along until we finally arrived in Hollow Bastion. It actually makes me wonder how different things would be if I didn't know, and it kind of scares me a little. Makes me think I would've been a lot more reckless in a lot of my battles or on all the different worlds we visited, never really caring for my own safety that much without knowing that you were at risk too. I'm glad that I knew you were with me the whole time."

"I'm sure it wouldn't have been that bad, Sora," Kairi reassured him. "You're really strong on your own, and you do have…a few moments of being smart."

"Hey, what do you mean 'a few moments,'" Sora pouted in response, earning a small chuckle from Kairi when he did, which ultimately broke down his attempt at appearing offended so that he could join in on the laughter, with Ven doing the same a moment later.

"I'm glad that we're finally together for real, Sora," Kairi admitted with a tender smile once the laughter had died.

"Me too," Sora nodded. "Now, it's time to get Riku back."

Kairi's smile fell a little when she heard that, and she decided it was time to come clean. "Sora, do you really think we can help Riku? I mean, so much has happened with him since this journey started, and despite what I said, I have to admit that Wakka had a point in what he said. Do you think it'll ever be the same again between us? Even if things hadn't gone the way they had, Riku's still lost his…"

Ventus could tell that despite what had happened, and any worries she had about being around their friend again, Kairi could not bear to really think about what had happened to Riku when he was taken over by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He could not really blame her. He felt the same way when he heard about what had happened to Terra, so he could easily relate, even if he did not have anything to say in reassurance. Thankfully, someone did, and while he knew the kid pretty well by now, he was still surprised that Sora did have something to say on it. "When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember," the boy asked Kairi. "Sure, Master Aqua gave me a small push, but it was you who really helped me to come back. I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things. My friends, who I was…The darkness almost swallowed me, even with Master Aqua giving me a small push out, but then I heard a voice…Your voice. You brought me back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't," Kairi told him with a smile.

"That's it," Sora suddenly cheered, surprising the other two a little. "Our hearts are connected, and the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me."

"I'm sure it is," Ventus confirmed for him, reminding the other two that he was there, even if they had not totally forgotten about him. "The power of the bonds we form in our hearts with those we care about most can always shine through any darkness, because that's one of the lights that never go out, no matter what happens."

"No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within," Kairi quoted from her grandma's story with a smile.

"I guess it's more than just a fairy tale," Sora remarked with a smile.

"And it always will be," Ventus confirmed with a matching smile of his own, to show how confident he was about that.

"Guess that will make us even better when we go back to stop Ansem and seal the Keyhole," Kairi reasoned with a grin of excitement.

"Wait, what? No, you can't go with us. It's way too dangerous," Sora immediately insisted.

"You're kidding right," Kairi asked in disbelief. "We made it this far by sticking together. Even if you have Ven and the others with you, I won't let you go without me. Besides, I'm a Keyblade wielder now, too, and Ven's been helping me get better with my magic while you were in that book."

"She may still have a bit left to learn, but she definitely shows a lot of promise and could be a huge help. After all, it might be better to have three Keyblade wielders in this little adventure," Ventus admitted.

"I know that, but…I just…" Sora tried to think of a good excuse for Kairi to stay behind, beyond the fact that he just did not want her to go because he did not want her to get hurt. Sure, it was a good sign that he cared about her and her safety, but he also knew that Kairi was one of those girls who did not appreciate being treated like a fragile doll, especially if they had a way to keep themselves safe like she did. In the end, he gave up and came clean. "I just don't want to see you get hurt after I just got you back."

To his surprise, Kairi did not get mad, but instead, she actually gave him a small, cute smile and said, "I know, Sora, but I don't want you to get hurt, either, and that's why I have to go with you. I want to do whatever I can to help make sure that you're safe, and that we can all come back home after this is over. More than that, I don't want to be separated from you after being with you through all of this."

"Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore, right," Sora asked in friendly reminder.

Kairi only smiled in reply in response, with a small giggle, and said, "You know, I can help a lot more than you think. Besides, I'm going to figure out some way to come along no matter what you or Ven say."

While Sora was starting to feel annoyed by this, Ven could not help but smile when he eventually said, "You know, you're a lot like Aqua. She refused to just sit back and watch her friends get into trouble too, and even made it a point that she was not going to just sit back and wait for us to come back if she could help out somehow."

Sora looked between his master and the girl he loved for a few minutes, until he finally sighed in defeat and said, "Okay, you guys win, but can you please promise that you'll try to be careful, Kairi?"

"Sure, Sora," Kairi nodded. She then paused for a minute before reaching into one of her pockets and grabbing Sora's hand so she could place something in it. "Take this," she said, prompting Sora to look down and see the same good luck charm he saw her making the day they were making their final preparations for their voyage with Riku, now fully completed. Thinking of that, Sora felt almost like that was a lifetime ago, but it did make him smile when he saw the star-shaped charm made out of seashells. His smile grew a little bit when he saw that it had a smiley face on the top point, but he had to wonder if she had tried making the face look a bit like his when she added it. "It's my lucky charm," Kairi told him. "Be sure to give it back to me when this journey is finally over."

Sora smiled a bit and promised, "Don't worry. I will."

"Promise," Kairi asked.

"Promise."

A minute later, Kairi's good luck charm suddenly flashed with a small light, and something suddenly shot up out of it, hovering in the air before it slowly dropped into Sora's free hand. When the light dimmed, it revealed a Keychain that had a charm which looked just like Kairi's good luck charm, attached to a chain that looked like a strongly woven braid. "Whoa," Sora gasped. "What just happened?"

"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes," Ventus admitted, drawing the other two's attention to him. "It seems that Kairi's good luck charm, and the bond that you two share actually gave birth to a Keychain for a whole new Keyblade; one that has not existed until now. I've heard that such a thing was possible, and Aqua told me that was how she came into possession of the Destiny's Embrace Keychain, but I didn't really believed it could happen until now."

"So does this mean I now have a new Keyblade," Sora asked.

"No, just a Keychain that's likely far more powerful than any of the ones you've found until now," Ventus replied. "Kingdom Key is still your Keyblade, and the Keyblade this Keychain belongs to will likely find its destined wielder someday, but for now, it is yours."

Sora studied the Keychain in his hands for a minute, pocketing Kairi's good luck charm as he did, until he finally summoned Kingdom Key and exchanged its Keychain for the new one. In an instant, the simple Keyblade had completely transformed, so that it was now almost entirely silver, save for some points on the teeth that were either blue or gold, the blade seemed to be comprised of two long, interconnected poles, while its shaft displayed two hearts, and the handle was encircled by two angel wings. In the simplest of terms, this Keyblade was truly unlike any of the ones that they had seen up until now, and all three Keyblade wielders were completely mesmerized by its appearance.

"It's beautiful," Kairi finally whispered.

"I'd certainly hope so," Ventus smirked. "After all, this is a Keyblade that was born from the bond you share with Sora."

"Do you think that a Keyblade could be created from my friendship with Riku too," Sora asked.

"Only time will tell," Ventus replied.

Sora could only nod in response, before returned to studying the new Keyblade, letting its name ring into his head through the connection he shared with Kingdom Key, until he decided, "I think I'm going to stick with Oathkeeper until the end this journey. I feel like it will be perfect for both finishing this fight and for guaranteeing that I'll keep my promise to Kairi."

Ventus and Kairi both nodded in response, and after Sora had dismissed his Keyblade, Ven decided that it was time to come out with one of the reasons why he wanted to speak with them alone. "Kairi's not the only one who has something to give you, Sora, but I actually have something for the both of you," the blonde revealed, reaching into his pocket so that he could produce the objects in question for them to see. "Ta-da!"

The two looked and their eyes quickly widened in awe at the sight. In Ven's hands, was a pair of star-shaped charms, similar to the one that the blonde carried, but these were different from his. These charms he was holding out for them were dark red and bright pink in color, but the most significant difference was that instead of having the same symbol as the badge that Ven wore on his chest, the symbol was an exact match to the crown symbol on Sora's necklace. After another minute or so, Sora finally managed to ask something, but just barely. "Are those…?"

"Wayfinders, like the one I carry, but at the same time, these are far more special," Ven replied. "When Aqua made them, she explained that…she had a dream about two very special Keyblade wielders who's lights would be able to shine brighter than any other wielder before them, and they would become very good friends of ours. Knowing that, she decided to make these charms for them so that they would know that they were a part of our circle of friends. When she disappeared, she left these charms behind in the hopes that they would someday find their way into the hands of the ones they were meant for. I think…No, I believe that they were meant for the two of you."

"Ven, we can't accept these," Kairi tried to say, and Sora obviously agreed with her given the expression on his face.

"Oh yes you can," Ventus insisted. "They're meant for you guys. I'm sure of it, and I would want you guys to have them."

Sora and Kairi both seemed to think it over, until they finally nodded in acceptance, and soon, they could feel the cool steal of the charms meeting their palms, but despite how cool it felt, there was a certain warmth to them that made the two feel like they had now truly become part of something even greater than anything they had ever known before. The two then smiled at Ven, unable to truly voice how honored they were to be given something so special, but from the smile on his face, it was clear that the blonde had a very good idea of exactly how they felt. Eventually, Sora found his voice again, and stated, "With this kind of light in our hearts, there's no way that Ansem can beat us now."

Ven's face quickly fell when he heard that, much to Sora and Kairi's confusion, and the blonde finally looked like he was ready to reveal just what he had been hiding up until now. "Guys, there's something you should know about Ansem, and it may come as something of a shock to you."

"What's that," Kairi asked.

Ven was about to respond, before he thought of something else, and then said, "Let's head back to Leon's place, and I'll tell you there. After all, this is something that everyone needs to know about."

Sora and Kairi wanted to argue, but from how serious Ven looked, they knew that they could not really argue with him and expect to change his mind, so they agreed and followed him back up to Merlin's secret passage. Still, something about this made them feel a little nervous, and they were worried about just what they might learn about this.

* * *

A shortly while later, everyone was gathered together again, with Cid even taking a break from his repair work so he could hear as well at Ven's insistence, and the Keyblade master was sitting in the center of the room, silently gathering his thoughts until he was absolutely sure that everyone was here and giving him their full attention. There was no easy way to really begin this though, but he knew that it was better for them to learn about this particular piece of information, before too much more damage could happen to reputation of an old friend of his. Taking a deep breath, Ventus decided that it was time to just bight the bullet and get right into things. It would have been pointless to beat around this particular bush, anyways.

"Let me start off by saying that this may be a little hard for some of you to really understand at first, but I need you to bear with me on this," Ventus requested, taking a quick breath before he went into the story. "The being that we encountered at Hollow Bastion and who is now possessing Riku, despite his claims is not actually Ansem the Wise. He may have been the one who had likely wrote the reports on the Heartless, but he's not the real Ansem. The truth is, he's the Heartless of someone that is as far from the kind of person that Ansem is as you can get, and is very dangerous."

"Wait a minute, from how you guys described him, he looked pretty human to be an actual Heartless, so how could that be possible," Yuffie questioned.

"Like I said, it's a little difficult to explain, but I'm going to do the best I can," Ven replied with a quick look that made it clear that Yuffie needed to stay quiet for a minute. "You see, there are some people who have so much darkness inside of them that when they become a Heartless, they don't lose their original form, and this particular man is one of them. I knew him long before he had became a Heartless, and I can assure you that he was far more dangerous back then than he is now. His name…is Xehanort."

"Xehanort? Hmm…Why does that name sound familiar," Goofy pondered, not quite able to put his finger on it.

"That's the name of the one who caused all that trouble with Vanitas and the Unversed ten years ago," Donald quickly reminded Goofy.

"Oh yeah! But I thought he was gone for good," Goofy finally remembered. "I mean, there's been no sign of him since Aqua left to try and save Terra, right?"

"That's actually only half true. There was one sign of him, but we didn't realize it until it was too late," Ventus admitted.

"Wait a minute. Just who is this Xehanort and how is he so bad, anyway," Sora asked.

Ventus paused for a moment at that question, until he finally replied, "Xehanort is a former, fallen Keyblade master who became obsessed with learning everything he could about the Keyblade War, and recreating the very weapon that had been the inspiration for the Keyblades. In order to achieve this, he created a being of pure darkness by extracting the darkness inside of my heart, which he named Vanitas, and once we were both strong enough, he would let us refuse and allow that weapon to be created. It succeeded for a short time, but it did not last thanks to both my own strength of will, and the efforts of my other friends. Still, Xehanort is incredibly brilliant, a prodigy of his generation, and he had several plans in place to further his goals, including fanning the dark fires in my friend, Terra's heart so that he would have a new, younger body that would allow him to survive into a new age, despite his own body beginning to reach an old age."

"So it's Xehanort's fault that Terra is currently a prisoner in the darkness," Kairi asked, earning an affirmative nod in reply. "But why would he want to use you to create this weapon?"

"Because…Xehanort was my first master, before the king and Master Eraqus," Ven revealed, shocking everyone. "I know. It makes me sick to remember a time when I was his student these days as well, and the time I spent training under him is not exactly something that I enjoy remembering. I've long since stopped considering him as one of my previous masters, and I wish I could just put him in the past where he belongs, but he's still presenting a threat to the worlds, and this scheme with the Heartless is just the most recent."

Everyone was now silent after hearing that, all feeling very sympathetic for Ventus, but there was something that stuck out for Leon. "You said that there was a sign that he was still around, but you didn't realize it until it was too late. What was that?"

Ven did not immediately reply, but he knew he had to anyway, so he reluctantly replied, "Leon, do you and the others remember Ansem having any apprentices?"

"Yes. He taught them almost everything he knew and they helped him with a great deal of his research," Aerith replied for the group.

"Well, among the brightest of his apprentices was a man by the name of Xehanort," Ven revealed. "And before you ask, yes this is the exact same Xehanort that had possessed my friend Terra and caused so much hardship to befall my friends and I. When I first met him, I was not entirely sure that he was in fact the fallen Keyblade master, and the apprentice did not appear to recognize me, but I could never mistake the darkness that I sensed from him as being anything other than that of my former master. I didn't say anything to anyone but the king when I first sensed that from him, and he decided that it was best to keep it to ourselves. Now, I can't help but wonder if we were right to do that, because I'm sure that your world fell because he did regain his memories and plunged it into darkness, while taking on Ansem's name as his own so that the good man I once knew would take the fall for his crimes."

"If that is the case though, why would he turn himself into a Heartless," Cid asked, gaining curious looks from the other afterwards. "I mean, from what you're saying, Ven, the guy was a lot more powerful and dangerous as a regular guy, so why would he willingly turn himself into a Heartless if it would make him weaker?"

"I wish I knew," Ven admitted. "All I do know is that it's likely part of some larger plan that Xehanort has had in place for a long time now, and we need to stop him, no matter what that plan might be. Xehanort's Heartless, or Ansem, Seeker of Darkness as he insists on calling himself has to be stopped, and even if he is only at half the strength he would possess if he was whole, in the realm that he has opened a pathway to, that won't matter, because it's doubtlessly a world where darkness thrives to unimaginable levels. More than that, there is a real chance he may find the way to the true, everlasting darkness, which he no doubt intends to unleash upon on all the worlds: the legendary Kingdom Hearts."

If the others were worried before, they were now absolutely terrified. From what Ventus had just told them, this Xehanort was completely insane, and if he managed to achieve what he was after, there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him. One would likely have had to be crazy to not be at least a little frightened by that prospect, and given how the regular Heartless were already showing signs of being stronger than before, there was no telling how much stronger Xehanort's Heartless now was. Sora and Ven had barely survived their last encounter with the dark being, and this was back when he still needed to use Riku in order to fight them or have a body at all. How could they really hope to survive against him now that he was even stronger?

That particular question was resting especially heavy on the minds of Sora and Kairi, and it showed in how they were looking so deep in thought at the moment. Yes, they fully intended to go back and try to save Riku while closing the Keyhole that Ansem had opened, but after learning about all of this, they were feeling a lot more nervous about their chances. If he really was getting to be as powerful as Ven was implying that he was, then fighting Ansem was likely going to be something that they would not survive as they were now, so they quickly assumed that could only mean one thing for them. Still, they were not sure how much help it could be, so they did not say anything about it. That did not mean someone else remained silent though.

"So what's your plan to stop him," Wakka finally asked, finally breaking the eerie silence that had fallen into the room.

"For now, we need all of you to keep holding down the fort here," Ventus started, gazing upon the Traverse Town team when he did. "I know that's probably not much, but it will actually be a big help to us if we don't have to worry about this place too much while we make our next run on Hollow Bastion."

"You do remember that you're not going to be able to get there any time soon, right," Cid asked in pointed reminder.

"I know, but I don't plan on going there just yet. There's somewhere else that I plan to take Sora and Kairi to first. A place that is now most suited for providing them the training that they'll need in order to ensure that they'll be ready for this fight," Ventus revealed. "That said, I was actually hoping that we could borrow either your ship or one of the spare ones you've been working on so we could get to this world, Cid."

Cid scratched his chin for a minute before he finally sighed and said, "Ah what the hell? So long as you don't scratch her, I guess I can let you borrow one of my ships."

"Just where would we be going, anyway," Sora asked.

Ventus smirked a little at that question, showing that he was glad to be off the previous topic now, and said, "It's a world known as Mirage Arena. A very old, very powerful world that was created ages ago by the early Keyblade masters to use a place to train both themselves and promising Keyblade wielders that had proven they were ready for something more advanced. These days, it's used by other types of warriors as well, along with hosting special, high-stakes tournaments every now and again, but its purpose as a training arena for Keyblade wielders still remains the same."

"Well then why didn't we go there before," Sora asked.

"Weren't you listening? I just said it was meant for Keyblade wielders who had reached a certain level in their training, and you had not quite reached that level until just recently. Kairi is mainly coming with us because we don't have time to wait for her to get to that level, and she's shown a natural magic talent that is suiting for a wielder of that strength," Ventus explained. He then paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, it's not exactly a world that one can just enter as easily as we have others. You need to possess special armor or enchantments in order to be able to get inside of the arena's main hub because it's really more of a large building that floats in the vastness of interspace, and any spells that could help you survive in such circumstances cannot just be placed on you by someone else. You have to be the one that casts the spell, or it won't work."

"Well why take us there at all if we can't even survive there," Kairi questioned, not seeing the logic in this.

Ventus smiled and said, "Who said you wouldn't have the means to survive?"

"Huh," Sora and Kairi both asked, but Ven just kept the same, mysterious smile on his face as he motioned for Yuffie to shut the blinds and lock the door.

"Everyone, gather around in a circle and present arms," Ventus requested in a commanding tone of voice. When Sora and Kairi prepared to join the others, Ven stopped them and said, "Except you two. You'll both be standing in the center of this circle, and do exactly as I say for the next few minutes." He then looked to Leon and said, "Lay the items on the floor between me and our two young wielders, if you would?"

Leon nodded, and after gathering a small collection of items into his hands, he carefully placed each one before Sora and Kairi. To the two of them, the items did not really seem like anything more than some unimpressive pieces of metal, but judging by whatever was going on right now, clearly they were meant to be something much more than that. This was only further enforced when Ventus suddenly summoned Guardian Wind and held it before in a salute or respect before he commanded, "Kneel, young wielders."

The two did as requested, and at once, the metal fragments seemed to glow a little with a faint, gold light. That same light seemed to wash over Ven's Keyblade, and the weapons that the others carried, and the glow slowly grew brighter and brighter as Ven lowered his Keyblade to tap it on the shoulders of the two before him, almost like one would if they were knighting someone, all the while reciting what sounded like an important chant. "By the right of the Keyblade. By the will of Kingdom Hearts. Sora and Kairi of Destiny Islands, arise no longer mere wielders, but now as Keyblade Warriors, defenders of the worlds."

A moment later, when Ven raised his Keyblade up again, the metal pieces all burst into brilliant spheres of light that circled around the two for a few moments until finally coming to rest on their left wrists, shining even brighter until nearly everyone had to close their eyes in an attempt to block it out. When the light finally faded, Sora and Kairi looked down at their wrists to see a pair of odd-looking gauntlets now adorned their left arms, with a small dial in the area of the wrist that looked similar to that of a watch face. Sora's gauntlet was mainly colored black with red highlights, while Kairi's was mainly pink with some purple detailing and white highlights. Looking at the gauntlets, the two could only stare in awe as they finally stood up again, while the others remained as they were until Ventus gave them a nod that said they could relax, and the minute they did, they all seemed to gain knowing grins over what had just happened.

"I don't understand," Sora finally admitted. "What did you just do?"

"Think of this as a kind of field promotion," Ventus explained. "You are both now what I once was when I first traveled the worlds many years ago, and with that comes your own sets of Keyblade armor."

"Really," Kairi asked in excitement.

Ventus just nodded with a grin and prompted, "Go on. Tap the dial on the gauntlets and try them out."

The two shared a quick look with each other before doing as Ventus instructed, and mere seconds after they had tapped the dials on their gauntlets, their bodies were encased in a brilliant flash of light that soon faded away to reveal they were now clad from head to toe in each of their own sets of very form-fitting armor. Unlike Ven's armor, neither of theirs had a cape or any decorative features that made them stand out, and their helmets also lacked the horns that Ven's had, giving the suits a very basic kind of appearance, and even though their faces were now hidden behind the visors of their helmets, Ven could see the looks of awe and wonder of the two kids' faces as they studied their new suits before eventually turning to give him, no doubt to ask why their suits were so different from his.

"Your armors are still at the standard beginning stages, both to show you've only just gotten them, and a way of signifying your current status in your training as Keyblade wielders," Ventus explained. "At this stage, the armor recognizes that you are now newly minted Keyblade Warriors, but as you advance in your training, the armors will change accordingly, both in their full form, and in the forms that they take on when you're not wearing the full suits like now. That's why you have gauntlets instead of shoulder armor like mine. Eventually, it will change into something else, be it a pauldron or something else, but what it will turn into will actually be shaped by who you are as a person. The armor may be an extension of your Keyblades' power, but it's also a reflection of who you are as a person in one way or another."

Sora and Kairi both nodded in reply to this, showing they understood the basic gist of what Ventus was telling them, and with that, they dismissed their armors and after getting a few rounds of congratulations from the rest of their friends, they followed Ven and Cid to the gummi ship hangar so that they acquire their temporary vessel for the trip to Mirage Arena. They may still be nervous about the coming storm that their next confrontation with Ansem would bring, but with their new armors and the training they were about to receive, their confidence was steadily growing a little more.

* * *

When they first laid eyes on Cid's ship, they were a bit skeptical about whether or not it would be able to get them to another world. In point of fact, the _Shera_ looked more like a ship suited for just flying around one world fast than looked like a ship meant for traveling worlds. Still, Cid insisted that this was the ship that he had used to fly everyone from Hollow Bastion to Traverse Town, so they could not really argue with him too much, especially given how defensive he was about the thing. Add in that he made them promise not to scratch it lest they face a terrible fate by his hand, and any arguments that they may have actually had were quickly washed away in favor of taking off for Mirage Arena.

On the plus side, Cid's ship did have the advantage of being very large and spacious, which meant that they had more room to train safely, and without putting the vessel at risk. With that in mind, Ventus had Sora and Kairi run a few drills in their new armors while they were in flight so that they could better get used to fighting in said armor. Sure, it may be designed to not hinder a Keyblade wielder, but there had been times when one would need to take a moment to try and get used to the armor, and Ven knew that he felt a lot different the first time he fought using his own armor, so it was better safe than sorry. Besides, even with a Warp-G like the one Cid had on his ship, it was still going to take a small amount of time to reach Mirage Arena, so they might as well use that time to get used to any new equipment that they now had before they arrived. It was a good thing he did too, because Sora and Kairi were honestly left really surprised by how it felt to fight using their armor. In truth, they were expecting to be a little slower because of some extra weight that it might have added, but in reality, the armor was not that heavy at all. If anything, it seemed to make them faster and lighter on their feet. They figured that was part of the magic enchantments that went into the suits, and Sora was quickly beginning to see why Ven said that it was normally used in especially serious fights when it was not being used to protect the wearer as they traveled between worlds. By the time the two young Keybearers had finished running through the last drills, they had arrived at their destination, and they were both left surprised by the sight of this strange world.

Unlike the other worlds they had visited, Mirage Arena did not actually look like it could be a full-scale world. Instead, it looked a lot more like it could be a large, spherical station of some kind, with two large, concentric rings that were constantly rotating around the sphere. Across various points of the large sphere, they could see several small, flashing electrical towers extending outwards, along with a taller one that was thin and grey, and at the bottom of the sphere they saw a grey triangular shape, while the top had a large, saucer-like structure resting on it with cables running beneath said structure. A few ghostly rings could be seen circling around the bottom of the sphere, with another half-ring running around the center of the main structure, and to complete its appearance, there was a hemispherical platform resting a short distance outside of the main structure. In short, there were plenty of signs to tell them that this was a world that someone had built if they did not already know that, and Sora and Kairi were both eager to get a closer look.

Ventus smiled in amusement, knowing that they were just as excited about going down there as he was the first time he came to Mirage Arena and saw it from the outside, and since that was the case, he had a feeling that they would be jumping out of the ship the minute he gave the okay, so he carefully docked the ship near Mirage Arena as quickly as he could, and then brought their attention back to him so that he could make sure that they were ready. "Okay you two, armor up in full, because we're going to need to teleport to the entry platform before we can get into the main lobby of Mirage Arena, and there's no breathable air out there. Once we're in the main lobby, you can take your helmets off if you'd like, but I'd hold off on doing so if I were you, just in case the field that we get dropped into after accessing the lobby's computer is in a similar environment."

Sora and Kairi were not sure what to make of that, but they were too excited to care about it right now, so they just did as Ven asked, and made sure to get fully armored up before joining him at the _Shera_ 's transporter pad, teleporting down to the platform that was floating outside the large sphere minutes later. They then followed Ven up to the transporter pad that would admit them into Mirage Arena's main lobby, and the minute they had stepped into said area, they were soon gazing around in awe as they slowly walked forward to the large computer that was waiting on the other side of the room. When they dismissed their helmets so that they could see a little better and looked up at the ceiling, they quickly spotted a large machine that was projecting a sphere of moving light, no doubt to give the room a main light source so that no one would be stumbling around in the dark, but what they spotted next to the computer was what really grabbed their attention.

"Is that…a toy Moogle," Kairi asked, approaching the floating little creature as she did and giving it a small tap on its belly.

"Hey, that tickles, kupo! And I'm not a toy, kupo," the Moogle cried out, startling the two kids, and making Ven pause in his typing on the main computer so that he could laugh a little at their reactions.

"Sorry about that, little guy. It's their first time here, and I'm guessing it's also their first time seeing a real Moogle," Ventus explained.

"No worries, kupo," the Moogle cheered in reply.

Despite that reassurance and knowing that Moogles were supposed to be very peaceful creatures, Sora and Kairi still slowly edged their way over to Ventus after hearing that, but mostly so that they could see what he was doing. Ven was more than happy to explain that he was setting up the arena so that they would have an ideal area to train in, along with the various workings of Mirage Arena as well. While it was similar to Olympus Coliseum in that the enemies it generated were realistic imitations of the real things, it had several different features to it that made it very different. One could easily set a difficulty level or choose from various different modes before entering the actual arena, and not only that, but the arena generated a either a standard battlefield, or one that was based on places that a person had been in the past. Kairi was immediately wondering how it did that, and when she asked, Ven explained that it basically did a scan of the person the minute they arrived on the entry platform and teleported into the main lobby, and since it had a constantly updating database on every world in existence, the machines inside allowed the arena to generate exact replicas of the locations of those worlds, as well as the enemies that one could face there, if they wanted to fight such enemies. It was all incredibly fascinating, and Ven was eager to get the thing fired up so that they could start the intense training regimen that he had in store for the two kids, but there was going to be a slight delay in that regards.

After he had set everything up the way he was planning to, Ven went to activate the arena's generators so that they could teleport into their planned battleground, but when he did, the computer returned an error message that he was not expecting. "Huh, that's odd," Ventus noted. "The system says that someone's already in there, but I know I didn't see any ships or signs of someone traveling here when we arrived so how could…"

Ven's question, while unfinished, was still answered when the teleporter pad in the center of the room suddenly glowed brightly and deposited someone onto the floor, and from the look of said person, he was in really bad shape. The yellow jacket he was wearing had several tatters in it along with his pants that had one leg shorter than the other, and it looked like something had been torn off the back collar of his jacket, most likely a hood, while the gauntlet on his left hand had several dents and dings in it, much like the blue pauldron on and armor on the rest of said arm. His right arm was left bear, save for the black glove he wore on his right hand, which seemed to just barely be holding onto a blue, hooked sword that lay at his side. The only part of his attire that was not too badly beaten up appeared to be his shoes, but given the cuts and bruises that they could see across his skin, that was small comfort, especially since Sora and Kairi were able to recognize this dark blonde haired boy rather easily.

"TIDUS," the two Islanders cried out in horror as they rushed over to him, with Ventus turning his full attention back to the computer, muttering something under his breath about injuries in the arena's battlegrounds.

The other two paid little mind to the blonde master, as Sora just slowly turned their friend over so that Kairi could give better attention to the boy's wounds with her healing magic. Soon enough, all of Tidus's injuries had been healed, and he eventually started to groan a little while his eyes slowly opened, showing that he was starting to wake up. "Sora…Kairi," Tidus groaned weakly in question, his vision likely still a little hazy, but soon clearing up as he started to grin a little more. "Man, am I glad to see you guys."

"I wish we could say the same, pal. What happened to you," Sora asked, as he continued to support Tidus.

Tidus slowly sat up, relieving Sora of his duty to support him with a groan, and said, "Let's just say that I got my ass handed to me by someone who's way stronger than you or Riku are likely to ever be, and go from there." Sora bristled a little at that, but he quickly remembered that Tidus did not know about how much things had changed since they last saw each others, so he quickly calmed down. At least, until Tidus suddenly gasped in horror and shot up to his feet again in a panic. "Oh no! Yuna! I've got to get back in there and save her!"

"Wait, what? Who," Kairi stuttered, wondering where such energy had suddenly come from as she watched Tidus rush over to the control console that Ven was rapidly working on.

"Out of the way, buddy! Someone in there needs my help or she's going to die," Tidus shouted as he tried to push Ven aside, only to find little luck as the blonde barely even moved before pushing back.

"You're hardly in any condition to help carry a small child right now, let alone fight, and besides, you can't go back in now anyway," Ventus argued. "The system in Mirage Arena is set up so that no one can enter a battle zone until whoever is already inside has completed their turn on whatever course they've set up for themselves."

"So then change it or something! I can't let Yuna fight that guy alone! He's serious trouble and she's not that much of a fighter," Tidus argued.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, Tidus! We want to help, but we can't if you're freaking out this badly," Sora reasoned, and that seemed to get his friend's attention as Tidus was soon taking a deep breath in an attempt to ease his nerves. Afterwards, he was not completely calm, but he was not completely freaking out like before, and that was good enough for now. "Now, tell us everything from the beginning, starting with who the hell is Yuna?"

"You mean, you don't know," Ven asked in surprise. "I figured she might be someone from Destiny Islands like you guys."

"If she is, this is the first I've ever heard of her," Kairi revealed.

"Yuna's not from Destiny Islands, but she is…well, she's a really amazing girl I met after I ended up here," Tidus revealed, and no one could miss how he suddenly became really bashful at the topic, especially not Kairi, if the way her face lit up with an excited grin was any indication.

"Tell us everything," Kairi immediately demanded with a smile. She may be a bit of a tomboy and much more adventurous than other girls her age, but Kairi was still really enamored with things like romance and the like. Besides, this was the first time she had ever seen Tidus acting like this over a girl, so this was a big deal in her book. Sora had to agree with her on that, but he was a bit more restrained in his reaction, choosing to just let a sly smile cross his features at seeing his upbeat and often overconfident friend like this.

If Tidus was bothered by Kairi's demands, he did not show it, but instead, just smiled a little wistfully as he explained a few things about this Yuna person, with Kairi and the others nodding along all the while. "Well she's really cool. She's also a really gifted mage, especially with healing or light magic…Oh, she's really polite, honest, and nice to a fault, and…she says that she's a summoner from some place called Spira."

"Spira? As in the world of the aeon summoners," Ventus questioned.

"Do you know about that place, Ven," Sora asked, drawing a small look of confusion from Tidus, as if he finally realized that there was one person here he did not know.

"Only by reputation and things I've read during my training to become a master. From what I've heard, Spira is a world full of unique people and creatures, some of which are known as aeons, and it's protected from various evils by people who train almost their entire lives to control the aeons so that they might fight alongside them," Ventus informed them, reciting what he could remember of the top of his head when he did. "In a way, they're similar to either Keyblade wielders or the Jedi, like Ahsoka, but for the longest time, a summoner's pilgrimage was said to end with the summoner's death."

"Well that's apparently changed, because Yuna completed her pilgrimage and is still alive and well," Tidus revealed with a hint of pride in his voice. "Of course, that doesn't mean much since her world ended up the same way as Destiny Islands did, and she ended up getting thrown into this place with me. We've been trying to figure out a way to get out of here and to civilization ever since we met, and to pass the time, we've been telling each other a lot of stuff about ourselves and where we come from. Yuna taught me a bit of magic, and I taught her a few things about how to fight without her aeons."

"I'm guessing you haven't really had too much luck with getting out of here though, since there aren't usually any ships that come by here these days," Ventus noted.

"No, unfortunately, but I do wish you guys were the first ones we had seen in what feels like months," Tidus admitted.

"It's only been a few weeks, Tidus," Sora revealed. His face then turned pensive as he asked, "Hasn't it?"

"Uh…I'd say it's probably been close to at least one month, to be honest, Sora," Ventus replied with a shrug. He had lost track of how long it had been himself, so he was just as unsure as his apprentice was.

"Either way, the guy that did show up next was definitely not friendly. The minute he appeared, Yuna and I both got a really bad feeling from him; the kind of feeling that tells you that someone is nothing but bad news, and we weren't wrong, because the next thing we knew, he had done something on that computer, and thrown us into the arena, saying that he wanted to fight us in a battle to the death," Tidus revealed. "Yuna and I tried to refuse, but the thing had already started and we were already on the battlefield, so…"

"You had no choice but to go along with it," Ventus finished, knowing very well how things worked in Mirage Arena. "Any ideas what changes he made to the system, because I know for a fact that usually any serious injuries you receive in the battlefield are reversed after being ejected from the fight, and yet you still seemed to have all of yours."

"Not all of them. That guy ran his seriously huge sword right through my chest just before I was ported out," Tidus revealed, rubbing his chest a little at the feeling of a phantom pain shooting through him.

"Well, at least it's good to know that the system is still preventing you from being killed in a fight at least, but whether or not that holds true for your friend remains to be seen," Ventus noted. "What can you tell us about this guy?"

"He didn't give his name. All he said was that he wanted to test the light of a summoner against someone who was of pure darkness," Tidus revealed. "He was dressed in black and had long, silver hair if that's important."

The three Keybearers were all quickly exchanging worried looks upon hearing that, with Kairi ultimately voicing the question they were all wondering about. "Do you think it could be Ansem?"

"It does sound a lot like him, and that definitely sounds like something he would say, but then again, it's not like Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is the only one who could make claims like that," Ventus admitted.

"Well if we want to know for sure, then we've gotta get in there," Sora determined. "Are you sure that there's no way to get into the arena while someone else is using it?"

Ventus pondered this over for a minute before he finally replied, "There might be one way, but I never thought I would have to use it myself." He then returned to the main computer and began typing again, erasing what he had entered into the system earlier and entering a new set of commands in their place. When he finally stopped typing, he looked straight up at the monitor and commanded, "Computer, engage control override. Keyblade master priority pass."

 **"That command requires authorization from an official Keyblade Master and their corresponding pass code,"** the computer reported.

"Authorization: Master Ventus. Pass code: wind's mage."

A few seconds later, the computer let out a few beeps and reported, **"Authorization confirmed. Pass code accepted. Welcome, Master Ventus. What can I help you with?"**

"Override the lockout on the active arena to allow anyone to access it, even if they've already been ejected," Ventus ordered. "And reset all the standard safety protocols to their previous settings."

 **"Commands accepted. Running…Program complete. Enter battle zone via transporter pad when ready."**

Ven turned to see the other three staring at him in surprise and mild confusion, and he immediately explained, "This place was originally built by early Keyblade masters, and being an official master grants you special access to some of the private settings in Mirage Arena's controls. I just used mine to reset things so that no matter how hurt we end up in there, when we come out, all of our injuries should be completely healed."

"Should," Sora asked.

"Well…some more serious injuries might still be there, but only as a mild bit of phantom pain and nothing else," Ventus admitted with a shrug. "It's still better than nothing, and we can now get in there to help save Tidus's girlfriend."

Tidus immediately blushed bright red and stuttered, "Sh-She's not my girlfriend! She's just a friend, who happens to be a really, really cute girl…And who are you anyway?"

"Oh! Right," Kairi gasped, finally realizing that they had not introduced the two blondes yet. "Tidus, this is Master Ventus of the Keyblade. He's taken on me and Sora as his apprentices."

"I've taken on Sora as an apprentice, and I'm helping you get started," Ventus corrected, earning a surprised look from Kairi that had a hint of dismay mixed in. Ven just smiled and explained, "Someone else already has the job of being your master, and they're a lot more suited for the job than I am."

While Kairi nodded in reply to that, Tidus did not really understand what Ven was really talking about, but he did still get the basic gist of what this guy was doing here, so he smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Ventus."

"Call me Ven. Any friend of Sora and Kairi's is a friend of mine," Ventus told his fellow blonde as they shook hands. "Now, enough introductions and explanations for now. We've got a fight to get into."

Everyone immediately nodded in response and stepped onto the large teleporter pad in the center of the lobby. When they were all in position, Ven gave a voice command for the system to activate the pad, and they were all teleported into the battlefield that Tidus had previously come out of, mentally preparing themselves for what they were about to face as they did. When they arrived, they were all left horrified at what met their eyes. What was no doubt once a beautiful city with towering buildings and several other large structures was now all in ruins, set ablaze by some outside force. Not only that, but they could see several places looked like they had been cut clean in two, or parts of some places had just had something cleanly sliced off, and not just at one angle either. There were also places that looked like someone had taken a sword and cut through them with powerful, diagonal, horizontal, and vertical slashes, leaving the top halves to drop down on what was surrounding the structure that had been cut so that they would also collapse into ruin. There were several other signs of powerful, destructive magic being at work here, such as large ice crystals that did not seem to melt very quickly despite the intense flames, areas that were sparking with residual electricity, and more than a few places that looked like they had been blown over by a powerful wind of some kind.

As he looked over the destruction, Tidus's worry for his friend grew more and more with every second. Sure the same could be said for the Keybearers, but from the look of his face, it was clear that Tidus was far more worried than any of the rest of them could have been even if they did know this Yuna by more than just what they had heard from him. Eventually, Tidus did managed to find his voice again, but just barely, because the next thing he said came out in a whisper, and yet it still drove shivers up everyone's spines. "It's even worse here than it was when I was kicked back into the lobby."

If anyone claimed that they were not frightened by that statement, they would definitely have been lying. Tidus had only been in the main lobby with the other three for a couple of minutes at least, if not a mere three or four, and yet whoever was responsible did all of this in that amount of time. Sora and Kairi looked to Ven and silently prayed that he would tell them that time passed differently inside of the actual arena of Mirage Arena, but the blonde did no such thing. What really worried them was that Ven seemed to be almost as pale with terror as they were, slowly coming closer to reaching that point by the minute, and anything that scared Ven this much was probably something that they needed to be concerned about, considering the blonde had seemed so fearless despite whatever horrors they had come across in this entire journey so far.

Feeling the need to know about this place, and to also try and pull some of the terror out of their system, Kairi finally asked, "What is this place supposed to be, anyway?"

"It's a city called Luca, according to Yuna. She said it was one of the biggest cities on Spira, and that people normally came here for big events that took place in its massive stadium like music concerts, important announcements to the world, and Blitzball tournaments," Tidus explained in near monotone. Everyone could understand why there was so little emotion in his voice at the moment, because the sight of such a place suddenly falling into ruin, even if it was not the real version, would have made anyone suddenly lose all feeling inside of them.

"There's no way that this is Ansem's doing," Sora finally said, breaking the tense silence among them after Tidus's explanation. "I mean, sure, he possessing Riku's body, but there's no way his sword is powerful enough to do all of this, and he couldn't possibly do this on his own either…Could he?"

"No, this isn't Xehanort's Heartless," Ventus confirmed for him, but the fact he still seemed so pale did not make them feel any better about who was waiting for them here. His next statement was even worse though, because it had the exact opposite effect from easing nerves. "This is something worse. Much, much worse."

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out from nearby, and they all turned to see a large, avian creature with dragon-like wings, talons, red feathers, and a long lizard-like tail flying away from the inferno that had followed said explosion. While the creature was odd to the other three, Tidus's eyes had instantly widened with recognition at the sight of it. "That's Valefor," he shouted, earning confused looks from the others. "He's Yuna's go-to aeon. Yuna's gotta be over there fighting right now!"

"Then that's where we need to go," Ven decided, nodding for Tidus to lead the way. Not the younger blonde needed any prompting, because he was already rushing over there before Ven had even finished speaking, so the Keybearers were all left running after him as fast as they could, hoping that Tidus would not get too far ahead of them, or end up reaching his friend and their foe at a time that could prove especially dangerous for him. If this guy that Tidus and Yuna were fighting was really as powerful as Tidus had been implying up until now, then they were likely going to need everyone here just to make sure they all survived.

* * *

Navigating through a destroyed town is hard enough on its own, but navigating through one that's on fire is much more difficult since there's the added hazard of getting burned to worry about along with the blocked paths, falling rubble, and sharp objects that could cause serious cuts if you got to close. Nevertheless, the team of four was still hurrying as fast as they could to wherever Tidus's friend was at this very, hoping that she would still be there when they arrived. Of course, that did not mean that they did not take some precautions as they made their way over, as Ven used a brief burst of magic to blow away some rubble where he could, while Kairi used some similar bursts of healing magic to heal any injuries that they incurred while enroute. Before long, they finally arrived at their destination, and while they were glad to see that it was a wide, open area, that relief was overshadowed by the sight of a young woman lying on the ground next to a recently dropped staff.

They did not need much guesswork to figure out that the girl was Yuna, even without Tidus crying out her name in horror and then rushing to her side in a manner that was almost identical to how Sora had reacted when he saw Kairi's body back in Hollow Bastion, and after reaching her, they all breathed sighs of relief when they learned she was just unconscious. That did not mean she was not in need of help, and Kairi was quick to provide said aid with a healthy dose of healing magic, supplemented by Ventus. Shortly after the spells had done their job, Yuna finally stirred, and opened her eyes, allowing them all to see that the color of said were mismatched with one being green and the other blue. She had a rather cute face to her that lit up a little with a relieved smile when she laid eyes on Tidus, and her straight brown hair fell like waterfalls onto the tops of her shoulders.

After Tidus helped her to stand and handed her the staff that was laying beside her, which she accepted with a nod of thanks, the rest of the group took a moment to better take in her appearance. In its entirety, they could only describe it as being rather regal while enhancing her already beautiful features. She wore a black camisole underneath a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest, tucked into a yellow sash that was tied into a bow at her back and wrapped around her middle, while her arms were left bare save for the white sleeves that reached from the middle of her upper arms down to her wrists. Along with that, she also wore a flowing, purple pleated dress with flower patterns running along it, and a pair of black boots with small, almost unnoticeable heals. To complete her outfit, they saw that she also wore a blue-beaded earring on her right ear, though it was mostly hidden by a lock of her hair, with said earring being woven into blue beads with gold rings around a larger bead in the middle, along with a silver pendant hanging around her neck on a thin necklace.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Tidus," Yuna confessed, her tone showing just how much she cared about him even without the look of adoration in her eyes. Said look was soon replaced with confusion when she noticed that Tidus had not come alone. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were there."

"It's all right. Trust me, we know how distracting certain people in our lives can be," Ventus reassured her, throwing a knowing look to his fellow Keybearers that soon drew faint blushes to their faces.

"Well, despite our current situation, I should still introduce myself. I'm Summoner Yuna from the Spira island of Besaid," Yuna declared with a small bow in greeting.

"It's an honor to meet a summoner of Spira, Lady Yuna. I'm Keyblade Master Ventus, former student to the late Master Eraqus and later on, Master Mickey Mouse, king of the world known as Disney Town," the blonde master bowed in return.

Hearing that introduction, Yuna immediately gasped in surprise and asked, "You're a Keyblade master? A real Keyblade master?!"

"Yes I am. One of the last true masters at the moment, I'm afraid," Ventus admitted.

"Then the honor to meet you is all mine, Master Ventus," Yuna declared. "I've heard many legends growing up about the mighty wielders of the Keyblade and their quest to defend the worlds."

"Well I certainly hope I live up to your expectations. That said, please, just call me Ven," the blonde insisted.

"Very well, but then if you're Ven, then I'm simply Yuna." The girl then looked to the last two members of the group and asked, "Are these two Keyblade wielders as well?"

"Indeed they are," Ven confirmed with a smile. He then waved to the other two, who bowed in concert with his words as he introduced them. "Allow me to introduce Keyblade Warrior Sora, and his girlfriend, Keyblade Warrior Kairi, both of which come from Destiny Islands."

"Oh, so you're Sora and Kairi! Tidus mentioned you and you're other friend, Riku many times," Yuna happily revealed, clearly excited at the fact she was meeting some of Tidus's friends from his homeworld.

"Oh yeah! Where is Riku, anyway? Isn't he with you guys," Tidus asked. What he did not expect was for the two to suddenly gain very somber expressions the minute his question had come out.

"Riku's…not really himself right now, and he's in a lot of trouble," Sora revealed after a minute of moping. "The main reason that Ven brought us here was so that he could give us special training that would allow us to be better prepared for when we go to save him."

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up…" Tidus started to say, but Kairi was not going to let him finish that apology.

"It's okay. You didn't know," Kairi reassured him. Suddenly, a sharp pain seemed to shoot through her body, and the redhead dropped to her knees gasping in horror and looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Kairi, what's wrong," Sora asked, instantly dropping to her side when he saw her drop to the ground.

"Something's…something really bad is coming," Kairi gasped in terror. "This darkness, is…It's like nothing I've ever felt before."

"I can feel it too," Ven reported, his whole body trembling as he shivered like he was suddenly feeling really cold. "This is almost nothing like Xehanort's darkness. If anything…it feels much worse."

"I sense it as well," Yuna revealed, readying her staff in front of her like she was preparing for battle. "He must have sensed me after you helped me to recover. I've drawn him right towards us."

"Hey, don't start blaming yourself, Yuna. Besides, we all came in here expecting to fight him in order to save you, so we're ready for this," Tidus soothingly reassured her, earning him a cute smile in return.

All smiles quickly vanished though, when the source of the darkness they were sensing finally landed before them in a loud crash, and everyone quickly raised their arms to shield themselves from the onslaught of the powerful winds the individual's landing stirred up. When the winds died down, they all looked upon the figure before them, and were greeted with the sight of a tall man with pale skin, long silver hair, and dressed in an all-black ensemble, the most notable part being his leather coat that had metal rings on the cuffs of the sleeves, with silver pauldrons on his shoulders, and on both of his forearms, they could see odd, black and red fin-like protrusions. What really struck Sora as odd was that the guy's face looked really similar to Cloud's, and not just because his eyes were the same striking shade of blue as the swordsman that he watched Ven fight in Olympus Coliseum. The most intimidating things about this man though had to be the incredibly, almost ridiculously long katanna blade he carried in his right hand, and the large black wing that was protruding out of the back of his right shoulder. While Yuna and Tidus were both glaring at this man, as Sora and Kairi studied him, Ven's face seemed to pale even more than it had before, much to the confusion of anyone who had noticed.

"You're proving to be much more resilient than I expected, Lady Summoner," the man commented with a smirk that was anything but friendly. He then looked over the group before him until his eyes rested on Tidus for a moment, when he commented, "And it seems your guardian has managed to survive for another round."

"Like I told you before, I'm not gonna let you hurt Yuna," Tidus promised, brandishing his sword for extra effect. His bravery only earned him a dark chuckle from the man, but what came as even more surprising was what Ventus told them next.

"Kairi, take Tidus and Yuna, and run. Find some place to hide, anywhere that you can, and stay there for as long as you can. Sora and I will buy you some time, and once your clear, I'll send Sora to join you," Ven ordered, his voice holding a great deal of fear in it to everyone's surprise.

"What? No way! I already told you that I'm sticking with you and Sora through anything," Kairi argued.

"This is NOT up for debate! Neither one of you are anywhere near ready to take on someone like this," Ventus snapped, surprising everyone with how urgent he sounded. "Hell, I don't think _I_ would be able to fight him and win, but at the very least, I can slow him down long enough for me to use the override I entered in the main lobby so that you can all be evacuated via an emergency exit."

This was not something that Sora would ever expect to see or hear from his master, and he did not like it one bit. Whoever this man was, he was clearly dangerous enough to make Ventus not only worried, but scared for all of their lives, and judging by the amount of darkness he could now feel coming off the mystery man as clearly as Kairi, Ven, and Yuna had before, Sora could not blame him. The darkness this man gave off was comparable to Maleficent's after Ansem had struck her with the Keyblade of Heart, only several times greater than that, and it did not seem to carry even the tiniest hint of light beneath it. From this feeling alone, Sora could not help but think that this man was an embodiment of darkness itself in all of its worst and terrible forms, and it made him shiver a little while making him feel a bit sick at the same time.

"Just…Just who is this guy, Ven," Sora finally asked, hoping that his master could explain his reasoning behind either his distress or this stranger's powerful darkness.

Ventus just kept his eyes fixated on the man before him, making absolutely sure that they did not wander at all even as he answered, "Someone who could easily rival even the most powerful of dark beings in ability alone. He first appeared almost ten years ago, at most, and since then, a mere whisper of his name would drive chills through even the bravest and evilest of beings. I've often heard that even Maleficent herself had feared to so much as think of approaching this man due to how powerful his darkness is even at a distance. Though his exact intentions are largely unknown, he has been known to bring destruction and terror wherever he appears, and very few ever survive afterwards. He is known as the one-winged Heartless Angel…Sephiroth."

Hearing Ven say all of that certainly gave everyone chills, but for some reason, when the others heard the man's name, they all felt a sudden need to back away in fear of the man. Sephiroth himself on the other hand merely chuckled at the revelation that had just been shared, looked at the Keyblade master and fellow Keybearers and said, "So, you know my name and reputation, but tell me…You three…Who are you?"

The fact that Sephiroth's question was asked the same time he had spun his sword around so that it was pointed at them gave the Keybearers more than enough reason to jump back a little and summon their Keyblades into their hands like they were ready to engage in battle at a moment's notice, if for no other reason than the fact that his rather frightening aura seemed to intense when he just raised the weapon. Still, they did not leave the question unanswered. At least, not entirely. "Sorry, but I get the feeling we shouldn't tell you anything of that nature," Kairi denied, attempting to glare at the intimidating man despite how afraid she was feeling right now.

Sephiroth did not seem to care too much for how they were not giving him any names to go with their faces, but he did take a particular notice in the weapons that the three new arrivals were carrying. "Well now…Those are interesting swords you're carrying."

"They're a lot more than just interesting, considering that there's nothing like the Keyblade in any world," Sora boasted. He probably should not have done so, but at the moment, he was just doing what he could to keep as much of his concern and fear of Sephiroth at bay as he could.

"I see…So _those_ are Keyblades," Sephiroth mused, studying the three holding them as he did. "And I suppose that makes you three their chosen wielders."

"So what if we are," Ven hesitantly asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know where this was going.

"I wonder if one of them won't change its mind…once I defeat you," Sephiroth declared, raising his sword up to show that he was now prepared to do battle with them.

"Good luck with that," Sora challenged, and he was about to charge when Ven suddenly stopped him.

"Would it kill you to listen to me when I tell you something as important as I did when I was telling you about this guy," Ven asked, rhetorically. "The chances of us defeating this guy are not just slim, they're next to impossible. Everyone who has ever tried to defeat Sephiroth has ended up dead…"

"Or worse," Kairi finished for him, thinking that was where he was going.

"No…at best," Ven corrected. "That's why I'm telling you all to run while I hold him off. At least this way, all of you will survive and be able to stop Ansem."

"Well what's the point of saving the worlds if one of our friends isn't in it with us," Kairi asked him, surprising the blonde a little. What was even more surprising was she suddenly moved to stand right beside him, all signs of fear now gone from her, even as she spoke again. "We're all with you right to the end, Master Ventus, just like you have been with us since the beginning. That's not going to stop now, or any time soon."

"She's right. We're all in this together, and we're going to get out of it together too," Sora decreed, mimicking Kairi's actions by taking his place on Ven's other side. "So what if no one else has beaten this guy before? That doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try, and we'll never know for sure if we can't stop him until we do just that."

Ven looked between the two young Keybearers for a minute, and a glance back to Yuna and Tidus showed that they had no intention of running away just yet either, so what else could he really do but sigh in defeat with a smile. "Kairi makes a bit of sense, given her nature as a Princess of Heart, but in your case, I think that maybe I taught you a little _too_ well when comes to all those lessons about why it's better to stick with your friends, Sora," Ven joked at last, schooling his features into seriousness again seconds later. "All right, but be ready for anything, and armor up completely. Your suits can protect you from a good majority of the damage you would take in battle, and against this guy, you'll need all the protection you can get. All the same, be careful, because if they do take too much of a pounding, your suits will disappear back into their dormant state, and you'll be left much more vulnerable. Tidus and Yuna, since you two don't have armor like ours, I'd advise you to try and keep your distance as much as possible and only attack when you have an opening with as few risks as possible."

Even though the last two he addressed did not seem to fond of their part in his battle plan, they all nodded in agreement with Ven, and the minute that Sora and Kairi's helmets reformed on them, the struggle against Sephiroth began. No one was surprised that Sephiroth would make the first move once he knew that they were going to fight him, but what they were surprised about was how fast he did move. It almost like they had blinked and all of a sudden, he was almost within arm's reach, but they did not need to be that close for him to be able to slash at them with his sword, and getting hit by that definitely did more than leave a scratch. In point of fact, it blasted them all several feet away. An instant later, Ven was raising his Keyblade up in an attempt to block or parry the furious barrage of slashes that Sephiroth was dealing out to him specifically, and he was just barely succeeding on either front. He did not even have time to cast even a simple defensive spell between attacks, and that was a problem given how much damage his armor had no doubt taken by now. Thankfully, having Sephiroth's attention on him did allow for someone else to use some magic to help him, and Kairi proved that by casting Aeroga Shield around him. When Sephiroth realized what the redhead had done and turned towards her, he ended up getting a face-full of Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga in quick succession, all before Kairi broke off and darted into cover.

When the smoke from Kairi's spell barrage cleared, everyone was shocked to see that Sephiroth did not have any visible signs of damage on him. Not only that, but he did not even appeared bothered by the barrage of magic he had just been hit with. If anything, he looked amused! Three of the Keybearers' most powerful, basic three spells had just hit him dead on, and he was apparently amused by it! Seeing that made Kairi nervous to try anything else right now, but Ven was not afraid to, and he proved it when he saw that Sephiroth still had his attention on Kairi, providing the blonde with just the opening he needed to jump into his Fever Pitch Command Style. He managed to score two or three hits on Sephiroth thanks to the new speed boost and powers of his Unique Tier One Command Style, but Sephiroth managed to recover quickly and eventually began to block and parry Ven's strikes with what seemed like little effort. This was definitely a set-back for Ventus, since he remembered this same ability giving Cloud a run for his money, and to have it shrugged off so easily like this was definitely proving to be a sign that he was going to need an extra hand in a moment.

Instead of hand though, Ven received a few whirlwinds of help, which came in the form of Sora's personal Shotlock, Typhoon Barrage, and it allowed the blonde a chance to fall back to point that was out of Sephiroth's range. What Ven did not anticipate was that Sora would make a hasty charge once he had fallen back, his Keyblade charged with energy to show he was about to try and special attack like Sonic Blade, but he never reached his target, as Sephiroth just waved his hand and summoned several, fiery columns up from the ground around him that shielded him from Sora and blasted the boy back after he got hit by them. Luckily, Sora's armor seemed to absorb the damage, but there were still a few scorch marks on his suit that were hard to miss. Sora's dazed state left him open for Sephiroth to attack him, but the silver haired swordsman took his time in approaching the wielder of Kingdom Key, and as such, he did not seem to notice when Tidus rushed in to slash at him several times over with his own sword. It may have been a vain attempt to save his friend, but Tidus did not really care how high or low the chances of his attack succeeding were. He just wanted to help stop this guy however he could before the villain could hurt his friends.

Once again, Sephiroth appeared amused by the attack, and he soon sent Tidus flying away with a simple backhand, if you could call a strike that had sent someone flying through several buildings simple. Yuna was quickly in rush to get to his side, darting out of cover and into the open when she did, but Sephiroth paid her little mind and returned his attention to the two Keyblade wielders before him. He did so just as Sora came charging in with Oathkeeper pulled back at the ready for another strike, but his attack never went through, as Sephiroth just deflected or parried every shot Sora made at him. Not that the boy was alone in his attack for long, because Ventus came rushing in a moment later as well, still glowing with the power of his Command Style, and the two were soon throwing every attack they could at Sephiroth in a coordinated effort to land so much as one blow that was more than simply glancing or minor on him. It did not really seem to be succeeding, but when Kairi joined the two in their efforts by throwing out some spells for support, things seemed to start turning in their favor.

That belief ended up getting dispelled when Sephiroth used the same ring of flames he used before to blast them both back, and while they did manage to avoid most of the damage thanks to the Aeroga Shield that Kairi had summoned around them both, they were not quite able to avoid the series of long, fast slashes that Sephiroth threw at them afterwards. It did not appear that Sephiroth had much problem with holding his own against the two of them either, and since he had little distractions aside from when Kairi managed to find an opening to shoot him with some more magic, the two had few openings to exploit. Sora did eventually find one opening after Kairi had hit Sephiroth with a quick blast of Thunder, but before his Keyblade could connect, Sephiroth suddenly seemed to vanish, leaving nothing but a series of black feathers in his wake. The three all looked around rapidly in an attempt to locate him, but it was not until Yuna returned and shouted a warning just at the last second that they finally spotted him again, preparing to strike down Kairi.

Thanks to Yuna's warning, Kairi managed to duck under Sephiroth's swing before her head was separated from her body, and she was soon spinning Destiny's Embrace around in rapid defense against the long blade that Sephiroth wielded. She was especially glad that having Sephiroth's attention on her allowed Ven the chance to erect and Aeroga Shield around her, but considering who she was up against, it did not seem like she was going to last long. Not that she was trying to power through the assault like she had before, but she could not really duck, weave, dodge, and parry forever. Eventually, she did manage to land a few hits on Sephiroth, punctuating her strikes a little by throwing out a spell or two where she could, and at that moment, her body lit up with the energies of her own Command Style, and she was soon racing back so that she could better strike at Sephiroth with the ranged attacks that said Command Style provided her with.

With Kairi striking from a distance, Sora and Ven took the opportunity to close in on Sephiroth once more, and this time, Sora made sure that he would land a few blows after reaching his foe by using Radiant Blade to close in on Sephiroth. Since the guy seemed to be made of darkness like the Heartless, Sora was sure that this attack would do some significant damage, but when he looked at the aftermath of his attack, he was surprised to see that, while he did leave a few marks on the man, it did not seem like Sephiroth had become too concerned at all. Ven quickly changed that though when he rushed in and unleashed a few different light-based attacks like Salvation on Sephiroth, and if the man had not pulled the same disappearing trick that he had before, Ven likely would have dealt a very impressive amount of injury to him. After he had disappeared, Sephiroth quickly reappeared again, ready to strike down the blonde master from behind, but the Keybearers were ready for him this time, and Sora proved it by rushing to his master's rescue and parrying Sephiroth's blow before it could hit. As a result of his actions, Sora felt the energy of his own Unique Command Style flow through him, and he did not hesitate in activating Destiny Blaze right then and there before pressing his attack.

Seeing all three Keybearers were lit up with the aura of their Unique Command Styles actually drew a slightly larger smirk onto Sephiroth's face, making them think he was starting to get a little impressed. They just wished he had a better way of showing it, because he soon lifted up into the air as his body glowed with a faint aura of energy, while he chanted, "The time has come. Let us make the future."

A moment later, the Keybearers were all moving as fast as they could to avoid a storm of meteors that began raining down on them in rapid succession, and after getting into cover for a brief time, Kairi made sure that Tidus and Yuna would remain safe by quickly casting an Aeroga Shield around them both. Once she had done so, Kairi had dashed away from her cover just before it had collapsed under a few more meteors, but in doing so, she placed herself into the path of Sephiroth's next sword attack. Luckily, she managed to parry it just in time, and then fall back enough to fire off another rapid barrage of Firaga spells, allowing Sora the chance to rush in with both Oathkeeper and a Ghost-Keyblade that looked identical to Kingdom Key in hand to attack. Sora had intended to start his sword barrage with a leaping strike, but Sephiroth easily caught both of his blades in one hand and pushed him back, along with the smokescreen that Kairi's fiery attack had erected around him. Thankfully, he was not able to dodge Ven's strikes from behind, and one look at the blonde allowed one to see that he had activated Wingblade at some point when no one was paying attention. Since this Command Style was a light-based ability, Sephiroth had to have felt that one, and it seemed like he did, as he finally let out a sound of pain for the first time in the entire fight. Sure it was just a small grunt, but they were going to take what small victories they could.

The small victory was quickly soured though, when Sephiroth smirked and said, "Well, I'm impressed now. You've actually managed to inflict a somewhat significant injury to me. I suppose that means I should probably stop holding back."

Everyone instantly froze up in fear a little. All of that power they had dealt with up until now was him holding back?! They would have to be crazy to not be afraid of what kind of strength he had when he was giving it everything, and unfortunately, it seemed Sephiroth was about to show them as he slowly lifted up into the air while chanting once more. "Descend…Heartless Angel."

The moment that Sephiroth had said that, they all felt as though every ounce of strength had suddenly been zapped right out of them, and if it had not been for Ven's quick thinking on tossing out a few Elixirs to replenish Kairi and Yuna's strength at the last second, they all would likely have felt the sting of the follow up slashes that were far too fast for the naked eye to have followed without some extra assistance. The boys on the other hand were not so lucky, because they felt the full effects of said slashes, and if it were not for Kairi and Yuna both using several healing spells in quick succession, they were sure that they would have ended up dead right now. As it was, they were all panting rather heavily, and were clearly on their last legs after that attack, so they were going to need something big to save them at this point.

Yuna must have realized this, because her expression quickly became set in determination as she stood upright and asked, "Ven, do you and the others think you can manage one last, big attack?"

"Considering that we're all somehow still holding onto the power of our Unique Command Styles, I think that might be possible," Ven tiredly huffed and puffed in reply.

"Then get ready to use them. All at once if you can. I'll create an opening for you to do so," Yuna ordered, and she soon began spinning her staff around in a focused, well-practiced manner. Seeing her do this quickly told Ven what she was planning to do, and he decided to give her some space to do so by letting Sora and Kairi know what the plan here was. The two had both learned about and confirmed their understanding of the plan when Yuna's little dance had finished, while she took her own turn to chant. "I call upon the power of the mighty aeons. Please, lend us your strength in this fight. Descend Bahamut!"

As she was chanting, several different runes had appeared from beneath her feet and a small distance above her head, and when she finished, kneeling down when she did, a massive, dragon-like being descended from the sky at a rapid speed that left the ground trembling under its hard landing. When they all looked upon this massive dragon, they were all left in awe of its large, red wings, muscular form, and large jaws filled with sharp teeth as it roared at its next opponent, and soon enough, under Yuna's direction, it was racing straight for Sephiroth, with massive, killer claws at the ready. Sephiroth was able to sidestep many of Bahamut's attacks, and even parried one or two of them, but he was not lucky enough to avoid getting hit by the powerful energy blast that the aeon released from its maw. Even so, he did not take the hit lying down, but instead, retaliated in kind with another rain of meteors, all focused on the aeon until it finally vanished from the battlefield. Sephiroth was now smirking widely, thinking he had defeated one of Yuna's most powerful aeons, but his smirk quickly vanished when he saw Yuna smiling confidently despite that, and that was when he realized that the girl had not been aiming to actually defeat him with the aeon.

"Command Style: Wingblade Finisher," Ven suddenly shouted from behind the Heartless Angel, and Sephiroth immediately spun around to see the blonde already in position above him to release the finishing attack of his Unique Tier Two Command Style. In an instant, the six energy swords that surrounded Ventus all struck the ground in a circular, magic emblem made of light, which Ven immediately dived down into the center of. Just like before when used the ability against Cloud, a massive burst of light exploded outwards when Ven hit the ground, blinding everyone with its brilliance while encompassing both Sephiroth and Ventus. When the light finally faded, Sephiroth could be seen trying to rub the spots from his eyes with the hand that was not holding his sword, and that proved to be just the distraction needed for the next attacker to strike.

"Command Style: Destiny Blaze Finisher," Sora shouted as he rushed in to attack. In an instant, Sora was unleashing a furious barrage of strikes using both Oathkeeper and the Ghost-Keyblade in his off-hand, while images of his various Keyblades appeared around the former while the latter cycled through them every so often. Finally, Sora back flipped away from Sephiroth and charged forward with one last cross-slash to end his barrage. Now it was Sephiroth's turn to stagger in his steps a little, but whether that was due to shock that they were dealing him so much damage, or because he was actually that hurt, Sora did not really care at this point. He was more focused on the person who was about to finish their barrage of attacks. "Now Kairi," Sora shouted.

"You've got it! Command Style: Shooting Star Finisher," Kairi quickly shouted, making Sephiroth turn around once again, just in time to see the red haired girl begin spinning around on one foot while a series of five-pointed stars formed around her. Upon coming out of the final spin, Kairi swung her Keyblade in front of her, and the stars immediately raced off to fly into and through Sephiroth, drawing more than a few grunts of pain from him when they all hit.

With the last of the Command Style finishers being completed, they all watched with baited breathes to see if Sephiroth was going to still be able to continue. It was definitely a possibility given what he had managed to shrug off up until now, and the fact that he was still standing, but that idea quickly passed when Tidus rushed in and hit him from behind with his sword, making Sephiroth fall to one knee at last as a result. They all grinned in satisfaction at seeing Sephiroth fall at last, but they quickly began shielding their eyes when they were all suddenly engulfed in a blinding, bright light that seemed to be making their surroundings disappear, until they finally just blacked out.

* * *

When the five friends finally came around, they quickly noticed that they had been transported back into the main lobby, and all of their injuries from before were completely gone, along with the damages that their attire had previously taken during the fight. A quick glance over to the main monitor also allowed them to see that a set of results was now displayed which stated that the previous program had been completed at last, with the five of them being named the victors, much to their relief. Of course, they became a little worried when they looked to see Sephiroth standing over them, looking none the worse for wear as well, but considering that it looked like he had been conscious for a lot longer than them and had done nothing in retaliation for how they had managed to defeat him, they did relax a little more, letting a brief silence fall over the room when they did.

After letting the silence continue for a few minutes, Sephiroth finally reached up and brushed some unseen or just imaginary dust from his shoulder as he said, "I'm impressed. I admit you're each very skilled in your own rights, but apparently none of you are the one who can eliminate me."

"Uh, maybe you missed the fact that we just kicked your butt," Tidus quipped in retort.

"He didn't say defeat. He said we're not the ones who can eliminate him," Ventus pointed out, his gaze firmly fixed on Sephiroth once more. "You're looking for the person who can defeat you in a true battle to the death, aren't you?"

"Very perceptive," Sephiroth confirmed. He then turned away from them and looked like he was preparing to leave as he said, "My search for him continues on."

"Think again," a new voice suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention to the speaker. When they laid eyes on him, Ven, Sora, and Kairi were all shocked to discover that it was none other than Cloud, but what was even more surprising was that the swordsman in question was glaring fiercely at Sephiroth. "I've been looking for you, Sephiroth," Cloud revealed.

"As have I," Sephiroth admitted. "It's good to see you…Cloud."

"Hmph," Cloud huffed in retort. "As long as you exist, I'll never wake from this nightmare. You're my darkness, and you're going to pay for what you did."

That served to shock everyone else in the room, while Sephiroth just smirked a little wider as if he had just heard a really funny joke. "Cloud, what're you talking about," Ven asked, voicing what everyone was wondering.

Glancing over to his two former opponents in the games and the rest of their group, Cloud seemed to consider keeping quiet on the matter until he ultimately revealed, "Several years ago, I was captured by an unknown group and subjected to various experiments. As a result, my darkness was extracted from my heart, ultimately creating Sephiroth, or at least this version of him. The real Sephiroth had died in battle some time before my capture, and this one was created using his image for reasons I still haven't quite figured out. At the time, he was a lot more out of control than he is now, and he ended up destroying the entire lab and the town it was based in. If it wasn't for Zack coming in to rescue me just in time, I would've been killed too. The only problem was that I was too weak to so much as stand on my own, so Zack had to carry me out, and as a result, he was unable to defend himself when Sephiroth stabbed him in the back. Zack still tried to fight him off, despite his injured state, but Sephiroth was too much for him, and…it wasn't until several hours later that I finally regained enough strength to finally crawl over to Zack just in time for him to give me his sword and a few last words before he finally died from his injuries."

"So then…Sephiroth's…Sephiroth's the one who killed Zack," Ventus gasped in horror, hardly believing that he had just been fighting against his old friend's murderer.

"Yeah, and what really gets me is that since he's my darkness given life, I hold some responsibility for that as well," Cloud admitted with a sad expression. "For that reason especially, I have to be the one who ends him."

"I'm a part of you, am I," Sephiroth asked with a chuckle. Apparently, he found everything about this to be amusing, but he was soon reaching for his sword again as he continued on. "Then join me in this eternal nightmare untarnished by light."

Cloud responded by readying his sword as well, and the two likely would have gone at it right there in the lobby had Ven not intervened just in time. Thanks to the Keyblade master's intervention, the two combatants were immediately transported into Mirage Arena's default battlefield, and the others were now unable to do anything other than watch as Cloud and Sephiroth began to duel against each other in what promised to be an ultimate life-and-death battle. As they watched, it quickly became clear that neither one of the two were holding anything back against each other, and the five spectators could barely keep up with the action as it unfolded before their eyes. More than that, it also seemed like Cloud and Sephiroth were evenly matched with each other the more they fought. Eventually, it even started to seem like they were never going to stop, until something truly unexpected happened.

After another barrage of colliding sword strikes, Sephiroth spun himself skyward in a position above Cloud's, and began to glow with a dark aura. Cloud responded in kind by gaining a bright aura of his own, only this one was clearly infused with light, and the two immediately charged each other, aiming to land a final strike that would no doubt end this fight for good. Whether or not their attacks ever landed would end up being a mystery to the five, because just as they were about to collided, a brilliant light suddenly flashed from between the combatants that caused everyone to look away or risk being blinded. When they looked again, the arena was completely empty, and the computer was saying that the battle had been aborted due to the combatants both leaving the field.

"What…just happened," Tidus asked.

"Where did they go," Yuna followed up.

Sora and Kairi had both turned to Ven for an explanation, but even the blonde master did not have one, as he simply shrugged in his shoulders with an expression that proved he was just as confused as they were. They all ended up taking a moment to think about what could have happened to Cloud and Sephiroth, until finally, Kairi suggested, "Maybe…they went off to somewhere else. Some place that's closer to home for them so that they could truly settle things without any risk to us."

"Maybe…We may never know either way," Ventus conceded, not having any better ideas himself. He then sighed a little as he looked to the two, newly minted Keyblade Warriors, "Sorry you two. This is far from what I had in mind when you brought you here for training."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Ven. It wasn't a total loss," Sora reassured him, surprising the blonde a little. "Fighting against an opponent that tough did help us to find a few areas we could improve on, and I kinda feel even stronger and more confident about our chances against Xehanort's Heartless after fighting someone that strong and just surviving."

"Not to mention we also found Tidus at long last, along with getting another new friend in the process. I'd call that a pretty good win that made this trip worth it," Kairi added on, earning a smile from both Tidus and Yuna when she did.

Ven smiled in response to this, glad to see that the two were looking at things so optimistically, and he had to admit, they did have a point. Fighting against someone that strong was definitely likely to help make someone even stronger than they already were, and give them a few pointers on how they could improve for the next time they came up against an opponent like that. Sure, Ansem was not in the same league as Sephiroth, but at least now, they knew how to be ready for anything when fighting someone with as much darkness as him, so like Kairi said, the trip was indeed well worth all the trouble they had just gone through.

It seemed like good moods being quickly ruined was a reoccurring theme today though, because before they could really enjoy the moment, the main lobby's computer suddenly started beeping, and Ven quickly identified that as being a sign that someone was trying to contact them on Mirage Arena's communication system. Hitting the necessary controls, everyone was surprised to see Cid's face appear on the monitor, and the look on said face was giving no indication of what he was calling to say. _"Hey you guys! Thought you'd like to know that the_ Kingdom _'s all fixed up and raring to go anytime, new navigation gummi and all,"_ Cid reported.

"Yes," Sora cheered, wrapping Kairi in a tight victory hug when he did while said girl laughed in equal excitement.

 _"Hold your horses, kiddo. There's more, and I'm afraid that the rest ain't good news."_

"Of course," Ven sighed in response. "Seems like there's never good news without bad news these days. Well, lay it on us, Cid."

 _"We've had a bunch of long-range scanners and the old coot, Merlin keeping an eye on the Heartless and the amount of darkness that they put out all across the other worlds, and the readings on them just shot up to being nearly off the charts,"_ Cid revealed, and everyone who knew what that meant could instantly feel their worries growing.

"Where is it happening? We can get there and deal with it from here," Kairi reasoned, eager to put her skills to the test after that little encounter with Sephiroth.

 _"I'm afraid it's not that simple, girl,"_ Cid cautioned. _"The readings aren't in just one place. They're in several, and given how high they are, these are Heartless that are likely to drown both the world they're currently on into darkness and any others that they can get to whether said world's Keyhole is sealed or not."_

Now they were all concerned on a vast number of levels. They all knew that the Heartless were becoming a bigger problem because of the Keyhole to darkness, but if they had gotten that bad, then there was no telling what could happen to the worlds if they were left unchecked. One look between them, and Ven knew that Sora and Kairi were both thinking the same thing as him: they had to get back to Traverse Town, get the rest of these new details, and start coming up with a whole new game plan, because getting the endgame of all this just got a lot more complicated and difficult.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there you have it. We've found Tidus at last, Sora and Kairi get there Keyblade armors, Sora gets the Oathkeeper, we visited Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood, Yuna made her debut into the series, and finally a training trip to Mirage Arena gets way derailed because of a surprise attack by none other than that mega ultimate villain that we all know and love from Final Fantasy 7, Sephiroth! [cue brief moment from Sephiroth's theme] Be honest, how many of you were either hearing that guy's theme music playing in your head, or just flat out started playing it yourself when you read that Sephiroth was in this chapter?_**

 ** _Cloud: From what I remember, Sephiroth did not actually kill Zack in FF7. Why change that here?_**

 ** _AN: Well, the main reason is because this is not a Final Fantasy 7 story, even if so much of it does follow that story line, and I wanted to differentiate it a little more while still keeping it close to what had happened in the story you guys came from._**

 ** _While we're on the topic of Final Fantasy character debuts, let's talk about our girl, Yuna. I know she appeared in KH2 along with the rest of the Gullwings as a small fairy that was just tall enough to reach Sora's knee at least, but...well to be honest, I've recently been playing through Final Fantasy X quite a bit, and watching some of the cutscene movies for that game series, so I'm not afraid to admit that I've really fallen for the pairing of Tidus &Yuna, and I really wanted to work that into this story. Speaking of which, that's also the reason as to why Tidus is sporting his attire from that game series in this as opposed to his Destiny Island attire, and the Botherhood sword instead of that long stick he had on the islands._**

 ** _Yuna: I'm actually really impressed how you worked the story of that game into here, along with an explanation on the aeons and summoners._**

 ** _AN: Thank you, Yuna. And don't worry, we'll still see the Gullwings showing up in the next story in the same way that they did in KH2, and I've already got a small explanation for how they ended up at Hollow Bastion and how they became the tiny fairies they were when they appeared. Though I doubt I need to explain how there will naturally be one or two changes to them when we do see them in the next chapter._**

 ** _Sora: Hey, by the way, I thought you said we weren't going to see Pooh's world in this._**

 ** _AN: Yes, originally, that was not going to be any more than a small mention, but I figured that I should at least show one little bit of that story in here, and as you can clearly see, nothing really changed in that area. It was just like in canon. Sora went into the book, met Pooh and his friends with every new page that was added in, and ended up getting his image placed into the cover of the book after everything was said and done._**

 ** _Moving right along, everyone got a kick out of the moment when Ven had knighted Sora and Kairi as Keyblade Warriors, right? I'll admit, that drew some inspiration from Star Wars, because why wouldn't someone try to make something from that happen in a story, or at least mention it if they can make it possible, but there's more to it than just that. I'm sure you all recall a few chapters back when I posted that second little Power Rangers theme song parody (the one that went by the title of Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors), and here's a part of the reason why that is. The way I view things, being just a simple Keyblade wielder in general means the same thing as being a Jedi youngling until you become an apprentice to a Keyblade Master. Moving up to the rank that Sora and Kairi now have is basically the equivalent to being a Jedi Knight, and...well, you get the idea. As for the armors that Sora and Kairi received, they're pretty similar to the suits that Sora and Kairi wore in Keyblades of Future Past just without all the extravagant details and the little horns on the helmets. Just think of a really basic version of the armors and you should have an idea on that. The suits will change with time._**

 ** _Kairi: What about the whole gauntlets as opposed to shoulder armor thing?_**

 ** _AN: Right that, well first off, if you're having trouble picturing how the gauntlets look, just think of the Ultimatrix from Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, except in the colors that were mentioned here. Second, like I had said in the story, the gauntlets also represent their current level of skill and power at the time when they were knighted as Keyblade Warriors. It shows that they're still new to the rank and still somewhat new to being Keyblade Wielders, but they will change over time as they get stronger and further into their training. You'll see a more exact change in them come next story at the earliest._**

 ** _Riku: Did anyone else notice how my little scene in this story was a lot different from how things played out in the original version of that scene? I'm sure no one really needs to think too hard about what that means, right?_**

 ** _AN: Of course not. Yes, Riku is going to tag-team with Mickey and help him find Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. This is just one other little push that I'm putting in to help make sure that Aqua does not end up staying behind in that awful place just so the heroes can save the day and the worlds at the end. Speaking of Aqua, I'm sure you all caught the little meaning behind Ven's admin password in Mirage Arena, right?_**

 ** _Ventus: [blushes]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, he got it. By the way, in case it was not already clear, Oathkeeper is going to be the Keyblade that Sora uses for the rest of the story. This is partly because I really like that Keyblade, and I normally use it for the remainder of the first Kingdom Hearts game after I get it. The rest of the reason is because...Oh who am I kidding? I love that Keyblade, it's basically the coolest in my opinion, and one of the best ones that Sora could use here. Plus it shows off how he's going to keep his promise to Kairi, so what more could you really want in reasoning than that?_**

 ** _By the way, just to be clear, we'll be going back and forth with calling Ansem, Seeker of Darkness either Xehanort's Heartless and Ansem for the remainder of this chapter, but when we get around to the sequel, that will change for the obvious reasons that every Kingdom Hearts fan should likely know by now. I mean, since Ven revealed all that this time, it would be a little strange if they didn't do that here, wouldn't it? Well, it would in my opinion, so there ya go. I don't what the rest of you might think, but then again, that's part of what reviews and private messages are for, right?_**

 ** _Oh, and just in case it wasn't already obvious, Sephiroth's not the only secret boss we're going to encounter here. Next chapter will definitely help prove that. Right from the start, I wanted to include the fight against Sephiroth in here, mostly because he's Sephiroth and I wanted everyone to see Cloud again before we reached the end. What better time than here? Plus, I didn't want to make it happen in Olympus Coliseum, so that's also part of the reason why we came to Mirage Arena. You know, besides the reasons that Ven gave in the story. What I didn't originally plan on was working in some of the other secret bosses along with him, but...well, I think the chapter preview should give you a little idea on how that changed. Which means, it's time to move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Returning to Traverse Town with Tidus and Yuna in tow, the Keybearers learn that there are now three locations where darkness has grown to the new levels, and the bad news does not end there. What's worse is that they only have time to deal with one of the new danger zones before it's too late, and it would be next to impossible to stop the other threats if they do wait for too long to deal with them. With no other options open to them, the team decides to split up into three teams, with one Keyblade wielder per team, and the Traverse Town gang, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Yuna joining in on the main field of action. Meanwhile in the Realm of Darkness, Riku meets up with King Mickey in person, and the two must now hurry if they are to reach Master Aqua before she falls into even deeper trouble than before. New battles and dangers are all abound, as we'll all soon discover, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, there's a big reason on why that changed right there. Leon and the gang are getting into a much more active role for the action this time! Oh, and just so we're clear, we will see the face-off with Xemnas as well, but for now..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	22. Ultimate Challenges Begin

_**AN: Hey guys, we're back again with another chapter in Dual Keys, and I'm going to go ahead and say it now. This chapter turned out to be shorter than I had originally expected, even with me adding in a couple of things that weren't originally in it before.**_

 _ **Riku: Yeah? Like what?**_

 _ **AN: I'm not saying. At least not yet. More importantly, I would normally answer reviews here, even if it wasn't as long as the last chapter, but I really want you guys to get into the story, especially since it's winding down to the end now.**_

 _ **Ventus: Come on. You could at least answer one or two questions, can't you?**_

 _ **AN: Hmmm...Oh what the heck? Uh let's see...Oh! How about this one from "Dragon Rider 66", namely his question in regards to Oathkeeper as it pertains to Roxas?**_

 _ **Sora: Why're you asking us? You're the one who decides which ones to answer.**_

 _ **AN: I know, but I felt like it would be rude if I did otherwise this time for some weird reason. Anyways, to answer said question, Roxas's Keyblades will still be Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Ven was just saying that as my way of pointing how those two Keyblades are created from the bonds Sora shares with Riku and Kairi, at least in regards to Oathkeeper. Sora only has the Keychain at the moment, but Roxas will get the actual Keyblades themselves when he finally shows up, and after a few other events take place as well. I can't say more than that without giving away any spoilers though.**_

 _ **By the way, to anyone who's curious about how Sora and Kairi's armors will evolve, I can confirm right now, that they will indeed eventually become just like the suits that they wore in Keyblades of Future Past (And as we should all know by now, when I say they, I mean the Future Sora and Kairi that came back in time in that story).**_

 _ **Ventus: You know, "Monkey D. Conan" actually posed a good question about whether or not I knew about Nobodies yet. Can you comment?**_

 _ **AN: Well, while Ven does at least know that they exist, thanks in part to his encounters with Xemnas back in Keyblades of Future Past, he does not know the full details about them to really say he actually does know about them. He knows that such creatures can exist, but he doesn't know the full details about how they can come into being, or what they are like. At least not just yet. He'll be a little more well-informed on the matter when the sequel comes around.**_

 _ **By the way, to everyone who commented on the battle against Sephiroth, glad you enjoyed that so much, and happy to see our favorite FFVII villain can still get so much love from his fans. Not that it was ever likely to stop. I mean, who doesn't love to hate a good villain?**_

 _ **Ventus: Oh, and while we're answering reviews, I'd like to tell that one guest who posted on 4/21/18 that we did indeed see that the original timeline's version of Sora will be on the next episode of Death Battle. I'm gonna go ahead and call it now. Sora's got this.**_

 ** _AN: Yep. No question._**

 ** _Sora: Like that was ever in doubt?_**

 ** _Riku: Hey, if you were to lose to some dude with angel wings, I think me and a lot of really powerful bad guys would be highly offended._**

 ** _AN: Well, I'd say that's enough of the review answers, so let's get on with our story, shall we?_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XXI**

Getting back to Traverse Town took a bit of time, but mostly because Ven had to go back to the ship and get some suits for Tidus and Yuna that would allow them to leave Mirage Arena and board the _Shera_ safely. The blonde was really glad that Cid had the sense to store a few suits like that onboard in case of emergencies, and he made a note to thank the gummi block engineer when he next saw him, but for right now, they had more important matters to attend to. Those matters were the very reason why he made sure to give everything the _Shera_ had to spare into its engines just to make sure that they got back to Traverse Town all the sooner, and the minute they arrived, they all made a beeline straight for house where the rest of their friends were waiting for them.

The first thing that actually happened after they got back was Wakka and Selphie grabbing Tidus in a group hug, happy to see the third pea in their pod, only to gape in surprise a minute later when Tidus introduced Yuna to them. That had earned him a little ribbing from Wakka, like pointing out that she seemed cute and saying that he had somehow tricked a really good one into falling for him, but Yuna did not seem to mind too much. In fact, she actually laughed a little bit at the teasing that the taller boy was doing, along with Tidus's attempts to dissuade said attempts. Not that Tidus ever said that she was not his girlfriend, and even if he had, they would not have believed him given the blush on his face and the doey-eyed look he got whenever he so much as glanced at Yuna during the conversation. Selphie would have joined in, commenting on how it was so great that Tidus had met someone he cared for so much while journeying across the stars, had she not decided to give Sora and Kairi a big thank you hug for finally finding Tidus, but she went right to work on that afterwards.

After all of that hype had finally settled though, Ventus finally got everyone to settle down and bring things to order so that they could discuss the reason why they were all meeting like this. "What exactly did you find out with those scans," the blonde asked. "We'll need to know everything you can tell us if we want to stop these new threats."

"Right," Cid nodded, waving for Yuffie to hand over some device that she had been holding onto for him. Taking the device, Cid immediately activated it, and everyone was greeted to the sight of a small, 3D holographic world map that covered nearly the entire room, and Cid was soon pointing out several of those various worlds as he gave the requested explanation. "From what we've gathered, the largest readings of the recent spikes are in Olympus Coliseum, Neverland, and Agrabah. Not only that, but according to Merlin, at least two of these are because of some massive Heartless boss that's recently started making much more active moves on those worlds."

"I can kind of understand why that would be the case for Neverland and Olympus Coliseum, but wouldn't Agrabah be safer from that type of thing now that we've rescued Jasmine," Kairi asked, thinking that since the captive princesses had all been freed, they would have been returned to their rightful worlds.

Sadly, her hopes ended up being dashed when Leon shook his head in a negative answer. "Sora and Ven may have freed the captive princesses' hearts, and the princesses themselves, but for some reason, they haven't returned to the worlds they came from," the swordsman explained. "We suspect they're all still in the castle at Hollow Bastion. For whatever reason, we couldn't tell you."

"To be fair, part of the reason is likely because they can't get back," Ventus suggested. "Don't forget, they were taken to Hollow Bastion by Maleficent, the Heartless, and…and Riku, and none of them seemed to use a vessel to do so most of the time. At least not from what we could tell. They're all likely stuck there simply because they have no way to leave."

"Maybe, but I feel like there's another reason besides that," Aerith admitted, a hand to her chin in thought.

Sora, Kairi, and all the others from Destiny Islands did not really notice though, as their heads had started to hang a little low from being reminded of what Riku's actions had caused. Sure, Sora and Kairi seemed like they were still willing to forgive him despite what he had done to the two of them especially, but the others were still a little on the fence when it came to Riku. After all, the guy had been responsible for their home being swallowed by darkness, even if he was technically manipulated into doing so, and that kind of thing is pretty hard to forgive. They quickly shook it off though, because whether or not Riku deserved some form of forgiveness or redemption was not the issue here. Right now, they had a matter of the newest upsurge in darkness to deal with, so they immediately put their attention back on track again as Cid and Merlin finished explaining what they did know about the readings.

Ventus studied the information for a minute, running a few details in his head as he did, while turning to ask, "Do we know anything about the Heartless in question?"

"I'm afraid not," Merlin admitted. "While I was able to determine that there were such horrible creatures in Neverland and Agrabah, I couldn't really tell what it was that you would be facing should you go to either location."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that we know at least two people that might know something," Sora indicated with a smile, pulling out one of his summon charms when he did.

Ven immediately caught on to what Sora was talking about and immediately smirked as he pulled out one of his charms as well. A quick bit of magic later, and the meeting was soon joined by Genie and Tinker Bell. The fairy of the two was quick to launch into a furious flurry of bells and tingles that showed just how fast and possibly panicked her tone was, and while he could understand her now, she was going so fast that Ven was not sure he was able to interpret her words correctly for the most part. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Tink, slow down a minute! I can't understand what you're saying when you talk that fast," Ventus finally pleaded, getting the fairy to finally calm down a little bit. It may not have seemed like much, given that the bells still came almost as quickly as before, but apparently, it was better for Ven, because he was able to nod along and understand much more easily now. "Yeah…Uh-huh…Yeah, yeah, we know. We were just talking about how some new Heartless bosses had appeared on other worlds, including Neverland, and that's why I summoned you. Is there anything you can tell us about it?" Another pause that was filled with ringing bells, with Ven nodding, and once they had ended, Ven turned to the others so that he could translate in full. "Tink says that this Heartless is very large, like all Heartless bosses, and appears to wear a long, tattered, white cloak with black sleeves that are decorated with a flame-like pattern. Jiminy, is there anything in your journal that matches that?"

"You betcha," Jiminy confirmed, having whipped out the book at the start of the meeting and already begun flipping through the pages in an attempt to locate any of the details that Ven had mentioned in an attempt to find a match to any of them. "Here it is! According to this, it's called the Phantom, and it's definitely a tricky one to beat. It does not have a physical body, further emphasizing its ghost-like appearance, and is often able to make itself immune to all but a certain type of attacks. The only way to damage it is to attack the glowing orb that acts as its heart, and to know what type of attacks to hit it with, you have to be able to take notice of the orb's color. If it's red, then use fire attacks, if it's blue, use ice, yellow means you should use lightning, and white means that you can hit with normal physical attacks."

"Sheesh, and I thought that overgrown ape that Carpet and I saw in the desert outside of Agrabah was crazy," Genie admitted, turning all attention onto him so that they could hear what this one looked like. "The thing had a snake head that looked like a dead ringer for the one on Jafar's staff, has six arms with a curved sword in two of the hands. There a white sleeve with gold trim on each arm, a white tunic with puffy gold sleeves over its torso, white, gold-and-turquoise trimmed pants on the lower body, and a brightly colored sash around its waist with bright orange tassels and a gold apron with that Heartless symbol on the center. Oh, and the feet look like they're covered by gold and brown shoes, while the toes curl into some sharp hooks that point down into the ground."

Jiminy was already checking his journal again, until he landed upon the entry that he was looking for. "This one's called Kurt Zisa, and it's an even meaner fella to beat that the Phantom, if you can believe that," the cricket revealed. "It can trample over and rush its enemies, spin its swords around in a windmill style that can deflect attacks and injure anyone who gets to close, and leap up into a rapid spin before dive-bombing opponents. It can also bite people if they get too close to the head, but here's the really scary part. It can also cast a bunch of different spells that would make things really difficult for whoever's fighting it. The most notable being that it can prevent others from using magic through the use of the spell, Silence. It can also summon large sandstorm tornados that eventually fuse together into one giant one, create large fireballs that slowly hover around the area acting like mines, and after taking a certain amount of damage, it'll even shoot out orbs of electricity from the ground, ending with an especially large one. I'd hate to say it, but this one might be especially tough to beat."

Everyone nodded in thanks to Genie and Tinker Bell for their help, allowing Sora and Ven to dismiss them both, but the information was not exactly much of a confidence booster. Sure, they knew what they were up against in two of the three locations, but hearing how tough those two were made everyone more than a little nervous. Add in the fact that they still knew nothing about what was waiting at Olympus Coliseum, and you would not be able to fault any of them for being a little freaked out about how bad their chances were if they fought any of these guys that were lying in wait for them. Well, most of them were freaked out, but one of them was apparently still feeling somewhat good about their chances.

"Doesn't matter how strong they are, or what kind of power they have. They're still Heartless, and that means that they're still vulnerable to the Keyblade," Ventus insisted. "Sure, we might end up in the fight for our lives, but we can still stop them, so, we're going to get to each of these locations, defeat the Heartless there, and work our way back until we've gotten them all."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Merlin disputed.

"Of course it isn't," Selphie sighed, somehow having already guessed that was coming.

"These Heartless are not just powerful, but growing stronger with every passing moment," the wizard revealed. "If you go after any one of them, you won't have time to deal with the other two before they become too strong to be stopped, and at that point, they'll also likely have sent the world they're on into darkness."

"Yeah, that's definitely not good," Wakka groaned, voicing everyone's thoughts in just those few words.

Even Ventus was growing a little worried now. It was one thing to take out such powerful Heartless bosses one at a time, or even all at once if they were on the same world, but if these were as strong as had been indicated and growing stronger, they were likely going to be in for the fight of their lives, and that was without accounting for how their enemies were all on different worlds. Not only that, but each of these worlds were so far apart, that even if he and his friends were to split up, they would not be able to send backup to any member of their group fast enough, even through use of the Warp-G. Not that he was planning on splitting up the team right now. Even if they only needed just one Keyblade to do the job, it was still smarter for all three of the currently available wielders to stick together. In his mind, they were at their strongest when they were all together, and they definitely needed to be at their best for a fight this big. He just had to figure out how to make that happen, even if it did seem like it was impossible to do at the moment.

Sadly, he was the only one that felt that way, because Sora was of a different opinion, as proven when he was the one who ended up saying, "If that is the case, then we should split up."

"No way," Ventus denied. "Of all the bad ideas you've had since the start of this journey that is definitely one of the worst. We're stronger together…"

"And we're always together even if we're apart," Sora interrupted. "Besides, there are three locations, and three Keyblade wielders. That's one for each. If we don't have enough time to go to each place one at a time, then it makes sense for us to split up."

Ventus did not want to admit it, but he knew the kid was right, so he just sighed in defeat before giving a quick nod. "All right then. We'll take the _Kingdom_ to Olympus Coliseum where we'll drop off Sora and Donald. Afterwards, we'll head to Agrabah, where Kairi and Goofy will handle Kurt Zisa, and I'll go on to Neverland to meet with this Phantom." When the blonde had finished his outline, he looked around to see various looks of disagreement, and he could only groan a little in response. "What's wrong now?"

"Your little team line-ups," Yuffie revealed. "Considering how tough each of those fights are going to be, don't you think you should have three people on a team at bare minimum?"

"Sure, but we'd need a small army to pull that off, and last I checked, we've only got the five of us," Ventus pointed out.

"Not quite," Leon disputed, moving off the wall he had been leaning against, and standing at the ready before the others in the room. "You've got a pretty good number of volunteers standing right in front of you."

"And before you say anything about how this would be disrupting world order or something, I'd just like to point out that there doesn't really to be much more we could do to cause problems for that at this point," Tidus piped in, already seeing that particular argument coming.

"More importantly, we've just been sitting on the sidelines and letting you guys do all the work up until now, and I'm getting sick of that," Yuffie admitted. "Sure, we've been keeping Traverse Town safe and all, but we can do a lot more than that, so why not let us help you fight?"

Ventus appreciated the offer, but there was still a flaw in that plan that he had to point out. "You guys do know that if you leave with us, Traverse Town will be left defenseless, right?"

"Oh will it," Merlin asked. "Don't think I'm going to be taking off any time soon. I'll stay here to hold down the fort while the rest of you are handling those wretched Heartless. After all, who better to defend this town than Merlin the wizard?"

There was no way around it now, and from the looks on everyone's faces, it was clear that Ven was not going to be able to say anything that would dissuade their friends from coming along. To be quite honest, he was actually glad that was the case, and he could not help but smile a little just to show that. "All right then, you guys can all help, but I don't think we'll have enough room in the _Kingdom_ for everyone."

"Then it's a good thing that I've got both the _Shera_ and one other ship in the hangar that we can use," Cid pointed out. "We can split up the teams in between those three ships and they'll each head straight for their target location once they're ready to go."

Ven looked to his fellow Keybearers, seeing them smile in agreement with this, and then nodded in reply to Cid's plan. "All right then. Here's how it's going to go: Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie, you'll head to Agrabah with Kairi. Wakka, Tidus, Selphie, and Yuna, you're with me on Neverland. Sora, you take the _Kingdom_ with Donald and Goofy to Olympus Coliseum."

"Are you sure that's the best idea," Leon asked. "Sure, the Destiny Islands kids are all good fighters, and I know you said that Yuna has a pretty powerful ability, but they're all still rookies when it comes to dealing with Heartless like these. Maybe someone from my team should go with you to Neverland while one them goes to Agrabah with us."

"They'll be fine, Leon. Besides, you and the rest of your friends are more used to ground-based combat, and if I know Neverland, then I'm betting we're going to have to do a lot of flying when we face the Phantom," Ventus pointed out. "From my understanding of Blitzball, you have to do a rather impressive amount of fighting underwater, so that makes Wakka and Tidus well suited for this fight, and since they've been fighting with one or both of the other two for so long, it makes sense for Yuna and Selphie to come with us."

"Just to be clear, I'm okay with going to Agrabah. I don't want to switch teams," Yuffie insisted with a smile, earning a smirk from Leon that almost seemed humorous for some reason.

That would have to be addressed later though, because they had a mission to get underway, and their goals were all now well set. Well, almost all of them. "So, which team am I going to go with," Jiminy asked.

"You'll go with Sora's group, but remain on the _Kingdom_ so that you can coordinate the mission with Chip and Dale from there," Ventus informed him, earning a nod from the cricket in response. "Now, let's move out and get to work."

Everyone immediately started gathering up their weapons, items, and equipment when Ven finished saying that, and once they were sure that they had everything they would need, they headed for the hangar, where each of the ships were waiting for them, with the Keybearers of each team taking the lead of their respective groups. As they were nearing the ships, Ventus suddenly remembered something he had almost forgotten about, and quickly brought them to a stop. "Sora, whatever you may end up having to deal with at Olympus Coliseum, I can guarantee that it'll most likely be in a tournament that's recently opened up. If Phil tries to deny you entry, tell him whatever you have to, short of anything that would prove disturbing for the world order. Whatever it takes, you have to get into that tournament. Understand?"

"Yeah, I've got it," Sora replied with a smirk. "Don't worry. The next time you see us, we'll not only have beaten this big bad threat, but we'll have our names up there with all the rest of the past champions."

Ventus could not help sigh a little with a smile on his face at how carefree Sora was about all of this, or the fact that the kid suddenly seemed much more interested in winning a tournament than he was in stopping the newest threat, but then again, that was just the way that Sora was and he had learned to live with and even admire it a little. That did not mean that this conversation was over though, because there was still something that needed to be addressed. "Well, now that we've gotten that cleared up, I'll need you to give all of your summon charms to Kairi."

"What?! Why," Sora whined, not wanting to give up some of his most powerful items.

"Because you won't be able to use them in the tournament," Ven explained. "There's even a special magic field in place around the arena to make sure that no one can use something like summon charms during those tournaments, so taking them with you would be pointless and only serve to make them extra weights in your pockets. At least if Kairi has them, she'll be able to make good use of them."

Sora could certainly see Ven's point after learning about that, so he nodded to his master and quickly rushed over to his girlfriend so that he could hand over the charms. He did not do so without mentioning that he would want them back later, even if his tone was joking, and Kairi could only smile in response while assuring him that she fully intended to do so anyways the next time she saw him. This little interaction quickly caught Yuna's notice as well, and she just had to comment on it. "I think it's very sweet of you to let your girlfriend borrow those for now, even if it does involve circumstances beyond your control, Sora," the summoner said.

Sora and Kairi both stiffened up a little when they heard Yuna say that, and they could already sense the grins that were forming on their fellow Islanders' faces before they had even started appearing. "Ya see? Even someone who just met you two already knows that there's way more between you guys than just friendship," Wakka teasingly commented. "Just make it official already and get it over with, ya?"

"What? You mean they aren't already a couple? I thought they were since Ven introduced Kairi to me as Sora's girlfriend," Yuna innocently asked, never noticing Sora and Kairi waving for her to stop talking the whole time.

When the other three heard this, they immediately turned questioning looks to the two, young Keybearers, who were now blushing bright red, and counting down in their heads to the explosion that was just waiting to happen. The minute they hit one, Selphie let out a loud squeal of glee at glomped Kairi in a huge hug as she cheered, "I'm so happy for you! You guys are finally together! How did it happen? How'd he confess? How did _you_ confess? Did you guys kiss yet? I'll bet that your first kiss will be super romantic."

"Selphie, come on. Give 'em a break, will ya," Wakka chided, though half-heartedly. "Confessing was probably hard enough for these two. Do you really think they would've kissed each other so soon? Sora probably would've freaked out the minute he realized that Kairi was going to kiss him and backed away so that he could just give her a handshake or something."

"I did not! I may not have been expecting her to kiss me until she already had, but I did still kiss her back," Sora protested, not realizing what he was saying until the words had already escaped past his lips. When he did realize it, his hands immediately slapped over his mouth, and his already intense blush grew several times stronger, and Sora could swear that his face was liable to fall off with how hot it was getting.

Selphie and the other two boys were all turning shocked expressions between Sora and Kairi for a minute, the latter of whom was now blushing as brightly as her boyfriend, until finally, Selphie squealed once again and shouted, "You have to tell me everything right now, Kairi!"

"Oh gee, you know I would, but we've really gotta get going. Worlds to save, Heartless to fight, and darkness to beat, so I'll see you guys later. Bye," Kairi rapidly replied, and she was soon rushing over to Leon and his pals, all of which were just boarding the _Shera_ without another word.

 _"Thanks a lot, Kairi,"_ Sora mentally groaned, knowing that she had just thrown him to the wolves with that hasty departure, whether it be unintentionally or otherwise. He was soon sputtering and stammering anything he could think of without being fully aware of what he was trying to say, much to the others' amusement, until he caught sight of his master smirking from the corner of his eye and immediately frowned at said blonde in response. "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Ven," Sora demanded, somehow just knowing that this was the blonde's somewhat delayed payback for the earlier comment he had made about seeing Aqua in mermaid form on Atlantica.

Ven made no moves of either confirming or denying that claim beyond his smirk growing a little more, and after letting Sora's friend get in a few more teasing remarks, he finally waved them over to the ship that would transport him, the Islander trio, and Yuna to Neverland, while leaving Sora to board the _Kingdom_ with Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy. Once everyone had boarded their ships, they all launched from the port and moved to start flying side by side, until they reached a point that was well away from Traverse Town, having one final thing that they needed to do before heading out.

"All ships, this is Ventus and team Guardian Wind on board the _Celsius_. All ships check in and confirm your groups," Ventus reported from the bridge of his team's gummi ship.

"Cid here on the _Shera_. Team Destiny's Embrace is ready to roll," the gummi engineer reported with a grin that was shared by everyone in said team.

"This is Sora on the _Kingdom_. Team Kingdom Key is ready to take the tournament at Olympus Coliseum by storm," Sora reported, gripping the controls of their ship tightly in an effort to contain his eagerness for action.

"All right, this is it. Everyone, you know your destinations, so lock coordinates in and set Warp-Gs for maximum power. Let's punch it," Ven ordered, and a moment later, the sky was lit up as the three ships all shot off into interspace at warp speed, each heading for a different destination that promised a battle that they would have to bring nothing short of their A-Game and more in order to win.

* * *

While heroes were moving to keep the Realm of Light safe, Riku was continuing on in his long trek to find whoever had spoken to him before or the light he had sensed earlier. He had sparse communication with whoever that person who spoke to him was since that first time, but he had soon lost contact completely. Riku was not sure if that meant the guy was out of range or something else, but he was not getting too tied up about it since he had picked up a trace of that light he had sensed earlier again. With no other ideas on a direction to go, Riku just figured it would not hurt to try and trust his instincts again and followed after this light, even if he was a little hesitant to do so. After all, his instincts had lead him into allying with Maleficent and the guy who had caused him to end up in this place, so he was not entirely sure about going with a gut feeling right now, even if it was all he had to go on for the moment. Still, there was not much he could do to change that case, so he had to believe that he could trust his instincts here.

Of course, said instincts also tended to remind him that he was all alone in this place, and he was surprised that he was not starting to receive audible answers when he started to talk to himself, or really just think out loud. This was definitely a place that Riku could see messing with your head if you were not careful, and if the person that mystery light belonged to had been here long enough, he had a hunch that they would be at least a little off in the head. Then again, another part of him could not help but feel like this person was stronger than that for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with how familiar they felt when he sensed them the first time, or maybe he was just praying that was the case because it meant that there would be hope for him if he ended up stuck here for very long. Riku did not really care what the case was right now. All he wanted to do was find the person who the voice was looking for and then find the "key that belongs to this world," as the voice had called it.

Right now, the only thing that Riku could see that belonged in this world was shadows, darkness, and a general feeling of creepiness that made him feel a bit disgusted by how he had given into such powers so easily before. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he should have known how dangerous such powers are, and yet, it was not until he was now in this place of never-ending darkness that Riku truly realized how evil the darkness was. Riku wanted nothing more than to be rid of his dark powers forever, and yet, the dark flares he could feel inside of him seemed intent on preventing that. He tried to ignore it, he tried to push it down, and he tried to do everything else he could to keep it out of his system, but no matter what Riku tried, it always managed to find a way to come back into him in these painful bursts, and he just could not understand why. He wanted to get rid of this power; he wanted it gone, so why was it not going away? What did he have to do to get rid of this horrible thing that had caused him to nearly destroy his best friends?

Riku was not going to get his answer any time soon, but what he was going to get was an ambush by the Heartless. One that consisted of several Shadows, NeoShadows, and some winged ones that he did not know about until now, and from the way they were all glaring at him, Riku just knew that they were not looking to be his friends. The Shadows were the first to pounce, with NeoShadows closing in to claw away at him soon after, but Riku managed to dodge them with a spin of flipping and rolling. Normally, he would have fought back, but he did not have a weapon on him, and even if he did, he was not really feeling like he was in fighting condition at the moment, given how the darkness in him would keep flaring up at the most random of moments. Besides, maybe if he managed to get away from these guys, the darkness inside of him would go away. It was a silly thought, sure, but Riku was clearly getting desperate enough to not really care at this point.

"Get away from me," Riku shouted as he jumped out of the way from another NeoShadow's attack. Apparently, the winged ones did not get that memo, because they were soon ramming into him from behind, and he was quickly knocked into the midst of some Shadows that were already prepared to dog-pile him once he had fallen. Soon after, several NeoShadows joined the dog-pile, and it was all Riku could do to just move around in an attempt to keep them off him, until finally, he just burst in more ways than one. "I said…leave me ALONE!"

The last word of his previous sentence had been quickly punctuated by the more fearsome blast of the dark powers inside him, but what had Riku really surprised and worried was that it did not feel like a random flare. This time, he knew that he had made it happen intentionally, and that was what really scared him. "What…What did…Just do," Riku stuttered, glancing down at himself in slight horror, until he registered that something was starting to form in his right hand. He glanced down just in time to see a haze of shadows disappearing to reveal that he was holding Soul Eater firmly in his grasp, much to his surprise. "So now you're back too, huh," Riku mused as he looked the sword over. He then fixed a glare on the Heartless that were still attempting to corner him, dropped into his usual battle stance, and decided, "Fine. Then if you won't leave, I'll just have to make you go away!"

Just like that, Riku was throwing everything he could at the Heartless. He was slashing, bashing, and blasting every one of them that he could, though the blasting came much more rarely since he did not want to use his dark powers too much. Sure, he was okay with fighting off the Heartless now, but that did not mean he was going to start using darkness against them. He was not even entirely sure if it would work, especially since he was in their domain. Sure, they got blown back by that explosion he unleashed a minute ago, but that probably could have just been a small coincidence, or they could have been blasted back by the mere push of the explosion, so why take the chance and do it more than was strictly necessary in his eyes? Besides, it was not like he needed to use the darkness that much. His swordplay alone was turning out to be enough to beat back the Heartless, and Riku was going to stick with that as much as he could for as long as possible.

That idea turned out to have a few more holes in it than Riku realized, because while the NeoShadows and Shadows were easily dealt with, the winged Heartless were still a very serious problem, mainly because they remained out of his reach until they got an opening to attack him, a rare sign of strategic planning on the Heartless' part. Add in the fact that Riku did not have very much experience fighting enemies that were up in the air, and you could see just why Riku was soon getting overwhelmed again. At this point though, Riku did not really see much point in winning. He was just trying to open up a path for him to escape, so he simply ignored any of the Heartless he could not beat and focused on slashing his way through the ones that he could. It was not much of a better plan, but as previously mentioned, Riku was getting desperate, only now it was showing even more than before.

Riku's desperation soon became his undoing, as the Heartless finally knocked him off balance, and he fell to the ground, dropping Soul Eater when he did. He would have tried to stand back up again, but at the moment, he was feeling incredibly tired, and the dark energies inside of him were flaring more painfully than ever, like they knew he had nothing left to give in his efforts to contain them. Apparently, the Heartless could feel it too, because they were closing in on him slowly, like predators stalking their prey when they knew said prey was cornered with nowhere left to run. No matter where he looked now, Riku could not see any way out of this, so he just sighed in defeat, closed his eyes, and seemed to accept that it seemed to be his fate to begin and end this spiral into darkness alone. All the same, he still whispered, "Sora…Kairi…I'm so sorry for what happened…And all the trouble I caused. I just wish that I still had time to make things right again. Maybe…Maybe now I can truly…Be one with the darkness…and fade away forever. I guess that it's just how things were meant to be for me."

As it turned out, the ending blow that Riku had expected never came. There were no sudden dog-piles, no barrage of vicious slashes, and not even a simple kick or hit to the head. Instead, Riku only felt a faint light glimmering around him, and a moment later, he felt a gust of wind suddenly blew past him while the sounds of the Heartless being obliterated rang through his ears. When the last sound of a Heartless being destroyed finally faded, a new voice spoke to Riku, and it was one that he immediately recognized as the one that had spoken to him before, only this time, it was clear as day, and clearly much closer than before. "Don't worry. You're safe now," the voice squeaked, but Riku still refused to open his eyes, unable to really believe that. That soon ended when he felt something gently grab his hand as if to check and see if he had a pulse, and the same person then asked, "Riku? Are you okay?"

Feeling the sensation of someone holding his arm is what finally brought Riku to open his eyes, and when he did, he was a little surprised at the sight of the person in question. The main reason being that said person was actually a large mouse who was probably only tall enough to reach his waist at most, that is if you were to include his large, round ears in the measure of his height. Aside from that though, he looked just like any other mouse with black fur and a long, thin tail, and he was clad in a black shirt that was lined with white lines, and with a red ring along the cuffs of his sleeves beneath a black vest with two yellow buttons near the bottom, and a zipper that reached about halfway down the vest. His red pants appeared to be rather baggy with white lining along the pockets, while the pant legs appeared to be pulled up slightly by elastic blue straps, and his big shoes were yellow with the tips and lower halves being black, while a pair of blue straps intersected over the tops of both shoes. Rounding out his appearance, and probably the simplest part of the mouse's attire was a pair of large white gloves, and yet somehow, Riku still felt like he could feel the mouse's bare hand running along his arm in continued attempts to rouse him.

"What…Who are you," Riku finally asked.

"Oh! Right. I guess with everything that's been going on, I never did introduce myself when we spoke earlier," the mouse chuckled with a sheepish smile. "Well, my name's Mickey. Mickey Mouse and I'm the king of Disney Castle and a Keyblade master like your friend's teacher, Ventus."

"King of…you mean that you're that king that Sora has been helping those other guys look for," Riku asked.

"Yep, the very same," Mickey confirmed. "Although, I really only meant for them to stick with Sora and Ven so that they could help protect the worlds while I was here looking for what we needed save the worlds from the Heartless, and so that I could try to find an old friend."

Riku would have liked to ask Mickey a few more questions, but his attention was quickly drawn away when several more Heartless suddenly appeared to surround them, including a number of the winged ones that were giving Riku so much trouble before. In an instant, Riku was back on his feet again, scooping up Soul Eater as he stood, and Mickey had spun around to glare down on the Heartless as well, summoning his Keyblade as he did. Riku only paid little attention to the Keyblade in question, but he did notice enough about it to realize that it was also different from Sora's, much like Ventus's Keyblade was. Mickey's Keyblade was mainly blue with a blade that was decorated with stars, while the teeth were a crescent moon and star. The guard appeared to be made of two shooting stars, and if he had a chance to look at it, Riku would have noticed that the Keychain was designed like a crescent moon. At the moment though, Riku was really more concerned with the Heartless that were surrounding them, including one massive monster that appeared to be a large swarm of Shadows that towered upwards like a tornado.

"Okay, that's new," Riku admitted, having never seen the Heartless do anything like that before. "And I'm definitely not happy to see those overgrown bats again."

"The 'bats,' as you called them, are called Flutterings, and as for the Demon Tower, it mainly exists here in Dark World, which is only accessible through the Realm of Darkness. Many things are possible for creatures of darkness when they're in their own realm," Mickey growled as he began to summon forth a powerful aura of light, clearly intent on fighting through these Heartless no matter what was thrown at him.

Barely even a moment later, Riku was fighting again, this time alongside Mickey, but if you were to ask him, Riku would tell you that he was just unnecessary support in this fight, because Mickey was dealing out a vast majority of the damage that the Heartless were being dealt. The little guy was moving so fast, he was like a blur racing around the Heartless and dealing out damage that could not be noticed until after he had struck, and none of the dark creatures seemed to be able to even touch him. At one point, Riku could not help but notice that when the king had paused, one Heartless did try to grab him, only to end up being vaporized by a powerful wave of light a second later, so he had to wonder if they really could not touch Mickey. Then again, the guy was glowing with a powerful aura of light magic, and he did not hesitate to throw out even more of said magic by blasting away with several orbs of light that extinguished the Heartless with just by passing near them.

Riku's observation of the king's very amazing abilities ultimately left him open to an attack from some Flutterings, and his cry of pain immediately drew Mickey's attention back over to him. The mouse king immediately spun around to destroy the trio of NeoShadows that he had already been fighting, and then rushed over to Riku in order to cast an effective healing spell in order to help the boy. "Try to stay focused, Riku," Mickey advised. "We need to get through this fight together if we want to help Ven and the others save the worlds."

"Right," Riku nodded in response, and he quickly rejoined the fight with his strength fully restored again. This time, he put all of his focus into his own battles, while leaving any further analysis of Mickey's fighting style for later, and this proved to be very beneficial in their efforts, because the Heartless were soon fighting an uphill battle against the pair. Even the Demon Tower seemed unable to really handle the two for very long, as it swung around and threw out several Shadows many times, only to have its swings repelled either by Mickey's light magic or a dark shield that Riku managed to conjure up without even thinking, while the Shadows it deployed were quickly dispersed and destroyed by one of the two in a few simple sword strokes.

Eventually, the fight finally came to an end, and any remaining Heartless were quick to run away from the two combatants in fear after seeing how their fellow creatures of darkness were so handily defeated. When they finally left, Riku huffed out a long breath of relief and dropped to the ground, with Soul Eater clamoring to the ground next to him before it disappeared into the shadows that it had previously been summoned from. Mickey was quick to approach the boy in order to make sure that he was okay, but Riku quickly waved him off, insisting that he was fine. That statement was quickly disproven when the darkness inside of him suddenly flared again, much to his frustration and Mickey's slight panic.

"No, not now," Riku growled in pain, attempting to push the darkness out of him, hoping that he would make it clear that it was not welcome inside of him anymore once again. "Why won't…you just…go away!"

"Try to push it down, Riku," Mickey cried out. "If you let out here, the Heartless will come running back, and with much more powerful reinforcements than the last time."

"So what? I need to keep it inside me or risk getting torn apart? I'm not sure which is worse," Riku complained with a grunt. "I don't really care what they send at this point. I just want this power gone."

"But…but you can't get rid of the darkness inside of you," Mickey revealed, surprising Riku a little. "Every heart has darkness in it…well, almost every heart anyway, but it's still just a natural part of who we are. All we can really do is try to keep it contained inside of us so that it can never take control of who we are."

"I don't know if you've noticed or just forgot, but it's a little late for that in my case," Riku pointed out.

"Well yeah, you did let the power of darkness into you, but you can still control it, right," Mickey asked, confusing Riku a little. "That Heartless may have taken over your body, but that wasn't all his darkness that you were using, or that of the Heartless. Those first fires of dark power all came from inside of you, and since it is a power that came from you, then that means that you can control it."

Riku mulled this over for a minute before he finally nodded in response, closed his eyes, and attempted to focus a little better, mentally commanding the darkness flaring inside of him to go back down to where it had come from. After a few more minutes, the painful flares finally ceased, and he could feel the darkness inside him finally calming down. When the power and pain finally subsided at last, Riku began panting in exhaustion, making Mickey concerned once again. When the king tried to approach, Riku just waved him off again, saying, "I'm okay…I just need a minute to…to catch my breath."

"Well that may be all that you do have, because we need to get moving," Mickey revealed with a serious expression. "If we're going to seal the Door to Darkness, we still need to find the Kingdom Key of this world, and since we're hoping to make extra sure that it stays closed, we also need to find my long-lost, old friend."

Riku nodded in understanding, and finally managed to stand up, though he did so a little shakily at first, and needed Mickey to support him when he nearly fell again. When he was finally on his feet, Riku decided that now was as good time as any to ask. "How did you get here, anyway?"

"I just followed the light from your heart," Mickey explained, surprising Riku a little. Mickey then smiled, knowing what had the boy so confused, and explained, "Just because your heart had been filled with so much darkness, doesn't mean that the light inside of you was ever extinguished. Deep down inside, there's always at least a little bit of light in everyone." The king's face then fell into a bit of a scowl as he amended, "Well…almost everyone. People who truly let darkness into them entirely rarely ever have any light left in them. I know of only person who has done that, and there's without a doubt, no chance of the light ever finding him again."

"I see," Riku nodded. "And I'm glad that you did find me, but what I actually meant was how did you get into this place?" At Mickey's confused look, Riku elaborated, "How did you get into this world of darkness? Maybe we could use it to get back out."

Mickey's expression then fell quite a bit at that, while appearing somewhat sheepish at the same time as well, somehow as he explained, "I hate to tell you this, Riku, but we can't use the path I took to get in here to escape, even if we wanted to. You see, it's not so easy getting into the Realm of Darkness in general, let alone, getting back out, especially now. As far as I've learned, it's only when a world gets consumed by darkness that an entrance appears in the realm between, so I just had to wait for a chance to sneak in."

"Oh…So then…You got in here, when…" Riku started to ask, having a feeling he knew exactly what world's falling had opened the path for the king.

"Yeah. It was when your world, Destiny Islands fell that I finally found a way into this place," Mickey admitted with a sad smile, knowing just how much hurt hearing that was causing for the boy before him.

Riku sighed sadly before turning his gaze towards the sky and saying, "I don't think anyone's ever going to forgive me when they find out what I did, and I'm sure that Sora and Kairi have already told the others who made it out safely by now. I'm not even sure if I can forgive myself. I destroyed my home and all because I just wanted to leave it so badly."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, Riku," Mickey encouraged. "You made a mistake, sure, but the fact that you feel bad about it proves that you're still yourself on the inside. You just gotta help all of your other friends see that, and when they do, I'm sure that they'll be able to forgive you. Besides, if you hadn't done what you did, you and your friends probably wouldn't have been able to become the only hope for the worlds, and we may not have ever met."

When he heard that, Riku could not help but let a small, friendly smile grace his features for what felt like the first time in ages, and he asked, "You're really optimistic, huh?"

"Well of course! After all, there's no real point in focusing on all the bad stuff all the time, because doing that can only make you and the people you care about suffer even more. The only thing you can do to make things right, is to accept that sometimes, bad things do happen, and while we will occasionally make bad choices, we can always make things right again by never giving up hope and always keeping our friends in our hearts. That's something that some real good friends reminded me about a long time ago when I was in a dark place that I thought I didn't have a way out of."

Hearing such words of encouragement brought Riku's spirits up a little more, and he gave the rather wise king a small nod of thanks, to which Mickey could only smile brightly in response. The two then gazed at their surroundings a little in silence after that, until Riku finally said, "That friend of yours that you're trying to find here…Would it happen to be another Keyblade master?"

"Yep, I'm sure of it," Mickey proudly declared. "And if I'm right, then it's also someone that Ven and I have been trying to find for a very long time. Plus, if we're really going to make sure that we succeed, then I'm sure that we're going to need her help."

"Well then, I guess we can't afford to waste anymore time," Riku decided, turning in a seemingly random direction. "Just before I was attacked, I was following a strong light coming from that direction, and I can still feel it coming from there, but it's slowly getting weaker, like something's trying to overpower it."

"Then we've gotta hurry," Mickey determined, turning a confident look in the same direction, showing that he could sense that same light too. "I'm not losing anymore of my friends to darkness, and especially not Aqua. Not after all this time."

Riku nodded in agreement, even if he did not fully understand why this was so important to Mickey, and the two immediately raced off in the direction that the powerful light was coming from. Hoping that they could reach it before whatever darkness was bearing down upon it had a chance to snuff it out. What they did not know, was that Aqua had in fact been fighting against the darkness of this place at that very moment, in what seemed to be the ruins of Dwarf Woodlands, and she felt like she was starting to lose.

The blue haired Keyblade master's long journey through Dark World had started out peacefully enough in this particular area, until a strange set of mirrors suddenly pulled her into a fight against a phantom of herself that seemed to take great pleasure in announcing all of her doubts to the worlds. Aqua had never would have believed that she would literally become her own worst enemy, but she knew that this phantom was more than just another enemy to fight. She was the weakness in Aqua's heart. This more than anything proved that the countless hours of wandering were starting to get to Aqua, and she feared that this was a sign that the darkness had finally found the cracks in her heart. What scared her even more was that the phantom she fought against was likely to be the final apparition she would face before the darkness finally took her over.

Aqua did not want it to end here. She still had so much left that she had to do, and she had to get back to her friends somehow, but no one was able to avoid losing faith forever, and her resolve was finally beginning to wane. Despite the promises she had made to Ven, Sora, and Kairi, Aqua was truly beginning to feel doubts about her escape from this place seeping into her very being, and the sights that were beginning to surround her as she continued her wandering were not really proving to be encouraging. "Another world I know," Aqua admitted as she entered what looked to be the woods of Enchanted Dominion, or what was left of them at least.

Her analysis of the area soon came to a halt though when her eyes finally found a pair of familiar figures walking just a few feet ahead of her, and her heart seemed to flutter a little at the sight of them. "Terra. Ven," Aqua silently cheered, tears of joy beginning to form in the corner of her eyes at the sight of the two, even as she started to rush towards them. A moment later though, the two boys suddenly began fading into particles of light, making her slow down for only a moment as she thought over what this meant. _"Are they…phantoms…?"_ She wondered, but she quickly pushed that concern aside, even when they disappeared completely, causing her to pause in her pursuit. _"I don't care if they are, or if I fall into the darkness. I miss them!"_

A moment later, a vast swarm of thorns sprung up from the ground in front of her, just as Aqua was about to rush forward again. When she realized this was happening, Aqua immediately summoned Master's Defender into her hand and leapt back out of reflex, glaring up at the overgrown vines so intensely that you would think they would instantly burst into flames at any moment under her gaze, or that she was just naming the vines as her newest target for the blame of keeping her from her friends. Either way, she was not going to let some weeds impede her journey, and Aqua made that very clear as she angrily shouted, "Get out of my way!"

* * *

If he were being totally honest, Ven actually would have preferred to have Leon and his gang backing him up, but he knew that they would be of more help to Kairi since having so many experienced fighters would make up for her lack of in-field experience. That said, he would have sent some of these guys with Sora, but the Olympus Coliseum games only allowed a team of up to four people, and somehow, Ven had a feeling that whatever threat Sora would be facing was going to be much easier to deal with than the Phantom or Kurt Zisa. At least, he had to hope it was, plus, with Donald and Goofy there, he had to believe that Sora could handle the matter there. So, he had to figure that, even though these kids were not that experienced in fighting major Heartless like this boss, their numbers would turn out to be a huge advantage in their favor. Plus, there was always the fact that he could ask Peter Pan for help too, so his worries were not too great.

Although, he did wish he could test out the combat capabilities of these kids a bit more thoroughly, but as it stood, they could only make do with what he could learn in one of the ship's cargo holds. Needless to say, he was a little impressed, but not to a great extent. Tidus tended to prioritize his swordplay over everything else, and while Wakka would infuse his attacks with magic elements, Ven knew that such a tactic would drain him of his magic reserves very quickly. Selphie was a bit of a wild card, given that she was very skilled with her nunchucks, but would throw out some magic at random moments, so Ven was not entirely sure how to measure her skills. Yuna turned out to be the best when it came to magic, but that only made sense since she was a summoner of Spira, so Ven had to figure that she was probably the most practiced warrior out of the entire group. Still, despite whatever weaknesses this group had, Ven chose to focus on their strengths, and how they could make up for the weak points of another member on the team.

The blonde Keyblade master did not have too much time to plan though, as the ship's alarms soon let them know that they had reached their destination. Seeing as it was their first time seeing another world from this position, aside from Traverse Town, Ven did allow the group a minute to gaze down on Neverland in awe for a minute before finally herding everyone over to the _Celsius_ 's teleporter. A moment later, they had all appeared down in the captain's cabin of Hook's ship, and Ven had to admit, he was a little surprised that there were no Heartless waiting to ambush them, and that Hook had not already returned to reclaim his vessel. Then again, Peter and Tinker Bell were both already there waiting for them, so that did explain why the old codfish was not already back yet.

"Hey, took you long enough," Peter joked when he saw Ven. "Tink said you guys were going to be coming to help deal with that Heartless, but I figured you would've been here sooner." He then glanced over at the group Ven had brought with him and added, "And that you would have Sora, Donald, and Goofy with you when you came. Who're these guys?"

"Sora and the others have some other things to take care of right now that are just as important as this Heartless. These guys volunteered to help me out with dealing with the Phantom," Ventus explained as simply as he could without revealing anything about other worlds to Peter. He then waved to the four and made some quick introductions before getting right down to business. "So, where is our dark friend right now, anyway?"

"He's over at the clock tower. From what Tink saw, this Phantom thing has possessed it or something so that anyone who gets close gets blasted with some weird spell that puts a countdown on them that runs along with the clock. I didn't think it was a good idea to stick around long enough to find out what happened when it reached zero, so we flew back here. I'm just glad that the spell was canceled once we had gotten far enough away," Peter explained with a hint of grimness in his tone.

"That sounds similar to a spell from Spira," Yuna gasped, making everyone turn to her. "It's a kind of black magic that a friend of mine said is sometimes used by a few monsters that threaten the people of my home. She told me that it's called Doom. It basically places a countdown on the target, and when it hits zero, they either end up in a deep, unconscious state at best, or just…dead at worst."

"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that," Wakka shivered in reply.

"Maybe we have a way to counter it in this instance," Ven reasoned, having already processed all the newest information. "If the countdown of this spell runs along with the clocks on the clock tower, then maybe we can prevent it from running down with a time spell."

Yuna hummed in thought when she heard that, until she finally said, "If this were the normal Doom spell, then I would say that it wouldn't work, but in this case, I think that it is possible."

"Well then, I guess we now know our plan. Avoid the Phantom's attacks, hit it with whatever element matches the color of the orb inside it when its revealed, and use time magic to stop the clock," Selphie confidently cheered.

"You make it sound so easy," Tidus teased, though it was obviously an attempt to cover up how worried he really was.

"Just remember that we will be flying when we fight it, so keep your eyes on ever direction around you," Ventus reminded the four, knowing that chances of them entering an aerial battle had gone up to a complete guarantee after learning the Phantom was at the clock tower. When the four nodded in reply, Ven looked over to the fairy of their group and said, "Well, you know the drill, Tink. Give us your best shot."

Tinker Bell immediately saluted in reply and quickly spread pixie dust over Ven and the other boys of the group, but it did not go unnoticed that she intentionally avoided giving any to Yuna and Selphie. "Tink, Yuna and Selphie too," Ventus told the pixie, his tone showing that this was not up for debate. Tinker Bell just crossed her arms and looked away with a huff, making Ven sigh tiredly before he began to appeal to the jealous fairy's better nature. "Come on, Tink. We're going to need their help to stop that Heartless and keep your home safe." He then lowered his voice and added, "Besides, I doubt either of them would be interested in Peter, so you don't have to worry about that."

Tinker Bell immediately gained a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks, and immediately raced over to the girls so that she could avoid having anyone see her blushing. Both girls giggled a little as the pixie dust fell on them, making the others think that they felt like they were being tickled by the small shower somehow. Whatever the case, it did not matter, because they were all now ready to fly over to the clock tower, and Peter did not waste any time in leading the way there as they all flew in formation with each other. They would have taken the time to watch in awe as the sunny, peaceful island where no one ever grew up disappeared and became replaced with the night skies and bustling city of London, but with the mission they were on being so important, they knew they had to focus, so none of them really bothered trying to take in the sights and surroundings beyond what was actually important.

Making sure they all stay focused is what allowed Tidus to spot the massive Heartless boss coming up on their right, just before it took a swing at Ven with its large claws as it passed. Thankfully, Tidus managed to intercept that attack with his own sword before Ven was hit, but they all still came to a halt in midair as they watched the Phantom float over to a position directly in front of the clock tower. Looking it over, they could all see that the Phantom lived up to its name, but if one were to add a scythe, they would have to say that it would have made more sense to name it something like Grim Reaper. The fact that there did not seem to be anything underneath its large cloak only served to make it a little more disturbing. Uneasy or not, they all still drew weapons and prepared to charge, with Peter making the first move, against Ven's better advisement. As a result, the Neverlander ended up getting hit with the Doom spell that he himself had warned the group about, and they all watched as several ghostly flames appeared on the numbers of each face of the clock tower, while the long hand started to slowly countdown from their starting position at the top.

"I need some covering fire," Ven immediately shouted, and Wakka, Selphie, and Yuna were all happy to oblige by throwing out a few long distance attacks, Wakka with his ball, and the girls with magic. None of the attacks did any damage to the Phantom, but they were not meant to, as Ven just needed the Phantom's attention off him long enough to reach the clock tower and cast a time spell. When he finally got close enough, he immediately aimed Guardian Wind towards it, and shouted, "Stopza!"

The minute he had cast the most powerful version of the time spell, the hands on the clocks all froze, and when he turned to Peter, Ven breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the countdown above his friend's head had also come to a halt as well. "Yuna was right! We can stop the Phantom's Doom spell with time magic," Ven informed the others.

"That's great, but how long will it last," Tidus asked as he dived down to avoid getting hit by another swing from the Heartless boss.

"Considering I used a really advanced version of said spell, I'd say it'll last a good while," Ventus replied as he rushed over, casting an Aeroga Shield on everyone he passed. When he finally came into the battle zone again, he cast the defensive spell around everyone he had not already done so for, climbing upwards in order to avoid a blast of dark magic that the Phantom fired at him seconds later, and added, "It still won't last forever, so keep an eye on either the clock tower or the countdown above Peter's head. The minute either start going again, let me or anyone else who can at least cast Stop know."

Everyone nodded in response, and then returned their focus to the Phantom, just in time to see that its core had appeared from beneath its cloak, and Ven immediately caught notice of its blue color. Remembering what Jiminy had said, Ven quickly went into action by throwing out all of his best ice magic, be it Blizzaga, Freeze Raid, or the Absolute Zero Shotlock. He was not alone in his icy attack, as Selphie was quickly throwing out a few ice spells of her own, with Wakka enchanting his ball with some ice magic before throwing or kicking it towards the core as hard as he could. It was not going to last forever though, as Selphie's last ice spell hit right after the core had changed from blue to red, signifying the need to change elements. True to the nature of his usual fighting style, Ven did just that and started using any fire-based ability or magic he knew, with Yuna jumping in moments later with some fire spells of her own. They only got a few hits in before the orb changed again, but this time, it turned white, signifying that the Phantom was now open to an attack from all of them.

Everyone immediately rushed in to hit the Phantom's core with everything they had, and between Wakka's various Blitzball strikes, Selphie's nunchucks, and the sword skills of Tidus, Ven, and Peter, anyone would think that the Phantom would be feeling enough pain right now to be slowed down at least a little bit. That did not turn out to be the case, as the Phantom was still just as swift in its attacks as ever, even before it reabsorbed its core into its cloak. In fact, if Ven had to guess, he had to figure that they might have actually ticked it off a little with their surprisingly well-coordinated strike against it, because it was now coming after them with a vengeance. It was clawing and slashing at them left and right, and when it was not doing that, it was firing energy blasts at them that drained them of their strength while regenerating the Phantom's own power. They only found out the latter of those two after Wakka made the mistake of flying up when he should have rolled to the side in order to dodge one such blast, and even after getting healed by Yuna, Wakka was still clearly feeling a bit drained.

Ven could only snarl in annoyance at this turn of events, and, upon deciding that it was time to kick things up a notch, he slapped his shoulder guard and summoned out his armor. When the armor had fully materialized, Ventus quickly charged in, blasting the Phantom with a few wind spells as he went, thinking that it might force the Heartless's core to reappear again. Sadly, his efforts proved futile, because the core did not appear by the time Ven had reached the Phantom, but that did not stop him, as he was soon unleashing a few close-combat strikes that he was sure would help with the encouragement. He did succeed in a sense, but it was not in the way that he wanted. The only thing that Ven encouraged was for the Phantom to deal another blow to him, and this time, he was sent flying right into the clock tower. Selphie immediately rushed to Ven's side to help him back up, and while she was doing that, the core did finally appear, this time in a shade of yellow, which prompted Yuna and Wakka to start hitting it with lightning based attacks. When it turned white again, Tidus and Peter took the chance to rush in and start slashing away at the core, only to manage a few hits before it disappeared again and they were slapped aside by the Phantom, just as Ven had finally regained all of his senses.

After making sure the two boys were able to correct their flight paths before they were blown too far away from the battle, Ven turned his gaze back to the Phantom as he tried to think of another way to expose the Phantom's core. None of his own tactics had much luck, and he was not entirely sure that any of his Command Styles would be able to do the job either, and that was assuming he could get the time to build up the energy that he needed for so much as one of those abilities. Then there was the matter of how they hit it, because they could only do so with one element based on the core's color, and for the most part, only he, Selphie, Yuna, and to some extent Wakka were able to do so. Ven knew that there was little chance of them being able to encourage the Phantom to change its core to an element they could all hit it with, so he quickly cast that idea aside in favor of just trying to think of a way to get the core out into the open.

Surprisingly, Ventus ended up not needing to, because Yuna beat him to the punch after she had called out her summon, Valefor, and had the avian creature attack with a powerful gust of wind that it summoned forth by flapping its large, dragon-like wings. When the blasts hit, the Phantom ended up getting blasted away, and its cloak was soon pushed back enough for its core to be completely exposed. Not only that, but Ven was surprised to see that they were lucky enough for it to be unveiled at a moment when it had turned white, signifying that it could be hit by physical attacks. He was wondering just how they could luck out to such an extent, but he put it aside for later, and instead shouted, "Anyone who can hit with nonelemental strikes, give him everything you've got now!"

"Valefor, hit it with Energy Blast now," Yuna commanded, and the aeon immediately fired several destructive beams at the Phantom's core, causing it to do far more than just flinch under the assault. In point of fact, the Phantom had ended up getting blasted right into of Peter and Tidus's range of attack, allowing both boys to start slashing it with some of their best sword strikes and moves.

They both flew back when they saw the core change to a blue color, and Yuna and Selphie both took that moment to begin blasting it again and again with their best ice spells. The girls kept this up for a few more minutes until the core changed colors again, this time showing it was vulnerable to lightning, and Wakka did not hesitate to coat his ball with lightning magic before launching it towards the core. Despite its dazed state, the Phantom still managed to dodge Wakka's pitch, and Ven could only watch in dismay as the electrified ball hurtled on towards the ground far below. At least until Tidus suddenly came around and kicked it back towards the Phantom. When the ball hit, it came straight back at Tidus, who immediately kicked it upwards before head butting it back at the Phantom, striking the Heartless's core again. Once more, the ball ricocheted back to Tidus, only for him to punch back to where it came, and have it bounce back off the core and up above him. Tidus watched the ball climb higher and higher before shooting upwards as well, and after spinning around in the air several times, he nailed the ball with a hard kick that sent it flying right into the core again before it finally returned to Wakka, while the Phantom was pushed back a short distance.

Ven could barely do anything more than stare at the two boys, hardly believing what they just pulled off. The teamwork between them alone was impressive, but the shot that Tidus just made had rendered him speechless, and that was without thinking about whether or not the younger blonde had ended up hurt by the electrically infused ball at any point. He quickly shook it off though when he realized that the core had changed colors again, this time showing it was vulnerable to fire again, and he immediately infused Guardian Wind with fire magic in order to unleash Fire Surge on the Phantom. Ven immediately followed up that attack with a round of the Flame Salvo Shotlock, peppering it over and over again with fireballs, until he saw the core turn white again. Taking his chance, Ven charged in, Keyblade at the ready, and swung at the core with one, final strike that made the Heartless finally freeze in midair.

After Ventus had flown a safe distance from the Heartless, everyone watched it with baited breath, as it slowly floated backwards to the clock tower, waving erratically and with little stability as it did. None of them even considered releasing their breath until at long last, the ghostly flames on the clock tower disappeared just as the hands had started to move again. When the flames vanished, the clock tower's hands also came to a stop as well, and the Phantom was soon clutching its abdomen, doubling over like someone who had received a particularly hard hit to the stomach, and allowing them all to catch a brief glimpse of the Heartless emblem on its back right before a crystal heart suddenly emerged from its cloak and floated upwards into the sky, disappearing when it had gotten high enough. With the heart inside of it gone, the Phantom slowly started to drop to the ground, only to never reach the surface, as it faded away from existence after getting halfway down.

After looking down to where their foe had been until a few seconds ago for a minute, the tense silence was quickly broken by Peter holstering his dagger and letting lose his signature victory crow for all to hear. When they heard him, the other Destiny Islands kids let out their exclamations of victory, with Yuna just giggling cutely at the impromptu celebrations, and Ven allowing a relieved smile to cross his features as he dismissed Guardian Wind. Once everyone had finished their respective victory cheers, they all flew over to the top of the clock tower, where Ventus immediately gave Peter and Tinker Bell his thanks for their help, and the two informed Yuna and the Destiny Islands kids that they were welcome to come back to Neverland any time they wanted before flying back home.

Once his two friends were out of sight, Ven looked to the group with a smile and said, "Nice work, you guys. You've definitely shown that you could hold your own, even in a tough battle like that."

"Hey, we may not be in the same strength level as Sora and Riku, but we can still put up a good fight, ya," Wakka boasted proudly.

"I'm just glad that monster is gone," Yuna admitted with a hand to her chest as she panted slightly. Seeing her so exhausted immediately drew Tidus to her side, and Yuna was quick to show him her gratitude with a small smile of thanks.

The level of cuteness between the two just now would have continued to escalate, had Selphie not opened her mouth and asked, "Are you guys going to share a victory kiss now? Don't mind us if you do. You can pretend we're not here."

"SELHPIE," Tidus snapped in protest, turning away so that neither Yuna or the others could see how red his face had become. Yuna had done the same as him, but went the extra mile of trying to hide it by covering her cheeks with both hands. There was nothing she could do about the smile on her face though.

Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus all shared a good laugh at that remark, but all good things had to come to an end, and Ventus brought that end a little more quickly when he finally calmed down enough to speak again. "Jokes and cute moments between lovebirds aside, we've still got work to do," the Keyblade master reminded them, getting in one more tease at Yuna and Tidus's expense while he was at it. "We should get back to the ship and try to rendezvous with either Sora or Kairi's group as quickly as possible."

Everyone nodded in agreement with that, and as soon as they had all teleported back up to the _Celsius_ , Ventus programmed the navigation to set course of Agrabah, knowing it was closer for them, even with use of the Warp-G. Sure, he knew that would mean leaving Sora, Donald, and Goofy to fend for themselves a little bit longer, but considering that there should be a minimal amount of danger in a tournament at Olympus Coliseum, Ven was sure that his apprentice and friends could handle themselves for now. That did not stop a rather odd, uncomfortable feeling from forming in his stomach though, and Ven did not like what it could mean as it grew more and more with each passing second that they drew closer to Agrabah. To be honest, he was not sure if he should be hoping if it meant that they would not make it to Agrabah in time to help, or if it meant that Sora was in much more danger than he was expecting the kid to be.

Ventus eventually managed to shake it off as just the nerves one would expect a teacher to have for his student, and put all of his focus into flying the ship. There was not any point in getting all worked up over a bad feeling, especially if it was one that was only brought about from a teacher's concern for his apprentice. Still, given that he could feel his Wayfinder vibrating in a strange way in his pocket, Ven could not help but think that maybe his bad feeling might not have anything to do with the young Keyblade Warriors and maybe a little more to do with something else entirely.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so originally, this chapter was just supposed to be learning about the secret bosses in Agrabah and Neverland, along with one of the big final tournaments at Olympus Coliseum, and then heading out, plus continuing details on Riku's journey through the Realm of Darkness. I was originally planning on making each secret boss have their own chapter, while highlighting the progress of Sora's team as they worked up through the tournament they would be entering, and maybe referencing a detail or two about how things are going for our heroes on the other side of the Door to Darkness. Unfortunately, the chapter ended up being a little too short for my tastes, so I decided that I would at least include the fight with the Phantom in here. I was also at least going to show Sora, Donald, and Goofy arriving at Olympus Coliseum and entering the tournament, but I figured that I would've just been dragging things out a little too much at that point._**

 ** _That said, how many of you were expecting them to get Leon, Tidus, Yuffie, and all the others to help out in some of these fights? Yeah, that was planned since the start of things for the simple reason that I felt like those guys did not get enough action. I mean sure, you could fight against Leon and Yuffie at Olympus Coliseum, along with Cloud, but since I'm not making Sora go through such tournaments, it meant that they lost out on some actions scenes. Plus, that also meant that Cid and Aerith were left in civilian roles when we all know that both of them are fighters in their own rights as well. I mean, we all saw Aerith right there fighting Heartless on the front lines with Yuffie in KH2, so why not get both her and Cid into the field? Plus, if I'm gonna have Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie all show up and be able to fight, do you really think I'm just gonna make them only be defenders of Traverse Town, or leave it Tidus and Yuna's battle against Sephiroth alongside our Keyblade wielding heroes?_**

 ** _Finally, we got to see Riku meeting up with Mickey in person a little earlier this time. I'm sure some of you might've noticed that said meeting was a mix of the ones that Mickey had when he first met Ven in BBS, and from when he found Aqua in the Realm of Darkness in BBS 0.2, right? Plus, we've got him helping Riku to learn a bit more on how he can control his darkness, so there's also that. We'll be seeing this little duo again soon enough, next chapter even, so don't think we're done with them just yet._**

 ** _Now, next chapter is...You know what? There's really nothing I can say here that isn't already said in the preview, so why don't you all just go on ahead and move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Sora and his team return to Olympus Coliseum, and immediately enter the newest tournament: the Hades Cup. Sure, the name alone is a huge clue as to who or what they might face in this tournament, but considering what it could mean for Hercules's world if they don't, the trio of friends are not too eager to just wait around for Ven or Kairi to arrive. At the same time, Kairi and the Traverse Town gang arrive on Agrabah and enter into battle with Kurt Zisa, and as she faces off with this beast, Kairi quickly begins to worry a little about how capable she is to handle the huge responsibility of ending the creature without Sora and Ven's assistance. Can Sora, Donald, and Goofy survive Hades's deadly tournament? Will Kairi and the other survivors of Hollow Bastion prove triumphant? What are the chances of Ventus and the rest of Team Guardian Wind arriving in time to help? And what about Riku and Mickey's quest to save Aqua? So many questions to be answered, so find out which ones will receive such graces, next time._**

 ** _See what I mean? What more can I say at this point? Well, there is one thing, but I doubt I need to tell you what that is. Especially since I'm saying it now..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	23. Kurt Zisa, the Hades Cup, and More

_**AN: Hey guys! We're back again, and I'm gonna go ahead and say that this story is now just four chapters away from being finished. That's right, you heard me. There's just FOUR chapters left, and we can bring this bad boy to a close! Of course, I'm really just making a small estimate based on how I plan for the chapters to play out, and the number is also counting the epilogue where we see what had happened to everyone after the adventure had ended. Or at least, everyone who was not part of the main team.**_

 _ **Ven: Meaning guys like the Traverse Town gang, the Destiny Islands trio, Yuna, Aladdin, and all those other guys?**_

 _ **AN: Pretty much. But don't worry, Ven. You'll get to be in there too. Along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and a few other folks. Who are those people going to be, you may be asking? Sorry, but as I've said before...No spoilers!**_

 _ **Sora: Isn't this usually the part where you suddenly break out party supplies and start up a crazy party for all of us?**_

 _ **AN: I would, but I'm kinda saving the party supplies for when Avengers Infinity War finally comes out. That is only about a week away from when this chapter is being posted you know.**_

 _ **Riku: Hey, before we do anything else, I think we should at least answer one review or two. I mean, we can't just leave them hanging on some of the matters they asked about, right?**_

 _ **AN: Well we could, but most of the questions we were asked in the reviews are going to be answered in today's chapter.**_

 _ **Kairi: What about the questions that were asked by "Dragon Rider 66"? Or rather, his elaboration on a question and his newest question.**_

 _ **AN: Oh right. Well to be clear, Roxas will have two Keyblades instead of one like everyone else. And before anyone says anything, it's not going to be just because he's a lot more awesome with two Keyblades or something that's just based on a fan's opinion like that. I'm actually going to have...something of a reason behind that. Kind of. Look, it's a little hard to explain right now without giving away details about the sequel, so just settle for me confirming that Roxas will have two Keyblades and leave it at that for now, please?**_

 _ **Roxas: Can I confirm whether or not I will punch Riku in the sequel after meeting him in The World That Never Was?**_

 _ **AN: No. No you can't. Moving on to a question posed by regular...well, I'm sure we all know by now that "Monkey D. Conan" is a long-time follower, right? Anyways, to answer your question about Kairi getting some of her own summon charms after she returns Sora's to him, I'm afraid that Kairi will not be getting any in this story. That will more than likely not happen until the sequel. Sorry to disappoint you on that. Also, Riku won't be getting a master to train him. The only guy who really can train Riku at this point is Terra, and...well, if we don't already know what's going on there, you'll get a better idea on that after this chapter. In conclusion though, Riku's still going to be self-taught for the most part, but then again, from what many of us have already seen when it comes to the powers of darkness, learning how to handle them does seem to have more of a positive effect on the person when they're learning on their own.**_

 _ **Anyways, now that we've got questions answered and an estimate on how much is left in the story, let's get on with the show. And may our hearts be our guiding keys.**_

 _ **Ventus: Do you plan on working that line in at any point later in the story, aside from when Mickey says it in the Realm of Darkness after he and Riku meet up with Aqua?**_

 _ **AN: Oh definitely. Some people might think it's something of a Star Wars rip-off, but I happen to think it's really good and fitting for the Kingdom Hearts series, and that it's something that we all need to remember every now and then. Anyways...**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XXII**

It had not taken too much time for Sora and his team to get to Olympus Coliseum, and they likely would have gotten right to work if they had not hit a small snag in the form of a certain satyr. When they told Phil they were there to enter whatever tournament had most recently opened up, the trainer of heroes had immediately barked out several denials, right to the point where they almost started to think that he had actually studied up on all the different ways to say no. Thankfully, Sora did manage to find a moment where he could ask why they were not being allowed to enter, and Phil immediately explained that not only was their requested tournament the longest running one to date, but it was also one that had been started up by Hades. Hearing about the god of the Underworld being behind this instantly reminded the three about how Hades had tricked them into entering the games so that he could have Cloud or Cerberus get rid of either them, Hercules, or both, so to hear that Hades was the one behind a new tournament that had started up just after the recent spike in the powers of the Heartless and darkness just helped to further confirm that the Lord of the Dead was most likely one of the people who had been working with Maleficent. Still, that did leave them wondering why Hades was still going along with the evil fairy's plans when Maleficent was now long gone. Maybe he just did not know that Maleficent was toast, or maybe he was working his own agenda the whole time. Whatever the case, it did not matter. For now, they just needed to get into this tournament and beat whatever was waiting at the end of it before things got to the point where this world would drown in darkness, assuming that said threat was in the final round of the tournament. There was just the matter of getting Phil to change his mind, and that was not too likely to happen any time soon.

"Absolutely not," Phil half-shouted once more. "Kid, even if you were entering with Ven and both of his old pals, I wouldn't want to enter you into this tournament. It's full of monsters that will eat you guys alive as a small snack, and it only allows you a break every ten matches."

"We're not afraid of a few monsters," Sora bravely promised, with Donald and Goofy both nodding in agreement. "Besides, how many rounds could there be in this tournament?"

"Fifty in total," Phil informed them, and their brave looks were immediately replaced with disbelief. "The only upside is that most of the first few matches are against small mobs of monsters like the Heartless before you face off with someone that had beaten a similar group before that, or some mega monster like Cerberus, but that's a very small upside."

"Doesn't matter," Donald decided. "We've gotta get into that tournament so we can stop whatever's in it from causing anything really bad to happen here."

"What? What do you mean by that," Phil asked, having not heard about this little detail before.

Sora sighed in resignation before he said, "We didn't come here to compete just for fun. We think that something in that tournament could be a huge threat to everyone in the world, maybe even beyond this world, and if we don't stop it, there won't be any more games, training, or heroes to come to or from here again. Please Phil. Ven and so many others are all counting on us to make sure that this threat doesn't get loose, and the only way to do that is to defeat it in this tournament."

Phil stroked his chin in thought, thinking over this newest piece of information, until he finally sighed and said, "I will admit that I had a funny feeling about this whole thing, which is why I let Herc enter the tournament as well, even if it did go against my better judgment. I mean, sure, the kid's tough, but even he has his limits, and it showed when he finally conked out after making it halfway through, so I'll take whatever guarantees that I can get to knock that tournament off the board, even if they are long-shots. Seeing as you rookies are offering and are so sure about this…Ah, all right, I'll get ya all signed up so you can compete."

"Thanks Phil," Goofy nodded in reply, while Donald and Sora both smiled in appreciation as well.

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me after you get out of there alive, assuming you can," Phil told him, and he quickly set to work signing everything he needed to on a form so that the three could compete. "One last thing though: The minute you guys start your first bout, you won't be able to get any extra help, outside of a little healing during the breaks between every ten matches. That means that Ven won't be able to jump into the ring to back you up if or when he does show up."

"We can handle it," Sora reassured him. "We've already come a long way since we all first met, so I know we can handle this."

Phil nodded in reply to that and then walked off to turn in the registration form, leaving the three to themselves for a time. "Sora, do you really think we can win," Goofy asked.

"We're not technically here to win the whole tournament, Goofy. We just need to stop whatever it is that's causing that huge spike in the powers of darkness on this world," Sora reminded him, but neither of the other two missed how he had dodged the question.

"So you don't think we can," Donald questioned.

"No, I don't," Sora admitted, making Donald and Goofy frown in dismay. Unlike his friends, Sora just kept on smiling as he finished, "I believe that we can. Haven't we all learned by now that sometimes, just believing in something is enough?"

The Disney Town Duo looked to each other and nodded with a smile before exchanging a quick high-five with Sora to show that they were with him all the way. Right at that moment, Phil came back to let them know that everything was in order, and that their first match would begin once they entered the arena, so they immediately started making sure that they had everything they would need over the course of the tournament. When they were finished and felt satisfied with how their equipment was arranged, they turned brave faces towards the arena entrance and marched forward, ready to face whatever challenges were waiting on the other side of the door. Although, despite what he had told his two friends, a small part of Sora did hope that the others would get here soon so that they could see him win this whole thing, and that idea made him grin a little wider as the Hades Cup began for them.

When they had gotten halfway through the tournament, the three were starting to feel a little less confident, because they had found themselves struggling to just survive a lot of times, and that was without accounting for having to go another round against Cerberus. It was actually during that fight that they realized that when they fought the three-headed dog the first time, he had likely been weakened quite a bit by Hercules before they jumped in, but the fact that they managed to beat Cerberus this time around without any outside help definitely made them feel a little better afterwards. Of course, having Jiminy call in to let them know that Ventus and his group had finished up on Neverland and were now on their way here also helped in that regard, and with that in mind, they charged forward once again for the next round, eager to at least make it through to whatever round it was that they would face the monster that had become so infused with darkness by the time Ven and the others had gotten here, or better yet, have beaten both said monster and the entire tournament.

* * *

The bridge of the _Shera_ was mostly silent, save for the hum of the engines, the sounds of the various control instruments, and an odd sound from the bathroom that made Leon and Cid smirk humorously a little bit. For most of the group, it was a testament to how focused, sure, and confident they were in their abilities and skills that would doubtlessly be put to good use in the coming fight, but for one particular person, it was more of an attempt to hide just how nervous she really was. Kairi may have given off a small air of confidence back in Traverse Town, but in full honesty, she was very worried about how well she would do in the coming fight. This would be the first time that she would be the only Keyblade wielder on a mission, and she was not entirely sure how well she could really do without Sora and Ventus to back her up. Sure, she was very skilled, magic-wise, and she had shown a few times that she could hold her own while simultaneously proving that she was no damsel-in-distress, but she was still just a beginner when it came to many things relating to being a Keybearer, be at wielder or warrior level. She knew that she probably should not be so nervous, and probably should be following Sora's advice and just remember to believe in herself and that her friends were with her no matter how far apart they were, but she would at least feel a little better if at least one of her friends were here with in person her right now. One would think the fact that these people were all from the world she originally came from would have been a small comfort for her, but considering that they were all such hardened warriors with years of battle experience under their belts, Kairi found it to be more nerve racking than anything. Even Aerith, the kindest and gentlest of the group had more battle experience than Kairi, and she admitted to typically being in a support role as the team's healer. How could Kairi really hope to keep up with these guys enough to really say she was pulling her own weight with them in the coming fight when they were all so much better than her in their own ways?

Such insecurities were not good things to have when going into a mission, let alone a battle as serious as this one, and that was quickly proven when Kairi nearly missed Cid's announcement of their arrival at Agrabah. The only reason she had not was because Aerith had called out to her just as the others were heading towards the teleporter to head down to the surface, and the redhead was soon rushing to catch up with them. Shockingly, Kairi had not been the last one to arrive at the transporter. No, that honor went to Yuffie, who had sluggishly trudged into the room last while clutching her stomach a little with a groan. When the group teleported down, Yuffie immediately breathed a sigh of relief and started to straighten up a little until she had to cover her mouth in an attempt to keep anything she had recently eaten from coming back up.

"Ugh…I thought we'd never get here," Yuffie admitted. "My poor stomach couldn't take much more."

Kairi gave the ninja a curious look that did not go unnoticed, and Leon immediately explained, "Yuffie tends to get airsick really easily, especially on gummi ships. That's another part of the reason as to why she in particular had not left Traverse Town all that often in the last few years."

"And it's also why the threat of taking her for a joyride on one of my ships is the perfect way to make her either dial back or completely stop with her pranks for a good long while," Cid grinned almost menacingly.

"Hey! I don't airsick _that_ easily, and that's not funny either," Yuffie protested.

"Neither was painting me pink," Cid retorted with a glare.

Aerith and Kairi both had to struggle to keep themselves from bursting out laughing when they heard that, and the redhead could have sworn that Leon gained a small smirk of humor as well, but all laughter was quickly put aside when the big, blue form of Genie suddenly popped up before them with a grin. "Oh thank Allah you guys are finally here! I was actually starting to worry a little bit that you weren't coming," Genie cheered with a smile. He then glanced around and asked, "So where are Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy?"

"They're not coming," Leon said, plainly. "We're all you've got for this one, big guy, with Kairi here acting as our Keybearer."

"Oh…Well…That's okay too," Genie replied, unable to hide his disappointment entirely. Clearly he was looking forward to seeing his four friends in Agrabah again after so long. "I mean, beggars can't be choosers, right? Especially since we've got such a dangerous contender to deal with in such little time and all, so better to have at least one Keyblade wielder than none at all, right? Even if she is still new at it all, and you guys seem pretty tough too, so…"

"Yes, okay, thank you! We get it," Kairi interrupted, not really wanting Genie to go much further, as she was sure that he would start voicing her own concerns for the world to hear, unintentionally though it may have been. Her rash interruption did not go unnoticed by the other four, but she quickly put it aside in order to keep their focus on task. "So where is the Heartless, anyway?"

"Like I said when Sora summoned me to that meeting with you guys, it's out in the desert. Made its own little arena and everything, like it was daring people to come and challenge it for a fight," Genie said. "It'll take a few days to get there on foot, and I get the feeling that we won't be able to fit everyone on Carpet."

"So we find some horses, Chocobos, or something to ride out there," Yuffie suggested, no one missing the look of relief on her face from being able to avoid anymore flying.

"I doubt that there are any Chocobos on Agrabah, Yuffie, and we don't really have time to find someone willing to let us borrow enough horses for all of us either," Aerith pointed out.

"Even if we did, it would still take too long to get out there even via horseback," Leon mentioned, crossing his arms in distaste just to show how little he liked their current situation. "Besides, how are we even going to find the place in the middle of the desert without someone who's been there already to guide us?"

"What am I? A cheap birthday party magician," Genie asked. "I wasn't exactly planning on letting you guys try to find the place on your own, you know."

Kairi immediately brightened up after Genie spoke up again, and she quickly asked, "Could you also take us there, Genie?"

"Hey, didn't Sora and the others tell you? I'm done taking orders from others," Genie huffed as he turned away with his arms crossed. "But…a favor, now that's an entirely different story. I'd be more than happy to help out the pals of my good buddies Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy."

"Don't forget Sora's girlfriend," Yuffie piped in with a teasing grin in Kairi's direction.

Kairi could only blush in response as Genie added, "Ooooh! Of course! How could I ever forget about you? Either way, your flight leaves now!"

"Wait, did he say flight," Yuffie asked, suddenly looking a little more worried. Before anyone could respond, Genie had transformed into a large jet plane with all of them strapped into seats inside of him, and Yuffie immediately paled a little. "Oh no."

"In case of emergencies, exists are located at each of the points designated by large red signs that say emergency exit, and emergency eject levers are located on the sides of your seats as well, but I would highly advise to only use them if we're about to explode, crash, or well, anything that would typically be involved in an emergency," Genie announced to the team. "Please keep your seats and all trays in an upright position until after we have taken off, keep all arms, legs, and personal belongings inside the genie-jet at all times, and we're…OUTTA HERE!"

As Genie took off in his jet form with all passengers safely secured, one could easily hear the sounds of Yuffie screaming a little while trying to keep the contents of her stomach down, all the while, Kairi was throwing her a smirk that said, "Serves you right for the teasing."

* * *

The flight out to Kurt Zisa's location was relatively smooth, even with Yuffie's airsickness, and true to what Genie had said, the group found themselves right in the middle of what could be counted as a large arena. Although to be fair, calling it a large area of the desert that was walled off by several large pillars was both too much of a mouthful and did not really seem to have the same effect when describing the area where they would be fighting the Heartless boss. The only downside was that Genie was unable to enter the arena due to a battlefield barrier being erected that seemed to keep him out, telling everyone that the only way Genie could help them in the coming fight was if Kairi were to use the summon charm that Sora had let her borrow. Leon suggested that they leave that option on the table for now, not wanting Kairi to expend any magic unnecessarily, and once they had all been dropped on the ground by Genie, they drew weapons and slowly made their way into the arena.

Once they had entered the area, they all quickly noticed how the battlefield barrier flashed afterwards, signaling that they were now locked into the action until they defeated Kurt Zisa, and they all quickly began scanning the area in an attempt to locate the Heartless. It should not have been hard to do so, since just like the rest of the surrounding area, the only thing in the arena was sand, sand, and yes, more sand, yet there was no sign of the Heartless boss anywhere. Cid quickly put in a call to Jiminy to ask if the Kurt Zisa could turn invisible, but the cricket immediately squashed that idea when he said that was not the case here. Still, it did make things a little easier knowing that it was not like the Stealth Sneak that the crew of the _Kingdom_ had encountered in Deep Jungle, but it only made Kairi start to get a little more on edge.

Aerith quickly took notice and slowly edged closer to the redhead so that she could better speak to her, gripping her staff as she went. "I know you're nervous, but just relax. Even if the circumstances were different, Ven still would have trusted you to do this," Aerith reassured her. "Besides, from what Sora's told us, you seem like you can handle yourself just fine without anyone looking over your shoulder."

"You think so," Kairi asked, skepticism clear as day in her voice. "I'm not a fighter. Even back when we were all kids and just playing around on the islands, I usually just sat on the sidelines and watched as Sora, Riku, and all the others practiced their own fighting styles. Sure, I joined in once or twice because I got a little interested now and then, but I never really got that into it enough to really learn or improve like Sora did."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you don't have some abilities going for you," Aerith pointed out. She then paused in thought for a moment, and then added, "Whenever I watched Leon, Cloud, or even Zack practice their skills, they would always tell me that sometimes, it's better to go with your instincts in a fight, because while the training does help, the real thing isn't going to be like what you learned in a classroom. Just trust your gut, and do what you can in the moment."

"Besides, you've also got the Keyblade to help you out," Yuffie added, joining in on the conversation from out of nowhere, and nearly startling the other two when she did. "I mean, didn't Ven say that you need to trust it like you would the people fighting beside you or something like that?"

Kairi thought over those words for a minute, until she finally smiled and gave both of the older girls a nod of thanks. The three then slowly started to move closer to the center of the ring with Cid and Leon, both of which were gripping their respective weapons a little tighter with each passing second, until they all felt a slight tremor beneath their feet. When said tremor suddenly grew more intense, they all quickly figured out what that likely meant, even before Leon had shouted, "Scatter!"

Everyone had immediately dived to the side in one direction or another just seconds before the multi-armed Heartless suddenly sprang up from the ground, spinning around several times over with its curved swords held out in an attempt to slash any unfortunate soul that had been too close to where it had emerged from. When it finally crashed to the ground again, the five all looked to see that the Kurt Zisa matched the description from Jiminy's journal to a tee, and the cobra head appeared to be hissing menacingly as it glared down at them, making them all tense up a little as it started to approach.

"Sheesh. Well this fella sure don't look like he's going to make it easy," Cid remarked as he readied his spear for action.

"Good thing we're not planning to do so either," Leon remarked with a confident smirk as he raised his gunblade over his shoulder, ready to swing it out towards a target at any moment.

A moment later, both sides were charging at one another, with Yuffie falling back a little to throw out some smaller shurikens as a small distraction while Aerith and Kairi both prepared to fire off a spell or two for the same reason. Neither of the last two girls ever managed to cast said spells though, as a second later, the Kurt Zisa had formed a pair of energy orbs in its two lower hands, and an odd energy seemed to wash over the area that gave Aerith and Kairi both an odd feeling. When they did manage to shake it off and attempt to cast a spell, they found their magic unresponsive. There was no fireball, no shards of ice, not even a small spark of lightning forming in the sky above the Heartless boss, and that was more than enough reason to be concerned.

"Well, I think that proves that it can shut off our magic," Aerith remarked in a weak attempt at joking, mainly in an attempt to alleviate Kairi's worries after she saw a look of distress forming on the redhead's face. Not that she could blame the kid, since her magic abilities were currently her greatest strength as a Keybearer.

"And we also have a good idea on where to strike in order to get it back on," Leon added, pointing out the two orbs that the Kurt Zisa had formed in its hands when he did.

As soon as Leon had indicated the orbs to everyone, he and Cid immediately charged in once more, planning to strike one or both orbs as hard and fast as possible. Unfortunately, the Kurt Zisa was much faster than they realized, and they were only able to get close enough and strike the orbs for a few seconds before having to jump back in order to avoid being chopped up by the Heartless boss's large swords. When the spinning swords finally stopped, Kairi made her own run at the Heartless boss, ready to hit with everything she had despite whatever protests the others shouted out to her. Kairi managed to land a good few hits on one orb, destroying it completely in a few strokes, but since she put so much power she into her last strike, she ended up off balance afterwards, and completely open to another sword strike from the Kurt Zisa. Thankfully, Yuffie provided a last minute save by tossing her large shuriken into the beast's head, discouraging the Heartless from trying anything against Kairi, and Leon made sure to drive the point home by firing off a few rounds from his gunblade.

Once they saw that it was disoriented enough, Leon and Cid made another charge to take out the other orb, while Aerith and Yuffie both went to check on Kairi. The redhead quickly waved them both off though, insisting that she was fine, but she still downed the Potion that Yuffie gave her all the same, just to ease their worries. "You really shouldn't try to overextend yourself, kid," Yuffie cautioned. "Don't go and try something you don't the power for."

When she heard that, Kairi's mind instantly flashed back to what Ven had been telling her before, mentally slapping herself for forgetting that crucial detail so soon. To be fair though, she was more than a little nervous regarding the current circumstances, so it was a little hard to not forget a detail or two at times like that. With Yuffie's reminder though, Kairi found it in herself to take a deep breath, calm her nerves, and then muttered to herself, "Like water in a river. Be flexible with a steady flow, don't try to muscle your way through, and use what you can to your advantage."

A moment later, Kairi's gaze had zeroed in on the remaining orb, and she charged once again. This time, however, she did not get within striking range, but instead, she aimed her Keyblade towards the Kurt Zisa and the orb in its hand. She figured that there might be a chance that Shotlocks could still work right now, despite the fact that their magic had been blocked off. It was a bit of a long-shot, but at the moment, Kairi did not really know of anything else to try, or at least not anything that did not have a risk of her getting sliced up like sushi. Thankfully, it looked like she would not need to take that risk, because she was soon noticing the world slowing down around her slightly, and she quickly grinned eagerly before shouting for Leon and Cid to get clear. The two warriors just managed to do so right at the moment when Kairi had built up the power of her Shotlock to its maximum, and she immediately shouted, "Starlight Storm!"

A moment later, the rainbow aura of her Shotlock had completely coated her body, and she was quickly spinning out several waves of star-shaped projectiles which quickly destroyed the remaining orb. Not only that, but when the orb was destroyed, the Kurt Zisa dropped to the ground, stunned and completely limp, and the remaining waves of projectiles were sent flying towards its cobra head along with the powerful beam of light that acted as the finisher of Kairi's personal Shotlock. Even under such an assault, no one was going to kid themselves into thinking that this Heartless was down for the count, and they all quickly rushed in so that they could start slashing, stabbing, blasting, and bashing the Kurt Zisa's head with everything they had while it was still down. They must have done a rather significant amount of damage, but when Yuffie noticed one of its arms starting to move again, she quickly shouted for everyone to get back, and they all managed to escape being cut in half as the Kurt Zisa popped back up to its feet again.

They all expected it to recreate the orbs it had used to seal of their magic before, and Aerith and Kairi were both preparing to fire off the best spells they had before that happened, but what they did not expect was for the Heartless boss to suddenly begin hovering a few feet off the ground while a shield formed around it. When Leon tried to attack with his gunblade, he ended up unable to get through the shield, and ended up being blasted away as a result. The same thing happened to Cid when he tried, and Yuffie's shurikens all seemed to just bounce off the shield in random directions. Aerith was quick to use a healing spell on Leon to help him recover from the injuries he received when he landed from his unexpected flight, and once she was done, she fired off a blast of Firaga that actually managed to get through the shield, much to her surprise.

"Really? We try everything we can to hit this thing, and the only thing that actually gets through its defenses is a little fireball," Cid asked in disbelief.

"First off, that fireball was far from little," Aerith snapped in defense of her spell. "Second, I think there's a little more to it than that."

"Of course," Kairi exclaimed. "It's last defensive position prevented us from using magic, so this one has to make it vulnerable to magic alone. Anyone who knows any spells, start throwing them out now!"

The entire group did just that, save for Cid, who elected to make sure he was ready for when the shield went down since he did not know any magic at all, and when you added in the fact that Aerith was a very gifted mage in her own right, along with Kairi's natural talent for magic, it was easy to understand why the Kurt Zisa's shield was soon gone again, while the Heartless dropped to the ground like dead weight. Seeing this as their chance to go all out, Leon quickly infused some magic into his gunblade that seemed to make it longer and give it a faint, blue aura of magic, and he immediately charged in to hit with several slashes and attacks that were clearly much more powerful than his usual ones. Yuffie did something similar with her large shuriken, making it appear to get a little bigger as it was coated in light magic, and the next time she threw it, the weapon seemed to deal much more damage than before. At some point during the onslaught that the other two were unleashing, Cid finally acted and threw his spear at the Kurt Zisa's head as hard as he could, nailing it dead center as a result, and earning a loud hiss of pain from the Heartless boss.

Aerith was not about to be outdone by the rest of her friends, and she proved that by firing off a barrage of her most powerful spells after warning them to stand clear. When the barrage ended, the Kurt Zisa looked like it was going to get back up again, until a large glob of webbing suddenly kept it pinned down on the ground. When the others turned to see where the webs had come from, they all quickly spotted Spider-Man leap down from his perch up on one of the closer pillars surrounding them, and fire off a pair of web-lines so that he could slingshot towards the Heartless boss's head, proving that Kairi had just used one of the summon charms she had borrowed from Sora. When the web-head's strike had landed, Kairi took her turn to rush in, and immediately began slashing away with Destiny's Embrace once she was close enough. She instantly spun away from the Heartless when it tried to take a bite out of her with its snake head, and all the Kurt Zisa got for its trouble was a mouthful of webbing.

Seeing that it was still vulnerable, the others all threw everything they had left to give at the Heartless boss, until it finally reached a point where the Kurt Zisa was obviously on its last legs. When they noticed this, Leon turned to the Keybearer of their group and shouted, "Now, Kairi!"

Kairi did not spare any time to acknowledge the signal, and instead, just charged in so that she could land one final, leaping-strike on the massive Heartless, and it soon let out a loud noise of pain that sounded like a cross between a hiss and a roar. They all grinned in relief when they saw that the girl's blow had struck true, but their smiles faded a little when they saw the Kurt Zisa try to rise up again and make a final attempt to take them down with it, feeble it may have been. That did not stop them from rushing to get clear of the beast as it finally fell flat on its face and into the sand before it finally vanished in a faint shower of light while a heart-shaped crystal was released into the sky from its back. A minute later though, the group was having to dodge the surrounding pillars as they too began to fall like dominoes, until Spider-Man managed to pull them all clear just before the energy used to summon him had faded, and over to Genie, who immediately flew them away as fast as he could.

Looking back at their previous battleground, no one was able to fault the other for breathing a heavy sigh of relief. It was a hard-fought battle after all, and there was little doubt that it would have given someone else a great deal of trouble. Even Yuffie was smiling widely, despite the oncoming queasiness of her stomach, and she quickly looked to Kairi and said, "Nice work, kiddo. I knew you had it in you."

"We all did," Aerith insisted, and the others were soon voicing similar words of confidence to the redhead.

Kairi could only blush a little from the praise before she tried to insist, "Hey, don't sell yourselves short. This was a team effort after all, and I never could've beaten that thing if you guys weren't there with me."

"Maybe not, but you did still manage to win without Sora or Ven being here, so you should take that as a sign of your skills growing stronger," Leon encouraged.

"Not that one of those two pinheads would be that much help," Cid scoffed, but considering how widely he was grinning when he said that, they all knew he was joking. "Now, how about we get out of this sand trap already so we can meet up with Ven and Sora's groups?"

"Hey! This 'sand trap' happens to be my home you know," Genie reminded Cid in a jokingly warning tone, earning a few rounds of laughter from everyone in response.

Their laughter continued all the way back to Agrabah, and once they had arrived back in the bazaar, they quickly teleported back up to the _Shera_ so that they could set out for their next destination after letting Jiminy know of their progress. _"Nice work everyone,"_ the cricket congratulated. _"Ven just called a little while ago to say that his team managed to get their guy too, so they're all headed to here at Olympus Coliseum, right now. You should get over here as quickly as you can too."_

"Roger that, _Kingdom_. We'll see you when we get there," Cid replied before closing the communication line, and with that, the _Shera_ was getting underway once again, flying towards the home of Hercules while Yuffie had taken up residence near the ship's bathroom.

"Are you going to be okay to make it to Olympus Coliseum, Yuffie," Kairi asked.

"Ye…Yeah. I'll be fine," Yuffie groggily insisted. She then looked Kairi over for a minute before she finally asked, "Say, you're originally from Hollow Bastion like all of us, right?"

"Yeah," Kairi slowly confirmed, not entirely sure where Yuffie was going with this. There was no telling what the ninja girl was going to say or do after getting that confirmation after all.

What Kairi did not expect was for Yuffie to smile nostalgically and reveal, "You know, I think I remember babysitting you a few times for your grandma when you were a kid."

"Really," Kairi asked.

Yuffie continued to study Kairi a little more while trying to keep the contents of her stomach in, until she finally said, "Yeah, I remember now. Your grandma once asked me to look after you while she made an emergency run to the market. Well to be more accurate, she tricked me into it by calling it a 'possibly dangerous mission that would require nerves of steel.' I was still training to become a ninja at the time, and I was really eager to prove myself somehow, so I immediately jumped at the chance for a dangerous mission. It turned out that there was no danger at all, because you were the sweetest little tyke I ever met. After that, part of me always got a little excited when your grandma called me up to ask me to babysit you again."

Kairi grinned at this, happy to hear that she had actually been a good friend to Yuffie even way back then and she would have asked Yuffie to tell her a little more about those days if the ninja had not suddenly dashed into the bathroom and began emptying the contents of her stomach at last. "Uh…I'll ask her about that stuff later," Kairi decided, moving to watch the lights of stars passing by the viewport as they flew to Olympus Coliseum.

* * *

Aqua may claim that she was losing her fight against the darkness, but she was certainly doing an impressive job of proving otherwise, given how many creatures of darkness she had felled since she had seen what she believed to be her dearest friends. Well, phantoms of her best friend and the man she loved, but they could still just as easily be something close to those two people, right? Whatever the case may have been, the fact of the matter was that Aqua was tearing through whatever despicable creature made to stand between her and them. Even when she ran afoul of creatures that were much bigger than any she had faced up until now, Aqua did not waver in the slightest. She quickly cut down each and every foe, be it with her fallen master's Keyblade or with some form of her own magic, and she did so in a manner that was befitting of both a Keyblade Master that was also a well-accomplished mage. When she happened upon a large grouping of the towering dark monsters and saw that they were starting to form a massive orb full of darkness, Aqua did not waver in the slightest. She just charged forward as fast as she could, fighting her way towards the clearing where the monster right in the middle of it all was holding the dark orb up, and made quick work of the creature of darkness easily before destroying the orb itself with a single swing of her Keyblade. When the orb was destroyed, the remaining creatures surrounding her soon followed, and now, all that was left for Aqua was to find her two friends. Not that she had to look too hard, because she quickly spotted their forms in the distance, just where the clearing narrowed into a small path that looked identical to the one that lead up to Maleficent's stronghold.

As she drew closer, Aqua saw the two figures becoming clearer, every detail growing sharper, until finally, when she came to a stop just behind them, she saw them both appear as the two people she had been chasing after, just as she remembered them. "Terra, Ven," Aqua called out, even though she was not really expecting an answer. None of the phantoms of her friends had said anything to her before, so why would that change now?

Something turned out to be different this time, because Terra slowly turned around to face her, and gasped, "Aqua, you're…"

"Terra," Aqua gasped in little more than a whisper, slowly approaching when she did, hope shining in her eyes. "You spoke?"

Apparently, Terra was not expecting her to respond, because a look of surprise quickly crossed his own face while a tiny spark of hope flittered through them when he asked his next question. "Can you see me?"

"Of course," Aqua exclaimed happily. "I see Ven too."

"Ven?! He's here," Terra asked, turning every way he could, almost as though he did not realize that the young man was standing right next to him, much to Aqua's confusion.

"Terra, what's wrong? Don't you see him," Aqua asked, now growing a little worried for the sake of her friend.

Terra brushed it aside though, and diverted her attention onto a different subject, asking, "Where are we?"

If Aqua had a problem with the change in topic, she did not let it show or even bother her in the slightest, because right now, she was just happy to apparently be talking to her best friend. "A world the darkness has consumed," Aqua explained. "It's Enchanted Dominion."

"Consumed? The worlds fell," Terra questioned, his questioning expression quickly turning more worried.

His worry was nothing next to Aqua's though, but her concerns were of a much different nature at the moment. "What's gotten into you," Aqua asked, crossing her arms in front of her as if she wished to shield her heart from anymore hurt that might come from the answer to her next question. "How do I know you're Terra, and not the weakness that's in my heart playing more tricks?" Before Terra had a chance to answer, Aqua remembered that another person she cared about was currently before her, and she immediately turned to him in the hopes that he could help. "Ven! Please say something," Aqua begged, coming around so that she could better face the boy. When she did though, something suddenly clicked in her mind. Earlier, when she had managed to contact Kairi on the other side, there was a brief moment when she was also given a glimpse of what was going on in the Realm of Light, one where she had seen Ventus, and while she never got a good look at him, she was still able to see enough to know that he had changed a bit since the last time she saw him. This person before her, however, looked exactly like Ven had when she had hidden him away so long ago, the same height, the same blank look in his eyes, and everything. "You're…You're not actually…" Aqua stuttered, hardly able to bear the truth regarding the blonde she was seeing.

"Aqua, listen," Terra called out, garnering her attention again. "I promise this is me, but I'm not myself."

"What do you mean," Aqua asked, not understanding and growing even more worried.

"You're using the name 'Terra.' That means you're seeing me the way that you remember me, but you're heart is just painting the picture that it so wants to see," Terra explained as best as he could. He hesitated for a moment after that, as if unable to admit what he was about to say, but in the end, he finally sighed and revealed, "The real me is lost in shadow."

"Then you're here, trapped in the Realm of Darkness," Aqua concluded, thinking that was what Terra meant.

Sadly, Terra had to disprove that conclusion. "No. My heart has ties to the dark. That must be why we can talk, but I can't see anything, Aqua. If you say Ven is there, then he's like me — an illusion created by your heart."

Aqua let out a sad sigh when she heard that, because it merely confirmed what she had already suspected when she had realized earlier why this Ven was such a contrast to the one she had seen earlier during her short link with Kairi. "Should've known," Aqua muttered under her breath as a small tear started to escape her eye.

"What," Terra asked, having barely heard her.

"It's a bit of a long story," Aqua admitted aloud. "I…connected with someone in the outside world earlier, and I was able to catch a glimpse of Ven through her. He was safe, but I could also tell that he had changed a bit since I last saw him. This one here, he's the same way as I remember him from the last time we both saw him."

"I see," Terra nodded, a small smile forming on his face. Clearly he was just as happy to hear that his little brother was okay as Aqua was.

Aqua then thought of something else though, because while she knew that Ven was safe, there was still another matter regarding her two friends that had not been cleared up. "So what about you? Are you also safe in the outside world?"

"I think," Terra nodded, not entirely certain of the fact.

"That's good," Aqua nodded, willing to take that for now. Still, one thing was on her mind that really bugged her. "But, how did you find me?"

"I looked here," Terra revealed, placing a hand over his heart. "And heard you in the darkness."

"Right," Aqua nodded, happy to hear that Terra still held a special place in his heart for the friends he cared so deeply about, but that did not absolve her of all her worries for him. "But why does your heart have…ties to the darkness now? What did you mean 'lost in shadow'?"

"Forget about me," Terra immediately brushed off, clearly feeling that his current state was unimportant compared to something else. "Aqua, Xehanort is trying to locate Ven."

Aqua just smirked in response to that, much to Terra's surprise, and said, "Then he must be looking in all the wrong places, because Ven's out there fighting to try and keep the worlds safe. Even if that wasn't the case though, Xehanort would never find him. I had hidden Ven well. I just wish I knew the reason why he was not talking to me here. He's clearly not still back there sleeping, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's so busy with something else right now."

While Aqua had returned her gaze to the phantom of Ventus, she never once noticed how Terra had suddenly started to fidget and grunt as if he were in pain, eventually grasping his head in an attempt to keep whatever was causing his agony at bay. "No. I can't control…" Terra muttered as his hair began to change from brown to white, while his eyes also changed from their rightful blue to an orange-yellow color. An aura of darkness slowly began to form around his body, until finally, Terra ceased struggling all together. The next time he spoke though, his voice had changed completely, now sounding much deeper and darker than before. "This 'place' where you had hidden Ventus. Is it the Chamber of Waking?"

Aqua would have answered immediately had she not immediately realized that something was off with Terra. The deeper voice was one thing, to be certain, but more than that, Terra had referred to Ven by the blonde's full name. The only times Terra ever did that was when something was especially serious or when he was upset with Ventus. More importantly, how could Terra have known about the Chamber of Waking? That was something that only she and Eraqus knew about, and her master had taken that knowledge to his grave. Knowing all of this, Aqua slowly turned her gaze towards Terra again, her expression now much more guarded than before as she subtly lowered herself into a defensive stance, until she finally faced her friend and saw how he had changed. "Who are you? Really," Aqua demanded.

A mocking smirk crossed "Terra's" face when he looked up at her again, as he began to say, "You don't know? My name…"

"Aqua! Get back," Terra suddenly shouted, having materialized behind the person who had suddenly seized control of him in a shower of lights, his body glowing with a faint aura of light even as he grabbed the evil being from behind, much to Aqua's shock and confusion. "I messed up. Xehanort is part of me. Now he's using me so you'll tell him about that place where you hid Ven! He must think there's something else there!"

"SILENCE," Terra-Xehanort shouted at his captor, and suddenly, a huge storm of dark energies began manifesting around them.

Aqua probably should have run at that moment. She probably should have tried to put as much distance between her and this place as she could, but at that moment, she was frozen where she stood, unable to really do anything right then as she watched Terra struggle against Xehanort's spirit. Terra must have realized this, because he quickly shouted, "I won't give in! Aqua, you have to…"

Whatever Terra was going to say ended up being cut off, as Terra-Xehanort suddenly grabbed him by the face, and managed to lift the Keybearer off him. "Still you struggle," the dark being snarled.

"Terra," Aqua cried out. She would have rushed to help him had a sudden swirl of darkness not suddenly materialized behind her and allowed a large black hand to reach out and grab the phantom of Ventus, much to her horror. "No, Ven," Aqua shouted in horror. She knew that this was merely an illusion, but she did not care right now. This was the closest she had ever come to being near the man she loved in a long time, and she was not willing to lose it so soon. That ended up being a bit harder than she had originally though, because another hand like the one that had grabbed Ven suddenly shot out and grabbed her as well, lifting her up and away from Terra.

"Now you can be one with the darkness," Terra-Xehanort shouted, relishing in the way that the two Keybearers were currently struggling against the shadows that were holding them both captive.

Their struggling eventually came to an end though, but for Aqua, it was mainly because she was starting to feel any energy she currently had left in her fading away at last. Finally, after fighting for so long, Aqua could feel whatever resistance she had left crumble away into nothing, while her vision began to go dark. Terra on the other hand still had something left to give in his own fight, and he proved it by allowing his aura of light to flash brightly as he shouted, "That is _enough_!"

The next thing Aqua knew, bright chains began erupting from Terra's body and began wrapping around the area as it they were trying to latch onto something or tie it down, ultimately wrapping around Terra-Xehanort. She just barely registered Terra-Xehanort finally releasing his hold on her friend while the sounds of those same chains seemed to rush closer to her, but she could not be completely sure, as she soon lost consciousness after that, unable to put up any more of a fight against her own exhaustion now. The last thing Aqua saw before her vision became eclipsed in shadow was Terra leaning limply forward and fading away into the lights he had come from while Terra-Xehanort continued to struggle against his restraints.

Not too far away from where all this was taking place, Riku and Mickey were racing along their current path as fast as they could, each of them following after the light of Aqua's heart in an attempt to locate her. They suddenly skidded to a stop though when Riku picked up on the feeling of a sudden surge of darkness rising from the location they were headed towards, and quickly fell to his knees due to how intense it felt. Out of concern for his newest friend, Mickey immediately came to the boy's side and asked, "Riku, are you okay?"

"I'm…I'm fine," Riku grounded out, somehow managing to return to his feet again. "Whatever I felt just now though was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was a lot like Ansem's darkness, only much more powerful, and it felt like it was fighting…something."

"That must've been Aqua," Mickey reasoned.

"No, it wasn't her," Riku denied. "Aqua was there, but it wasn't fighting her. At least, not her specifically. It was fighting someone else. I don't really know who, but this person definitely felt familiar. Not like Aqua, but in another way…Sorry, I know I'm probably doing a bad job of explaining this."

Admittedly, Riku really was doing a poor job of explaining what he felt, but Mickey was able to get something close to the gist of what the boy was trying to say. He proved that by giving Riku a friendly smile and a short wave to show that it was okay, but the king was more concerned with something else right now. "What about Aqua? Can you tell if she's okay?"

Riku reached out with his senses again, and he did manage to find what he and Mickey believed to be Aqua's light. The only problem was it felt much weaker than it had before. "She's still there, but she's fading fast," Riku informed him.

Mickey's face fell into an even deeper frown at that, because Riku had just confirmed what he was so afraid to be right. "We're running out of time then," the king determined, and he immediately raced forward with Riku hot on his heels, both of them praying that they would be in time much more intensely than ever.

* * *

On board the _Celsius_ , everyone was all smiles and cheers, with Selphie and Wakka telling Yuna a few more stories about life on Destiny Islands, some of which were to Tidus's embarrassment. All the same, the summoner seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit, and Tidus was able to do the same after a little bit, feeling it better to let his friends get their laughs in before launching his own counterattack against them. Besides, he liked seeing Yuna happy, and her laugh was really cute too. Tidus was not the only blonde of their group that was enjoying themselves at the moment though, because Ventus could feel a joyful smile crossing his own face as well as he listened to the four having their fun while they could. After what they just went through with helping him to defeat the Phantom Heartless, they deserved a moment to just relax, joke around, and be kids for a little while.

Ventus was quickly pulled away from such thoughts, though, when he suddenly felt something vibrating oddly in one of his pockets. He would have cast it off as nothing, mainly because he was currently the one piloting the ship, had he not felt as though something sharp had just run through his heart. It was not necessarily a painful feeling, but it was unpleasant all the same, and that served as all the more reason for Ven to pull the vibrating object from his pocket. Much to his surprise, the object in question turned out to be his Wayfinder, and he noticed that it was not only shaking in his hand, but it also had a faint glow flickering about it, almost like a light that was seconds away from going dark. Seeing that made his concerns grow a little more and he could only think of one thing that it could mean, or rather, one person who could possibly be behind this.

"Aqua…Has something happened to you," Ventus muttered worriedly, praying that was not the case.

Apparently his moment of distraction did not go unnoticed by the rest of his party, because Wakka soon approached him and asked, "Yo, Old Man Spiky, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah," Ventus hesitantly replied, quickly pocketing his Wayfinder once again when he did. To alleviate the others of any further worry, he then put on a small smirk and added, "Aside from that 'Old Man,' comment, you little wise-guy surfer boy."

"Ha! You wish I was a surfer boy," Wakka joked in response, even though he was clearly feeling sheepish for calling Ven an old man. "Nah, that honor goes to Tidus and his spectacular, epic fail."

"Oh come on! That was one time, man. Can't you just let that go already," Tidus groaned when he heard that.

Yuna on the other hand, appeared to be very intrigued, while Selphie merely grinned like the Cheshire Cat, so needless to say, Wakka would not be letting it go today, despite Tidus's wishes. With the others now distracted by Wakka's newest, embarrassing story about Tidus, Ven was now free to let his mind ponder what could have happened to Aqua that caused such a reaction to form in his Wayfinder. Sadly, none of those conclusions were good, and Ven ultimately had to put them out of his mind for now. They still had some work left to do, after all, and the next part of that was meeting up with Kairi and Sora's teams as soon as they could.

* * *

Sora and his two best buddies from Disney Town were finally starting to feel a little frustrated, because they had gotten through nearly the entire tournament, and there was still no sign of whatever was causing the latest surge of darkness on Olympus Coliseum. All they found were a bunch of Heartless that, while stronger than normal, were still no different from the ones that they had faced before. Sure, there was a variation of both the Guard Armor and the Stealth Sneak in there, but they were clearly not powerful enough to be the big threat that Merlin and Cid had detected from this place. By the time they had entered the semifinals of the tournament that frustration had grown even more, partially because Jiminy had called once again and let them know that Kairi's team had completed their mission and were now on their way here too. This probably would not be a big deal to anyone else, but considering how competitive Sora could be at times, it was no surprise he would feel a bit upset at hearing he would be the last of the three Keybearers to finish his assignment, and the feeling was shared by both Donald and Goofy. Although, most of the latter two's frustration was due to the fact that they had seen either hide nor hair of this major threat.

That ended up changing very soon though, because said threat finally revealed himself when the sky above the arena suddenly became much darker, giving the whole area a very foreboding feel that left both the three competitors and the spectators feeling nervous. Their nervousness turned out to be well-founded, because Sora, Donald, and Goofy's opponent turned out to be someone that they had not entirely expected, even though they probably should have. After all, this tournament did have the guy's name literally written all over it. "Hey kid, whaddya know, you actually made it this far without Ole Venny boy looking over your shoulder. Good for you, but too bad, because, unfortunately, this is where you're going to be dropping out. And when I say dropping out, I mean right out of this tournament and down into the Underworld," Hades smirked with twisted glee, barely even fazed by the glares that the four were throwing his way.

"I'm surprised we're fighting so early, Hades," Sora commented. "I figured you'd be waiting for us in the final round, not at the semifinals."

"Well ya see, that actually was the original plan, but I came up with something better for the final match. Not that you'll see it, because, there's just one little, teeny-tiny thing ya gotta do before you get there," Hades explained. An instant later, his kin turned crimson while the flames that acted as his hair grew larger and turned a bright orange and red, all right when he roared, "You've gotta handle the heat and beat me!"

There was barely any time to evade the fireballs that Hades threw at them, but somehow, Sora and his two friends managed to do just that, only to find themselves scrambling to keep clear of the other flaming attacks that Hades was throwing at them. If it was not fireballs, then it was massive streams of fire from his hands, and any time that they tried to get close to him, the Lord of the Dead would summon a massive column of flames to keep him safe. The three were determined to not let that stop them though, and Sora easily knew of one way to get Hades to cool down. A quick look at Donald showed him that the duck had the same idea, and a moment later, they were both blasting Hades with a few rounds of ice magic, until Hades finally changed back into his usual, pale blue colors, albeit with a small shiver. Goofy immediately took that chance to rush in and slam his shield into Hades several times over, with Sora doing the same a minute later, but only the Keybearer managed to notice when Hades was starting to flare up again and get clear in time. Goofy, on the other hand, failed to notice until it was too late, and ended up getting caught in Hades's fiery counterattack.

"YEOW! My butt's on fire," Goofy hollered, running around the arena like a chicken with its head cut off in a panic.

"Hold on, Goofy! I'll save you," Donald called out, rushing over to help his friend. Of course, his help came in the form of an ice blast directly to Goofy's butt, and said blast may have been a little too powerful, because Goofy ended up turning a little blue with cold afterwards.

"N-now I've got b-b-brain f-freeze," Goofy chattered, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm back up again. He put it on hold though when noticed Hades moving towards the center of the ring before throwing his arms out to the sides, indicating he was about to unleash a rather deadly and fiery attack, and shouted, "Look out!"

Once again, Sora managed to evade the initial blast, and continued evade Hades's attack as he started to slowly spin around the arena, turning his stream of flames closer to the heroes as he did, but Donald did not end up being so lucky, a fact that he quickly realized when he noticed too late that he was right in the path of one of the fire streams. "Uh-oh," was all that Donald could say before warbling in pain as he was hit by the flames. Donald's rear was not the only thing that had been lit; the duck's fiery temper had also been ignited as well after that attack. "Why you stupid, underhanded, low-life, flame-brain," Donald roared. "I'll show you! Take this!"

An instant later, Donald had unleashed the most powerful ice spell in his arsenal, certain that it would extinguish Hades's flames for a good long while. Unfortunately, no one was ready for when Hades suddenly flared up hotter than ever, melting the ice in Donald's magic before it could even touch him. "Pft, please. Do you really think I'm gonna let you do the same shtick, the same tactic, the same _cheap_ attempt at weakening me twice," Hades asked in disbelief. "Come on. I'm the Lord of the Dead, not the Lord of Idiocy."

"Then how about I give you a taste of my own brand of ice," Sora retorted, causing Hades to turn towards the kid just in time to get a face-full of rapidly-fired Blizzaga spells. The downside was that Hades did manage to flare up again before the ice could hit though, but on the plus side, Sora got what he was actually aiming for with those ice blasts: the energy necessary for the Diamond Dust Command Style, which he did not hesitate to activate.

A minute later, the kid was throwing everything he had at the god of the Underworld, and since all of his attacks had an especially chilling touch to them, Hades was unable to get hot enough to keep his flames from going out. When he had finally transformed back to normal, Sora finally unleashed the Diamond Dust Command Style's finisher, blasting several large ice shards into Hades at once, and nearly knocking him out of the arena when he did. Hades was not going to let himself go down so easily though, as he proved by standing back up once again, albeit with a little more wobbly than before, but Sora was not done with the Lord of the Dead just yet. He still had more than a few tricks up his sleeves, and the young Keyblade Warrior proved it by unleashing Typhoon Barrage on Hades before switching over to a rapid barrage of Strike Raid and Sonic Blade attacks.

After one last Strike Raid, Sora had finally built up all the energy he needed for his personal Command Style, and he instantly unleashed it with a loud yell. "Command Style: Destiny Blaze!"

At that moment, hearing the name of that particular Command Style, something suddenly seemed to click for Hades at last, and the next time he turned to face Sora, he did not see the young boy that he had tricked into participating in the games the first time he had come here. He saw a Keyblade Master from ten years ago who was almost a dead-ringer for the boy before him. Hades would admit that said master was at least a little bit older than this kid in front of him, but when you changed the armor on the kid's left shoulder a little bit, added a bit of height, and changed his attire to match that one master's, Hades was certain that you would see a perfect match between them. "Y-You…" Hades muttered. "Impossible. How're you here now?! I thought you had been destroyed forever!"

Sora paid little mind to the rather confusing statement that had slipped out from Hades, and instead put all of his focus into one final attack against the ruler of the Underworld, Oathkeeper swinging right alongside the Ghost-Keyblade that had materialized into his free hand. Hades's shock made him unable to really do anything in an attempt to defend himself from the barrage of sword strikes that Sora threw at him, and in the end, he was also unable to stop the Command Style's finishing move from blasting him out of the arena and ending the fight in the heroic trio's favor. Hades's trip did not end after he was out of the arena though, because from what everyone else could tell, the Lord of the Dead had ended up getting blasted all the way back down to the Underworld he came from, and judging by the sounds of protest and struggling that they heard from him afterwards, they had a feeling that he was not going to be putting up any more of a fight after this.

"Well, I guess now we know who was causing all that extra darkness to appear here," Goofy determined, having finally gotten back to normal at last.

"What I don't get is why Hades was still trying to do something anyway. I mean, shouldn't he have quit after Maleficent was destroyed," Sora asked, his confusion on the matter showing through as clear as day.

"That's bad guys for you. They never learn when to give up, no matter what happens," Donald mused. "Either way, we won and everything should be a-okay now."

 _"Hold on there, fellas. You're not done yet,"_ Jiminy suddenly announced over their radios, surprising them all and ending their early celebrations. _"Yeah, the darkness levels down there have dropped, but they're still really high. Hades may have had a part in whatever it is that's causing this surge, but it wasn't just him alone. There's something else down there that's still a problem."_

The three moaned in dismay when they heard that, but they figured that they might as well grit their teeth, bear down, and deal with it. After all, they did just defeat the ruler of the Underworld, so there was no way they would not be able to handle whatever came next. Their confidence in the matter quickly started to drop though when the small arena that they had been fighting in faded away so that they now had the entire arena floor to work with and a few small quakes suddenly shook throughout the coliseum. It did not take much more guess work for them to figure out that those "quakes" were actually heavy footsteps, and whatever it was that could make the ground shake like that, definitely had to be really big. When the three turned to see just what it was that was walking towards them, their jaws all dropped at the sight of it, because calling this beast a mountain of a monster had not been more literal for them until now. The monster was in fact a massive, living mountain of a beast, completely made of stone, and it towered over the arena despite its rather stubby looking legs. From they were standing, the three were just barely able to see that this thing had two heads sticking up from its massive, rock body, and both of them were glaring down at the trio with all four, red eyes.

"Hey Goofy, remember when you said back at Hollow Bastion that you were going to need a bigger shield," Sora asked, his voice carrying a tone of fear in it.

"Yeah," Goofy replied, his own fear at the sight of this monster showing much more clearly than Sora's.

"Something tells me that we're _all_ going to need bigger weapons for this guy," Sora finished, raising Oathkeeper up so that he was holding it in his usual ready position.

 _"Hey fellas! That thing's the source of the darkness spike, only it's not a Heartless. It's one of several beasts from Olympus Coliseum known as the Titans,"_ Jiminy reported from aboard the _Kingdom_. _"This one's called the Rock Titan, and while it doesn't have too many special powers like some of its brothers, it does still possess an incredible amount of strength. As in enough strength to make massive earthquakes just by stamping its feet. Oh, and watch out for those fists of his. They'll send you clear out of the atmosphere with a single hit if he gets a chance to swing at you. It's main weak points are its stubby legs and two heads. If you can hit the former two enough times, he'll drop down onto his back and give you a better chance to hit it in the head. Just make sure you're not too close when it does fall, or you'll get hit by a small shockwave when it lands"_

"Oh well thanks for that," Donald remarked, his sarcasm just oozing through each word. Clearly he felt that, while Jiminy's information was a little helpful, it did also served as an unnecessary reminder of how dangerous their current situation was.

There was not any time for someone to reprimand Donald for his remark or add on to it, because a minute later, they had all needed to scramble away before getting crushed under the Rock Titan's foot. Just like Jiminy had said, the thing moved slow, but it made up for that in the amount of power and strength that it possessed, a fact it proved when it slowly swung one of its fist at Goofy. The knight had just barely managed to raise his shield in time to block the attack, and even with all the power that Save the King possessed, it proved to be almost nothing next to the strength of this massive titan, because Goofy was still sent flying into the back wall of the arena. Donald had immediately cast his best healing spell to relieve Goofy of his injuries, and then turned to throw out as many offensive spells as he could at the Rock Titan, pausing only to provide himself and his two friends with Aeroga Shields. It was actually during his pause to cast such a shield around Sora that the Rock Titan finally managed to land a hit on Donald, but thankfully, it was just a small kick that the Titan had barely managed due to his body's much more massive size when compared to his legs. Of course, that did not mean that Donald was left unscathed by the attack, as he was sent flying almost as far back as Goofy had been earlier.

Seeing his two friends getting swatted aside so easily caused Sora to narrow his gaze on the Rock Titan and then start throwing everything he could at the massive beast, from spells, to regular and special attacks, and right up to Shotlocks. He would have thrown in a Command Style or two if he could, but after using two nearly back-to-back against Hades just seconds ago, Sora was not entirely confident that he could do so effectively at the moment. Despite those doubts, his barrage of attacks proved to be enough to knock the Rock Titan down onto his bum, and Sora immediately climbed up the massive monster's body so that he could reach its heads and begin smashing his Keyblade against one or both of them. That proved to be a bit easier said than done though, as the Rock Titan showed it was not afraid to try and literally take a bite out of Sora if he got too close. Luckily, Donald and Goofy were soon right next to Sora, and helping him in fending off the monster's chomps while bashing it in the head right along with Sora.

Nothing lasts forever though, as was quickly proven when the Rock Titan slowly rose up off the ground again, and the three found themselves dropping down to the ground. While Donald and Goofy ended up in landings that were far from graceful, Sora was able to react quickly enough and use Glide so that his descent was a bit more steady. At least, it had been until the Rock Titan took a swing at him with his massive fists, knocking Sora out of the air and into the side of the arena. When Sora stood up again, he did not do so very steadily, and it was not until he paused to cast Cura over himself that he finally managed to regain a strong footing again, proving that this fight was going to take quite a bit out of them if they wanted to win. Then again, they were already throwing out whatever they could against this thing, but when you consider that they had just gotten out of a hard fought battle with Hades and had very little time to really recover, it would be easy to understand why Sora was now getting more than a little worried about their situation.

His confidence had definitely hit a new low, and Sora was slowly starting to bow his head in defeat, until someone suddenly shouted, "Come on, Sora! Don't give up yet!"

Sora's head immediately snapped up and to his right, and much to his surprise, he saw Ventus, Wakka, Selphie, Yuna, and Tidus all up in the stands, with the last of the five being the one who had shouted down to him. When they had arrived, Sora was not sure, but what he did know was that they were all currently shouting various words of encouragement for him. "Don't tell me you're gonna let yourself get beaten by this guy after you were able to beat me, Tidus, and Selphie all at once on your own, and this was before you ever even had the Keyblade, ya," Wakka grinned as he pumped his fist in victory for Sora.

"I may not have known you for long, but with what Tidus told me, and what I've seen, I feel like I can safely say that you never quit when your back's against a wall, no matter what enemy you're facing," Yuna encouraged.

"Besides, you can't get beat now! Not when you and Kairi just got together. Think of how sad she would be if you did lose here," Selphie teased. Sure, she was probably aware that there was not too much danger of Sora actually dying in this fight, but considering that this was Selphie, there was just as good of a chance that she would not have cared if it meant she got in another bit of teasing in regards to Sora's relationship with Kairi.

If Ventus was going to say something, he ended up having to wait, because someone else beat him to it, and that person was actually watching from the stands on the other side of the arena. "Sora, win this! You've already beaten a lot of tough opponents with your own strength. This guy shouldn't be a problem," Leon's voice declared, and Sora turned to see the Gunblade wielder up in the stands on the left side of the arena along with Cid, Aerith, Kairi, and a slightly sick-looking Yuffie.

"Come on, kid! Don't tell me some overgrown pile of rocks is going to be the thing that finally does you in," Cid remarked with a teasing grin.

"You can do it, Sora! We all know you can," Aerith encouraged.

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be stupid to think that this guy could beat you when you've already taken down Heartless that could make this guy look like a kitten, right," Yuffie added on. It may have been a little less energetic than usual, but Sora could still see that the usual Yuffie-spirit was in there. It was probably just having a hard time reaching the surface due to her currently queasy state.

Sora's gaze slowly trailed over to Kairi, who was beaming with pride and joy, as she said, "Just believe, and you can do it. Even if you can't find the strength to believe in yourself, I will always believe in you, Sora. I know you will win."

Sora then turned back to Ven, and saw that his master was smiling just as confidently as Kairi was, and when the blonde saw that his apprentice's gaze was fixed on him, Ventus took the opportunity to finally say what he was going to before. "You know that you have the strength to win this, Sora. Just like you did back in Hollow Bastion. After all, you have the greatest power of all right inside of you."

When he heard those words, Sora smiled a little wider, and repeated what he had said to Riku at the time that Ven was talking about, albeit with a little extra addition. "I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power, and I'm theirs!"

An instant later, a strong aura of energy surged forth from Sora's body, coating him completely, until it finally solidified as the aura of his Unique Command Style, and Sora instantly charged in to slash at the Rock Titan with everything he had. Ven was a little stunned when he saw this happen at first, especially since he knew that such a thing should not be possible for someone who had not yet become a full-fledged Keyblade Master, but his surprise quickly disappeared and became replaced with pride when he reminded himself just who that was down there fighting against the Rock Titan. He knew that Sora had the potential to be a living embodiment of how one's friends could give you great strength in a true moment of need, and this was but the first step in the boy's journey to proving that. Sora continued to show how true this was as he used Destiny Blaze's power to topple the Rock Titan after a few more strikes, and he then leapt high into the air, and over to the Titan's head, where he unleashed several different strikes from both Oathkeeper and the Ghost-Keyblade that had appeared in his other hand.

While Sora was continuing his attack, he signaled for Donald to blast the Titan with as many of his most powerful spells that he could still manage, and the duck immediately started out with a blast of Thundaga. The lightning spell easily zapped the Rock Titan's second head, just as it was preparing to take a bite out of Sora, and when the one that Sora was currently focusing on tried to chomp down on the boy, it ended up getting knocked in the side by Goofy's thrown shield. When Save the King returned to its owner, Goofy had already joined Sora on top of the massive beast, and began bashing his shield into the second head, while Donald kept up his magic barrage from the ground. The two close-combat fighters did not stop their barrage of strikes until the Rock Titan slowly started to stand up again, and they immediately jumped clear before they could be shaken off again.

Donald did not just stand back and wait for his friends to return to the ground though, but instead, he made a mad rush for the Rock Titan's legs and started hitting them over and over again with his staff, knowing that Save the Queen was able to deal much stronger close-combat damage than his usual staff. His strikes ended up being enough to actually take a small chunk of rocks out of the Rock Titan's leg, and it turned out to that he had knocked out just enough rocks to make the living mountain stumble back a little. Goofy immediately rushed forward to help Donald capitalize on this moment, while Sora stepped back and started aiming his Keyblade at the Rock Titan, already feeling the energies of a new Shotlock starting to flow through him. When he made sure that he had completely locked onto the Rock Titan, and with the energy of his ability at full power, Sora immediately unleashed his newest Shotlock without any hesitation.

What followed next was actually a little surprising for everyone, as they could all sense the sheer power behind this Shotlock, even without the visual effects that it possessed. While Sora was coated in a bright gold aura, a massive sphere of light erupted forth from his Keyblade that he immediately sent into the air above everyone in the arena. After that had happened, they all watched as Sora leaped up into the air, far higher than they had ever seen him jump before, and then rocket back down to the ground with Oathkeeper's tip pointed forward. When the Keyblade finally stabbed into the ground and a large, elaborate rune sprang forth, covering almost the entire area, while Sora spun himself around his Keyblade until his feet were planted firmly on the ground again. With the wielder of Kingdom Key landed, the sphere above them released a massive explosion of light so brilliant, that some would have gone blind if they were looking directly at the sphere itself, and it did not stop with just one burst. No, it continued on several times over with multiple spheres of light rocketing down from the larger one, and impacting the Rock Titan several times over. When the barrage and the intense light both finally faded, they all watched with baited breath as the Rock Titan stumbled over his feet more and more, until he finally felt flat on his face with a roar of agony, creating a massive dust cloud from where he landed that hid him from view.

When the dust finally cleared and everyone managed to wipe any dirt from their eyes, they all saw that the only thing left of the Rock Titan was a pile of boulders of various shapes and sizes. Seeing the state of Sora's previous opponent, Phil quickly ran over to the gong and hit it as hard as he could, signaling the end of the tournament, all while he shouted, "It's over! It's all over! The winners are Sora, Donald, and Goofy! THE JUNIOR HEROES WIN!"

Like clockwork, the entire audience erupted in loud, excited cheers, with Ventus, Kairi, Yuna, the Traverse Town gang, and the Islander Trio all cheering louder than everyone. The whole time, Sora, Donald, and Goofy could only beam with excitement, even as Hercules came down to hand over the Hades Cup trophy to Sora, who raised it high into the air, and proudly shouted, "We're the champs!"

* * *

It was a little over an hour or so before the excitement of Team Kingdom Key's victory in the Hades Cup had finally died down, and even then, it was still a long while before Sora saw an end to the excited hugs, high-fives, and pats on the back that he received from all of his friends. Although, he definitely wished that his victory kiss from Kairi could have lasted a little bit longer. He blamed both the need to breathe and Selphie's teasing for that one. Once things had settled enough, Ven took the time to comment to Sora how his newest Shotlock looked a lot like a special Keyblade wielder ability known as the Trinity Limit, a very powerful ability that is incredibly difficult to learn, and Sora could only comment that he was not too surprised about that, since his newest Shotlock was actually named Trinity _Force_. Both of the Keyblade wielding boys knew that there was little chance that was just a coincidence, but they were definitely not complaining. After all, with all of that power Sora's newest Shotlock had to be the go-to ability when they were up against an especially powerful opponent from now on. Though Ven did caution Sora against using it as anything more than a last-resort move until they understood the full scope of what Trinity Force could do, both in terms of its positive effects and its drawbacks. When their excitement finally settled, everyone was prepared to either return to Traverse Town or just head on to Hollow Bastion, but they quickly found another delay in their path. Unlike the last few though, this delay was much more pleasant.

After seeing Sora's last match, Hercules felt that he could not wait any longer and practically begged Ventus to have a match with him. The hero of Olympus Coliseum also said that he wanted to have a match with Sora too, on the grounds that he believed the kid would prove to be a great challenge. Normally, Ven would have said no and that they had much more important things to take care of, along with reminding Herc that Sora had just finished a tough fight and needed the rest, but this time, he had to admit that he was feeling especially charged up after seeing his apprentice win that last bout, and he was more than eager to finally test his old friend's new strength against his own. That did not mean he was going to let Sora participate if the kid did not think he was ready yet, and he immediately made that clear when he asked Sora if he was up for it. Sora's response was an excited grin with a confident nod, and after downing a quick Elixir or two, the Keyblade Warrior was ready and raring to go once again.

The match between the two Keybearers and Hercules was an impressive one to say the least, because the two found it quite difficult to land a solid hit on Hercules that actually did any damage without first dispelling an aura of energy that he would summon to his body every so often. Add in the fact that they saw Hercules blast through several different walls of solid concrete when they were sure he was still pulling his punches, and Sora and Ventus knew that this they were in for a fight unlike any other. Oddly enough, that was actually the part about the whole match that made them the most excited. For so long now, they had been facing powerhouses that were always trying to kill them or take their hearts, but this time, they were up against an incredibly powerful opponent who was only interested in a fair fight with a purpose of doing nothing more than testing their strength for himself. It really was like a breath of fresh air to them, and they had the feeling that Hercules felt the same way, if not at least similarly as them, so they both determined to grant Herc the honor of giving this nothing less than their absolute best.

When the match finally ended, almost everyone was surprised to see that Ven and Sora stood victorious over Hercules, but despite losing, the hero was still able to happily laugh right along with the Keybearers, showing that he was happy to have a friendly sparring match like that after so long. Their laughter did not even cease when they finally came back into the lobby where their friends were all waiting, and Hercules was just barely able to suppress his own chuckles to say, "Wow, Ven! You really have gotten a lot stronger than before, and Sora…you've gotten a _lot_ better since you were last here! I mean, that was incredible, and I didn't even hold back!"

"Oh really? Come on, you were going easy on us at first, and you know it," Ven teased.

"Okay, maybe a little bit, but only for the first few minutes. When you guys managed to knock me down a couple of times, I finally decided to stop holding back, and yet I still lost," Hercules admitted, and yet, he did not sound the least bit ashamed or upset at all. "Seriously, you were both incredible!"

Sora just beamed at the praise, until he noticed Phil, and immediately went over to the satyr so that he could tell him something important. "I finally know what you meant about strength of heart," Sora announced to the trainer of heroes. "Mine comes from Donald, Goofy, Ven, Kairi, and all my other friends."

"Come again," Phil asked, completely caught off guard by the kid.

"If we all stick together, we're unbeatable. Not even Hercules stands a chance," Sora explained, with his friends all slowly smiling in both pride and thanks to him as he continued to speak. "With all of these guys beside me, even if they're not actually there in person, I'm ready for anything!"

While Phil was proud to hear the kid had learned such an important lesson, he was not quite willing to admit it just yet. "But that's not exactly what I…"

"Of course. Your friends give you strength. Isn't that right, Phil," Hercules interrupted, lifting Phil up so that he could give his best friend and trainer a quick hug to help emphasize his point. After putting Phil down, he looked to the group before him, and stated, "Even if I haven't seen all of you in action, I can tell that all of you together make great heroes, and as a team, I'm sure you can overcome anything."

Sora and Ven both clapped hands with Hercules to with a grin, just as extra confirmation of that, while the others simply smirked or grinned in response, happy to hear Sora once again admit that he had learned such a valuable lesson. After getting his hand free from Hercules's strong grip though, Ven looked over to the pedestal that Phil had asked Sora to move when they first came here, and said, "With that in mind, Sora, how about we try moving that pedestal again?"

"Huh? Why," Sora asked, not really getting the reason why they would need to do so now, of all times.

"You'll see. Besides, I did say that _we_ were going to move it this time," Ventus pointed out, stepping up to a position next the pedestal, with Sora quickly jogging over to him soon after. Donald and Goofy both joined them next, with Kairi rounding out the end of their group, and on the count of three, they all shoved as hard as they could. Slowly but sure, the pedestal slid over from its original position, and when they finally stopped pushing, the two kids and their friends from Disney Town were all shocked to discover that the Keyhole had been lying right underneath the pedestal the whole time.

"I guess that explains why you were so sure that the Heartless wouldn't find the Keyhole here," Goofy figured after a minute or so. "You knew that the pedestal couldn't be moved unless someone was as strong as Hercules, or if they didn't move it with all of their friends working alongside them to help."

"Mmm…Something like that," Ventus shrugged with a smile. He then looked to Sora and asked, "Care to do the honors?"

Sora nodded in reply, and after summoning out Oathkeeper once more, he immediately sealed up the Keyhole, ensuring that Olympus Coliseum would be forever secured against the Heartless now. With that done, the five adventurers all knew that there was only one thing left that they needed to take care of, and from the looks on the other four's faces, Ven knew that they were more than ready to get right to it. So, the blonde looked to the rest of their rather large group, and said, "Well, now that all of that is done, you all take the _Shera_ and the _Celsius_ back to Traverse Town. Make sure that Merlin was able to keep the town secure and clear out any Heartless that could prove to be a serious threat before heading out again."

"And what about you," Yuna asked, indicating Ven, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy as a whole when she did.

"Simple," Ventus replied, a confident and serious look firmly on his face. "We've still got work to do, and there's only one place left for us to go right now to make sure that this threat is stopped. We're going back to Hollow Bastion."

"Then what're we waiting for," Kairi asked, with Donald nodding along with her.

"Let's get back there, seal the Keyhole, and stop Ansem," Sora declared.

"Xehanort's Heartless," Ventus corrected.

"Same thing in this case," Sora waved off, and Ven could only nod in fair agreement with that reply.

The five all turned to lead the march out of Olympus Coliseum and back to the ships, but just before they had gone through the gates, Wakka called out, "Hey Sora! Make sure you guys get Riku back in one piece, ya?"

"Why? So you can hit him some more for how stupid he was," Sora asked, although from the way he was smiling, anyone could tell that he was joking.

"Lots, lots more," Wakka confirmed with a similar smile.

Sora and Kairi both nodded in agreement, silently promising that they would all come back from this alive, and with that, the next stage of their journey had begun. They all knew that this was going to be just the beginning of their toughest challenge yet, but as the ships pulled away from Olympus Coliseum, no one found a feeling of dread or fear falling onto them. In fact, the only thing they felt was confidence and sureness that they would survive, and see each of their friends again when this was all over. Only the next time they all met, it would be to celebrate their victory over the Heartless.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, I doubt this needs repeating, since I mentioned this in the last chapter's ending note, but originally, the secret boss battles were all going to be separate chapters, except for the one you face in Hollow Bastion. So yeah, Kairi and Team Traverse Town's fight with Kurt Zisa and Sora's ultimate victory over both Hades and the Rock Titan were going to be separate chapters, but after writing out both, I felt that they were just too short, and elected to put them both together. Speaking of the Kurt Zisa team's mission, yeah, I worked in the fact that Yuffie gets airsick. Anyone who's so much as seen some videos of anything from the FF7 Series knows that Yuffie does indeed get airsick, and I thought it would only make sense that her airsickness would real its head while aboard a gummi ship. On the subject of Yuffie, of course I would have her mention that she babysat Kairi all those years ago back on Radiant Garden. I mean, Kairi's teaming up with people who are from her birth world. Do you really think that the chances of at least one of them recognizing and remembering her would be that low? Besides, being the youngest of the group, it made sense that Yuffie would probably remember Kairi a little better than the others. Too bad the two couldn't talk about those days a little more before Yuffie found herself unable to keep her lunch down._**

 ** _Yuffie: Come on! That was not funny!_**

 ** _AN: Nah, it is a little funny. Sorry, Yuffie. Ahem, anyways, we also got another look into Aqua's journey through the Realm of Darkness, and I know some people are probably a little disappointed that we didn't see Aqua basically own a bunch of Darksides and a mega-attack that they were building up, but the main point of showing that was to show how things have changed in that story because of the differences brought on as this story had happened. I really hope you all enjoyed that interaction she shared with both Terra and Terra-Xehanort. It was a little heartbreaking at some points, but such is the need for story progression. And yeah, Mickey and Riku were able to feel Xehanort's darkness all that way away from the area, and are now hurrying more than ever since they realize that they're running out of time. Oh, and what's this? Ven must be sensing something is wrong too? Yeah, that's a thing. I mean, if Aqua could be saved from a squad of Darksides because the bonds she shares with Ventus and Terra called their Keyblades to her aid after she was trapped down there, then surely someone on the other side of the wall between the two realms would be able to sense when something has happened to Aqua, right?_**

 ** _Finally, Sora's newest Shotlock. Yeah, it's based heavily off of Trinity Limit, and I'm sure we've all seen other people do a spin-off of said ability for Sora before, but I...honestly couldn't think of anything better for Sora's third and final Personal Shotlock. Plus, considering that Trinity Limit on its own is typically an ultimate move that can defeat most enemies in an instant, why wouldn't I do some small variation of it here? So yeah...Trinity Force. There's your three Personal Shotlocks, Sora. Congrats. And of course he would unlock it while in the midst of such a serious battle, because, hey, if it ain't broke..._**

 ** _Speaking of fights we highlighted on, yeah, Ven and Sora had a sparring match with Hercules (to be clear it was Sora &Ven vs Hercules, in case that wasn't already obvious) that they won. I did want to include a face-off with Herc in here with full details, but it honestly felt like too much of a side detail in comparison to the main story. Granted, a lot of the things that they do on other worlds could be considered as side details, but this was one of the cases where it's just...needless extras._**

 ** _Ven: I don't think anyone's going to be that upset about it. Well, except Herc._**

 ** _AN: And to be honest, it was really just a way to lead into Sora proving that he had learned that big lesson to Phil and then sealing Olympus Coliseum's Keyhole, cause as we all know, we can only do so after we've beaten the Hercules Cup. I just figured that we'd skip the cup and go straight to the fight that's actually important. You know, the fight that actually teaches the big lesson._**

 ** _Well, all those secret bosses are dealt with, along with Hades and his evil tournament, so now, it's back to the main mission, and the second trip to Hollow Bastion next chapter. Want to get a better idea of what will happen there? Well, you can either wait for the chapter itself to come out, or you can take a small glimpse by going Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The crew of the_** **Kingdom _returns to Hollow Bastion at last, and after reuniting Beast with Belle, said princess immediately explains why neither she or any of the other Princesses of Heart had returned to their worlds after being set free, along with why the darkness had not grown stronger than they were expecting it too. More reunions await the adventurers, along with not one, but two battles against powerful foes, but with one of those two leaving them with a baffling mystery. Though that is little in comparison to a revelation that awaits them after defeating the guardian of the Keyhole to Darkness. Meanwhile, Riku and Mickey finally meet up with Aqua, but are they too late? Just what sort of revelations await out heroes in the coming battles? Find out how strong their lights will shine in the face of such adversity, next time._**

 ** _Now if that's not a sign that we're nearing the end, I don't know what is. Can't wait for when we finally get to see all the final fights that we're just itching to see, but until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	24. Return to Hollow Bastion

_**AN: I'll keep it brief this time. No talking with the rest of the cast, no answering reviews, just getting right into the swing of things. Reasons: this actually turned out to be a longer chapter than I originally predicted, but I think it still turned out great regardless, and this is now officially the start of the final stretch for this story, so why should I make you guys wait around with something that'll be either really funny or just completely boring. So, let's cue up that disclaimer and get right to it, people!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XXIII**

Despite knowing that Cid's special navigation gummi was going to lead them through a wormhole, most of the team was still feeling pretty nervous about traversing said route due to their last trip through one such shortcut. They could all remember quite well how disoriented they felt going traversing the wormhole that lead them to Agrabah, and they were not too eager to have a repeat experience of that. Ven had tried to assure them that the second time around was always better than the first and that did assuage some of their worries, but they were still nervous about it all the same. The only one who was more worried about the wormhole trip than Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to have been Kairi, since technically speaking, this was her first time going through a wormhole. After all, she had still been inside of Sora's heart the first time around, so she was not entirely sure that she could handle it as well as Ven believed the others would. It did not matter how they felt about it though, because either way, they were still going to have to go through since it was the only way that they were going to get back to Hollow Bastion and seal the Keyhole to Darkness, and they were most certainly going to go through.

As it turned out, the wormhole was right along the path back to Traverse Town from Olympus Coliseum, so they were able to follow along with the other two ships that their friends were on before they finally had to break off and change course. Thankfully, no Heartless tried to get into their path, but they all knew that was going to change the minute that they came out the other side of the wormhole. They just had to hope that the _Kingdom_ was up for the fight that lay ahead of her. Not that Sora, Donald, and Goofy had flown the ship into any battles on their way to Olympus Coliseum, but after getting shot down not too long ago, anyone would be at least a little concerned about the state of their ship. When they finally reached the coordinates, Sora and Kairi both spared one last farewell wave through the ship's viewport to their friends on the other ships, and then buckled up for the journey that lay ahead of them, steeling themselves for the moment when they travelled through the wormhole.

When they saw the wormhole they were looking for, Ventus called out one last warning to the group, along with the question of whether or not anyone wanted to turn back. When he did not hear them say anything, the blonde knew he had his answer. They were all sticking together in this until the end, no matter what, and so, Ven had no problem with gunning the ship straight for the wormhole. Just like last time, after they passed through, they all felt like they were being spun round and round, over and over, while their insides were twisted about in the same rotation as the wormhole's swirling vortex, but as it turned out, they did find it a little less uncomfortable to deal with. It was still an unpleasant feeling, but there was no denying that they were finding it much more bearable now. When the feeling finally came to an end, a simple glance out the viewport told them that they were right at the halfway point between Neverland and Hollow Bastion, and it was not just the colors in this area of interspace that gave it away either. The vast number of Heartless ships that were in the path forward actually did that.

Just like last time, Sora and Donald had managed to recover the quickest with Kairi not being too far behind them, and since Ven still seemed to need a minute or so, Sora immediately took over the flight controls while Donald and Kairi manned the weapons. Thanks to that, they were able to spin out of the line of fire before any attacks from the Heartless could so much as scratch the _Kingdom_ 's hull and they returned fire to open up a path just as easily. The minute that opening was large enough, Sora blasted the ship forward as fast as he could, and they were now well on their way back to Hollow Bastion. It did not matter how many Heartless tried to get in the way, they were all either avoided or blasted thanks to the efforts of the three who were currently manning the controls. Ven would have retaken helm control after he had fully recovered, but given their situation, he felt that it would have been a bad idea to switch pilots so suddenly. Besides, Sora was doing well enough on his own, so Ven elected to just take over one of the weapons controls for Donald so that they had someone watching the scanners and the readouts on the ship's status.

After a few more minutes, they finally made it through the last of the Heartless ships and into the orbit of Hollow Bastion, but they all knew that there were still Heartless behind them that could try to attack the _Kingdom_ while they were down on the surface of the world below. Luckily for them, Ventus had already planned for that, and launched a series of mines that would destroy any enemy ships that got too close to either the _Kingdom_ or Hollow Bastion until they got back, and even upgraded the shields so that they would hold a lot better than before. Sora would not deny that he wished he had known that sooner, because he had a feeling if he did not have to do so much fancy flying, the others would probably have recovered a little more quickly. Still, there was no point in worrying about it now, because they had already reached their destination, and they all immediately jumped out of their seats to teleport down to the surface.

"The dark energies coming from the Keyhole to darkness is making it difficult to get an accurate lock on anywhere inside the castle, but we can still beam you down to the same place where you landed the first time we came here," Chip reported.

"Sorry that we can't get you guys a little closer," Dale apologized.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm just glad that we'll be able to use the ship's teleporter at all for our landing," Ventus reassured the two as he stood at the center of the group up on the teleporter pad. He then looked to the others and asked, "You guys ready for this?"

"Born that way," Sora confirmed.

"Yeah," Kairi nodded.

"Gawrsh Ven, do ya even have to ask," Goofy questioned with a smile.

"Let's get going," Donald cheered.

Ventus grinned in reply to the four, and then turned that grin towards the two chipmunk engineers to see that they were saluting to them as a way of showing that they were ready on their end, so he only had one thing left to say to them. "Energize."

A moment later, they had all beamed down from the ship and right into the middle of the Rising Falls. A quick look around told them that there was not too much different from the last time they were here, at least from this angle, but they did quickly spot a friendly face just a few feet away from them, looking a little tired as he gazed up at the castle. "Hey Beast," Sora called out, getting the large creature's attention at once. A moment later, Beast seemed to give them a small smile, showing that he was glad they had come back just like they said they would, but Sora quickly took notice of something that seemed to be missing. "Where's Belle?"

"Still in the castle," Beast replied with a frown, explaining why he was down there looking up at said building without her.

"Against their will," Goofy worriedly asked.

"No, I think she stayed for a reason," Beast replied. "The other princesses are there as well."

"I wonder why," Donald pondered aloud.

"Somehow, I get the feeling that it might have something to do with why the darkness across the worlds hasn't gotten as strong as we expected it to after the Keyhole was completed," Ventus reasoned.

"Well, there's only one way to find out for sure," Kairi determined. "Let's go up there and ask them."

"Yeah, we've got to get in there anyway, so we might as well stop to ask along the way," Sora reasoned.

Everyone immediately agreed with that, with Beast saying that he would come with them as well, out of a belief that they might need his incredible strength. Not that they were about to disagree with that idea. The group then made their way up to the castle gates, and as soon as they had stepped up onto the stone pathway that lead the castle's main entrance, they were quickly ambushed by the Heartless. They were not surprised to find Darkballs, Defenders, and a Wizard or two in their way, but what they were surprised to find, were a number of what appeared to be stronger Shadows, but they could easily see a few differences. For one thing, these new ones were much more humanoid in shape, bigger, more muscular, and their antenna were much longer. When she saw these new Shadows, Kairi immediately recognized them from her Dive to the Heart, and said as much. When he heard that, Jiminy finally helped them put a name to the face of this newest enemy, saying that according to the notes in his journal that they were known as NeoShadows. Not that it really made that much of a difference to them.

New Heartless or not, the team did not slow down. Instead, they pressed on, harder and faster than before, and refused to let anything stand in their way. This was especially true in the case of Beast, as he tore down and through anything that dared to try and stand in between him and Belle. Eventually, that fury caused many of the Heartless to do their best to avoid the massive creature and focus more on the three Keybearers and their two friends instead, which they soon discovered was not really a better idea. Right as they had passed through the doors into the castle, Beast had turned his attention towards the library entrance, and directed the team towards it, saying that the Heartless appeared to be avoiding that location completely. A quick look at the dark creatures showed that Beast was telling the truth, and the team was not too eager to keep fighting nonstop without any rest just yet, so they all immediately rushed into the library.

When they got inside, they immediately slammed the door shut behind them, and breathed sighs of relief. Sora then noticed that Beast was slowly walking through the library and up the stairs to the upper level, and feeling curious, he quickly followed after his massive friend, with the others following him when he did. When they reached the top of the stairs and came around the corner, they all spotted a familiar beauty of a woman in a flowing, yellow ball gown, and when she turned towards them they all saw her face light up with a brilliant smile. The team could not help but smile in return, partly because they recognized her from the last time they were here and because of the good feelings they gained from seeing her smile. The rest of their joy was due to how happy Beast seemed to get when he saw the woman.

"Belle," Beast exclaimed in relief. A moment later, the two had embraced one another in a loving hug that just warmed the heart.

None of the five adventurers wanted to interrupt the two's moment, but there was still a few very important matters to attend to, and from the looks of things, Belle could very well know some details that could help ensure that their mission was a success. Still, they did allow Beast and Belle to have a few minutes to themselves before stepping in. "Your highness, my name is Master Ventus of the Keyblade. I'm glad to see you're all right," Ven informed Belle with a respectful bow.

When he saw his master wave for them to follow his lead, Sora quickly stepped forward and mimicked the blonde's actions as he said, "I'm Keyblade Warrior Sora, Ven's apprentice. These are our friends and my girlfriend."

"Kairi," the redhead.

"Donald Duck."

"Goofy."

Belle giggled a little at the five after parting from the Beast, and said, "You don't need to be so formal. You can just call me Belle." After the five stood up straight and nodded in reply, Belle then asked, "You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?"

"We have," Ven confirmed.

"Please be careful," Belle cautioned. "The darkness is raging deep inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer."

"So then, the reason why the worlds haven't been completely flooded with darkness like we had expected _is_ because you and the other princesses have been holding it off," Kairi summarized.

"Yes it is," Belle confirmed with a smile.

"Well, you don't have to worry too much anymore. We'll take care of it," Sora reassured her with a smile of his own.

Belle nodded to him in thanks, and then approached Kairi. "You are a Princess of Heart like me and the others, right," Belle asked.

Even now, Kairi still had a hard time really believing that fact, but she was not going to try and deny what she was. "Yes, I am a Princess of Heart, and I'm also a Keyblade Warrior. I won't just stand by and let my friends fight this battle without me while I can do something to help them, so don't think you can ask me to."

If she had been expecting Belle to protest, she was pleasantly disappointed, because the older girl simply smiled in response and held something out to her. "In that case, I would like you to have this. Use it to face the darkness as the Beast has, and keep it at bay as you, me, and all the rest of our fellow princesses can."

Kairi looked down at the item she was being given, and smiled a little when she saw that it was in fact a Keychain that possessed a silver chain with a token that was shaped like lovely, red rose. Grasping the Keychain firmly in her hand, Kairi nodded to Belle with a smile, and said, "Thank you. I'll be sure to use it wisely."

The others all smiled at the sight of this little moment between the two girls, knowing that a fast friendship had instantly been formed between them, and Ven then asked, "Are the other princesses scattered throughout the castle?"

"No. The others are actually gathered together in the Castle Chapel. I only came here in the hopes of finding something here that could help us to stop the Heartless for good," Belle explained.

Beast smirked in response to that, and said, "You always did enjoy spending a great deal of time with a good book."

Hearing that and seeing how much Beast cared for Belle, Sora did not really need to think that much before he suggested, "Hey Beast, maybe you should stay here with Belle."

"What," the others all exclaimed, including Beast and Belle.

"Sora, are you crazy? We need Beast to help us," Donald pointed out.

"Yeah. The Heartless have only gotten stronger since the last time we had been here," Goofy added in agreement.

"Maybe, but Beast needs to be here with Belle more," Sora argued. "Plus, once we've cleared the way, he can lead her back up to the other princesses and keep them all safe. We can't exactly seal the Keyhole and keep them from getting attacked by the Heartless at the same time. Besides, Beast said it himself. The only reason he's here is because he wanted to find and rescue Belle. It wouldn't be right to make him help us with anything else."

They hated to admit it, but the others knew that Sora had a point, so they all reluctantly agreed with his suggestion. Beast did argue a little more, saying that he did not mind helping them as a way of repaying them for their aid in reuniting him with Belle, but they were not willing to hear it. They all insisted that they could handle things from here, and that his place was now here with Belle. Beast could not find any way to argue with that, so he nodded in defeat and promised to keep Belle safe until they were done and had made it safe for them to proceed to where the other princesses were.

With nothing else to discuss and time continuing to run out on them, the five adventurers left the library and returned to the entrance hall, ready for any Heartless that were planning to stand between them, and the first of the many elevators that they were going to need to reach the castle chapel. After all, they were going to need to go through the chapel first before reaching the Keyhole to darkness. Might as well talk to the other five Princesses of Heart so that they could pass along the same reassurances that they had Belle, and show the Heartless that nothing was going to stop them from sealing the Keyhole along the way.

* * *

This was it. This was the end of the line for her. Aqua had nothing left to give. After that run in with Terra and Xehanort, all of her energy had been completely drained, and the light in her heart had finally started to dwindle to the point where she was sure it could have been blown out by the smallest of winds. All she could really feel at this point was a sense of slowly falling. She did register that something had slipped from her hand, but after all that had just happened up until now, somehow, Aqua found that she was unable to really continue caring. She just wanted it to end; for all the sorrow, pain, and wishing to go away. Her resolve had finally broken, and she was resigned to what was likely to be her final fate. _"Now I can be…one with darkness,"_ Aqua thought to herself, and if she was fully aware how ironic it was that she was repeating something that her old enemy had just said to her and her friend a little while ago, then she did not really care. She was just too tired and exhausted to keep fighting any more. What she did not expect, was that someone did not plan on letting her go out that easily, and they had just arrived to make sure that she would not give up.

"Aqua, are you okay," a familiar voice asked, and when she felt someone grasp her hand before placing something in it, she finally opened her eyes, albeit a little wearily, and looked just in time to see her savior grasp her hand and pull her down to solid ground. When she managed to draw some strength back into her legs, seeing as they had felt like jelly when her feet first touched the ground, and realized that the object in her hand was actually her Wayfinder, Aqua looked down and realized that she had not imagined it. There, standing before her, was an old friend and fellow master that had been such a huge help to her and her friends on the last journey together. His attire was a bit different than she remembered, and certainly much more colorful, but she would recognize those white gloves, kind face, and big ears anywhere.

"Mickey, how did…" Aqua started to ask, until everything that happened before she passed out finally came back to her. "Terra! Where is…"

"Your majesty," a young voice suddenly called out, drawing both Mickey and Aqua's attention towards it, and Aqua was surprised to see a familiar looking, silver haired boy running towards them, waving his arms around as he continued shouting. "We've got company! MOVE!"

The next thing any of them knew, the boy had tackled both Mickey and Aqua to the ground, just in time to make sure they all avoided getting plowed over by the massive tower of dark creatures that had been rocketing after him. When the Demon Tower had finally passed by, Aqua looked to the boy again, and saw that her eyes were not playing tricks on her. "You…You're one of those boys I met on that island," Aqua whispered in wide-eyed remembrance.

The young man stood up straight again, summoning a very odd, dark-looking sword into his hand as he did, and commented, "We can catch up later. That thing's coming back around."

"Riku's right. There's no time to talk," Mickey agreed as he jumped to his feet as well, summoning Star Seeker into his hand.

Aqua immediately turned to see the Demon Tower rising up from the ground behind them, and she immediately narrowed her gaze on the dark beings while summoning her own Keyblade, now ready to fight again, and relieved that she would not be doing so alone. Of course, that did not mean she was not still upset that these things were getting in the way of her having a peaceful reunion with old friends once again, and it showed when she practically snarled, "Dwellers of darkness…"

"They're called Heartless," Mickey informed her, his eyes never leaving the Demon Tower.

"Good to know," Aqua nodded in reply.

A minute later, the Demon Tower had shed some of the Shadows that it was composed of, and sent the small Heartless after the three. Seeing this, Riku immediately took it upon himself to attack the swarm of minions, and the two masters knew that the boy was doing so in order to give them an opening. It was an opening that they gladly took, and they focused all of their attention on the Demon Tower. Aqua made the first move by firing off a round of her Prism Rain Shotlock, and when she saw her Keyblade release many more of the colorful light projectiles that it used to, Aqua immediately knew that her Unique Tier One Command Style was not the only thing that had been through some changes. She had to grin a little bit when she realized this, and quickly fired off three more salvos of rainbow colored light magic, allowing her to not only deal an incredible amount of damage to the Demon Tower, but also wipe out at least half the Shadows that Riku had been fighting, while preventing anymore from joining in on that fray.

If the boy had given her any signs of thanks, Aqua must have missed it, because she was busy watching Mickey as he bounced around the battlefield while slashing at the tower of Heartless as fast as he could. As she watched him fight, Aqua noticed that Mickey's fighting style did not seem to have changed that much since they last met, but she did notice that many of his attacks seemed to come a lot more faster and have a much stronger impact than before. In point of fact, there were actually a few times that Aqua could swear that Mickey was fighting in a manner that was similar to Ven, and that alone was enough to make her heart skip a beat. She quickly shook it off after seeing Mickey get smacked aside by the Demon Tower. Now was not the time to be getting swept up in emotions and nostalgia, and Aqua was glad to see that Riku had managed to catch Mickey before he hit the ground in a way that would definitely had ended badly for her small friend during her moment of distraction.

After setting Mickey down, Riku then turned his full attention to the Demon Tower, and charged in, sword ready and already slashing and cutting through any Shadows that dropped down to get in his way. When he finally got close enough to the Demon Tower, Riku quickly spun out of a slash that he had just dealt to one Shadow, and released a burst of Dark Firaga on their foe at point-blank range. Aqua was immediately concerned for the kid's wellbeing after seeing him using dark magic, but considering that it did seem to injure the beast comprised of these dwellers of darkness, she found herself unable to complain too much. Instead, she just focused all of her attention on calling out the powers of Spellweaver, and then pressed her own attack with the newly enhanced abilities of her Unique Tier One Command Style. Just when she had, she noticed the Demon Tower barreling towards her, and immediately summoned forth a barrier of light to shield herself. When the foul beasts struck the shield, Aqua was given the perfect opportunity to strike back, and she did so via a Counter Blast. Aqua's counterattack ended up dispersing at least half of the creatures that made up the Demon Tower, and the Shadows could only scramble wildly in an attempt to reform into their towering form, leaving them vulnerable to Mickey and Riku's attacks, while Aqua easily managed to tear through them with her Command Style's own special abilities and a showcase of her magic talents.

Aqua continued to slash, blast, and bash away at the Demon Tower with her Command Style's abilities, while Riku and Mickey kept pace with her attacks as best as they could, until finally, Aqua managed to gather up enough energy to unleash her finishing move, and she did so without any hesitation. The minute she had unleashed the energy, the two boys were immediately awestruck at the sight of her spinning around on the tips of her toes beneath the dome of magic that was erupting from her raised Keyblade. The only thing that came close to being more amazing was the slowly growing, ice crystal that was forming above her head, and when Aqua came out of the final spin, they watched as the crystal shattered, erupting into a very intricate star-shaped pattern above her, while the magic energy that had gathered inside the crystal and around Aqua exploded outwards, taking out any Shadows that had recently dropped out of the Demon Tower in an instant, and dealing an impressive amount of damage to the Demon Tower itself.

When Aqua looked to where their foe had been, she was a little surprised to find that it was still going strong. Yes, it did appear to have been weakened by her last attack, but considering how much more powerful her Unique Command Style was now, she was sure that her attack would have been able to finish this thing off. The blue haired mage mentally chastised herself for getting so overconfident in regards to one of her strongest magic abilities, and likely would have moved onto doing so out loud for several minutes had they not been in the midst of a battle, but at the moment, she was having a hard time seeing a way out of this mess. At least until Mickey suddenly rushed over to her, blasting away any Heartless that had tried to close in on the young master with some incredibly strong light magic.

"Aqua, let's team up," Mickey requested, and Aqua immediately nodded in reply, showing that she had instantly figured out what he had in mind.

Once the two were both standing side-by-side, they began to focus their magic energies, balancing them out so that they were equal with one another, and then unleashed it all in one brilliant burst that coated their bodies in a brilliant, shinning gold aura while they simultaneously shouted, "Command Link: Wayfinder!"

Upon hearing the exclamation that the two masters had shouted, Riku had immediately turned just in time to see the gold aura around them solidify, and he could barely do more than watch as the two started their next assault against the Demon Tower. The spectacle was so incredible that words could barely describe it. Every move that one of them made was in perfect sync with the other, and every attack that landed was laced with an incredible amount of powerful light magic that seemed to make the Demon Tower tremble under its force. Every time Aqua swung at the base of the tower, Mickey was able to practically teleport to a point that was halfway up to slash through, and whenever Mickey fired a blast of light magic at the Demon Tower, Aqua immediately followed it up with a flurry of sword strikes. Eventually, the two had seemed to hit the peak of their combined assault, and they came to stand back to back with each other, their auras glowing brighter than ever.

"Come on," Mickey shouted.

"Yep," Aqua nodded, confirming that she was right there with him, and they both then lifted their Keyblades up into the air.

"LIGHT," they both shouted at once, and when they did, a wave of light magic encircled them both, while several similar orbs swirled around before dispersing into the area around them. For the most part though, many of the orbs zeroed in on the Demon Tower, and struck it several times over. When the attack had ended, the tower of Shadows seemed to sway unstably this way and that, almost like it was going to topple over at any second, leaving Riku unable to do anything but gaze in speechless awe from the power that these two Keyblade masters had just displayed.

Riku was quickly shaken out of his stupor though when Aqua and Mickey both suddenly ran past him, straight at the Demon Tower and fully intent on finishing the beast off, and there was no way he was just going to sit back and watch after already doing so for at least half of this fight. The two masters had quickly caught notice of this, and soon gave Riku a nod to show that they were glad he was with them, and Riku immediately returned the courtesy with a nod of his own before turning his full attention on the Demon Tower along with the other two.

"Mickey," Aqua shouted once they had all drawn close enough, signaling for the mouse king to take the first shot.

"Riku, let's end this," Mickey immediately prompted afterwards.

"Right behind you," Riku agreed, and he soon joined Mickey in charging to the forefront of their group.

Mickey easily struck first, landing a powerful, horizontal slash that lead to the right, and Riku immediately followed up with a slash of his own in the opposite direction. The two's attacks ended up destabilizing the Demon Tower almost completely, and Aqua took the chance to leap over the boys, Keyblade drawn back for an aerial vertical strike that struck just as true as her companions' attacks. The Demon Tower was instantly toppled over completely, practically split into two by Aqua's last attack, and after gathering together as much of itself as it still could, it rocketed up into the air and flew away, disappearing into the shadows from whence it had came.

"Phew! Finally," Riku panted in relief, dismissing his sword before he dropped down to sit on the ground, and Aqua had to agree silently with the sentiment as she dismissed her Keyblade.

"Still, better not push our luck," Mickey cautioned after he had dismissed Star Seeker. He then turned to his old friend and said, "Gosh, I was beginning to think we'd never find ya, Aqua. I mean, we always knew that you had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and I knew there was a chance I could run across ya, but I figured that the chances would be really slim. Still, it's great to see you again." If the sentiment was shared, Mickey could not tell, because Aqua's expression seemed fixed into a downcast, tired frown. "Hey, um, what happened?"

Aqua did not say anything at first, and the two boys were beginning to think that she was just going to brush it off and say she did not want to talk about it. They were not entirely wrong, but she did not actually give any indication that she wanted to avoid the conversation. "Have either of you seen Terra or Ven?"

Riku turned away at once, not entirely eager to tell Aqua about his own run-ins with the blonde master, and thankfully, Mickey spared him from having to do so with his next reply. "I've seen Ven quite a bit back home, actually. He's really missed you a whole lot, but he's managed to pull through it and become a full-fledged Keyblade Master," the king proudly declared.

"What?! You mean, Ven really is awake in the Realm of Light," Aqua gasped, her face seeming to light up a little more after hearing that.

"Yep, and he went straight to Yen Sid's to look for you and Terra after he woke up. When we told him that you had both disappeared, we figured he would want to take off and go looking for ya again, but instead, he actually asked us to help him finish his training. He wanted to make absolutely sure that he would be ready for that journey, and that the next time he saw you two, he could stand by your side as a real Keyblade master," Mickey recounted, showing he could still remember that moment like it was yesterday.

Aqua finally did smile when she heard that, but it was only for a split second, because her frown soon returned when she asked, "And what about Terra? Have you seen any sign of him?"

Now it was Mickey's turn to become a little downcast, as he admitted, "Sorry, but we haven't. And the only one of your group that I've seen here is you."

Aqua sighed in depression, making Mickey a little more worried until she said, "I'm sorry. The darkness in this place…it's getting to me."

"Oh," was all Mickey could say at first, but he quickly perked up and added on to it afterwards. "But, you'll be okay."

"Right," Aqua nodded, though it was not nearly convincing enough to convince either of the other two that she even half-believed that.

"Hey, he's right. From what I remember, you've definitely got a better chance of bouncing back from whatever happened to you in this place than I do," Riku suddenly encouraged, reminding the others that he was still here.

When Aqua turned to Riku and seemed to look him over with a critical eye, Mickey quickly decided that introductions were in order, and said, "Aqua, this is a new friend of mine from the other side. He's something really special, and is good friends with a couple of Keyblade wielders. His name's…"

"You're…Riku, right," Aqua asked, her tone almost disbelieving.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you recognize me so easily," Riku admitted.

That earned him a small smile from Aqua, and she replied, "Well, you and your friend Sora definitely left a very good impression on me."

"Wait. You know each other," Mickey asked in honest surprise.

"Yes. I visited Riku's world once, and met both him and his best friend while I was there. I had considered passing the Keyblade on to one of them, but because Terra had already given one of them the power, I didn't," Aqua explained.

"So that's why you asked Sora to make you that promise," Riku mused. He then looked over to Aqua and said, "Well, you should know that even though you didn't pass the power to him, Sora was still chosen by the Keyblade over me…and I can't blame it for doing so."

"Don't get so sad, Riku. I don't think you were ever meant to have that Keyblade anyway," Mickey reasoned, drawing the boy's attention to him. "Maybe, you were meant to get a Keyblade after enduring the trials that you have so far."

"Maybe…" Riku softly thought aloud.

Aqua was not entirely sure what was going on, but the one thing that she did want to know about this situation stood out above everything else. "Still, I'm a little confused. How did you end up here, Riku?"

This time, Riku knew that he could not get out of telling her something, and he ended up sighing as he revealed, "Let's just say that…I didn't really make it easy for Sora to keep his promise to you. I made some really bad choices, listened to the wrong people, and the darkness overwhelmed my body. Now some creep is out there using my body like a puppet so that he can drown the worlds in darkness, while the real me is stuck here in this place."

Aqua sighed sadly, and then whispered, "I'm so sorry, Riku."

"For what? It's not like you had anything to do with this," Riku reasoned. "Trust me, trying to do everything on your own…well, that's kind of what landed me here. I thought I was doing everything I could to help my friends, and now look where I am. Sure, I was trying to help one of them more than the other because I thought that Sora had replaced me or some other stupid thing, but I was still trying to help them. Every bad thing that's happened to me and my friends is on me, not you."

Mickey was really not liking how this conversation was going. Then again, he was not a fan of negative moods and conversations in general, and he definitely did not want his friends to shoulder all the blame for the bad things that had happened to them and the people they cared about when they were not entirely at fault, so he quickly decided to steer this conversation onto another topic. "Say Aqua, you know we've been looking for ya and a way to bring ya home for a long time now," Mickey revealed, surprising Aqua a little when she heard that. "Any moment when Ven wasn't training or stargazing, he spent it trying to figure out some way to at least contact you. He really misses ya. How come you haven't found a way out from this place yet?"

Aqua was not really sure how to answer that right away, but only because there was something else that was on her mind. "First tell me: how long's it been in the Realm of Light," she requested. "I can make a rough estimate looking at Riku, since he's clearly grown up a lot since I last saw him, but I want to hear it from one of you."

Riku looked to Mickey, wondering the same thing as Aqua, and the mouse king lowered his head sadly when he replied, "About…ten years."

"…Interesting," Aqua muttered.

"'Interesting'? That's all you have to say to that," Riku exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm not really too surprised. I know that time had likely passed quite a bit on the other side, while here, time doesn't exist. I'm not saying that it isn't a shock, but at the same time, I was expecting it, so I don't really know how else I can react," Aqua defended.

Riku would give her that, but he was still curious about something. "Well, how'd you get in this place, anyway?"

Mickey was about to scold the boy for asking that, since he knew that it was likely a sore point for Aqua, but the young woman was already giving her reply. "After we met, a lot of things had happened, Riku. Ven's heart had been seriously damaged to the point where it seemed like he would never wake up, and Terra appeared to have been lost as well. In order to protect him, I took Ven someplace where he could rest safely, and then I went after Terra," Aqua replied, pulling out her Wayfinder so that she could gaze on it in sad remembrance of that time. "But Terra was about to fall to darkness, so I had one choice. I stayed here in hopes of giving him a chance."

"I'm…I'm so sorry," Riku apologized, realizing that he had been a little out of line when he asked for her to remember all of that.

"It's okay. You didn't know," Aqua reassured him. "But how did you two find me? And Mickey, what could've brought you here? Has something happened? In the Realm of Light?"

"Slow down, Aqua. We'll answer all of your questions, but only if you give us time to," Mickey pleaded, though anyone could tell by the small smile on his face that he was at least partially joking. His face then became serious again as he explained, "It's the Heartless. They've been attacking worlds and taking their hearts, and worlds with no hearts vanish into darkness. But if we can lock the door between the two realms—light and dark—from both sides, we can protect the other worlds. So ya see, I came here to find the key on this side. Turns out, it's not so easy getting into the realm of darkness. Ven and I had long since learned that in our attempts to figure out a way to get you back home, Aqua, and we quickly learned that the points you can cross have become unstable. It's only when a world gets consumed, that an entrance appears in the realm between. So, I waited for my chance…to sneak in."

Riku could not help but lower his head in shame at that reminder, knowing full well just which world had fallen and given Mickey his chance to get in here, and why it had fallen in the first place. It did not go unnoticed by Aqua, and she quickly put the pieces together after thinking about it for a minute, but she prayed that was not the case. She even looked to Mickey with a silent plea that it was not true, but sadly, she found that she was going to be disappointed.

"Yeah. It was when Riku's home, Destiny Islands fell that I finally managed to get the chance I was waiting for," Mickey confirmed with a sad smile. He then walked over to Aqua and grasped one of her hands in both of his as he added, "But hey, when I got here, I felt a warm, familiar light. Riku sensed it too when he got here, and we both followed it to find our way…to you."

Aqua slowly took her hand back from Mickey, looked at the object that she was still holding in that same hand in surprise, and gasped, "The charm." A minute later, her smile slowly started to return as she said, "So they _were_ helping. Terra and Ven brought you two and I back together again."

"Maybe, but I get the feeling that if he knew I would end up here, Ventus wouldn't have been that eager to help me," Riku admitted, drawing a curious look from Aqua. Knowing that he could not avoid explaining himself again, Riku revealed, "I wasn't exactly all that…polite to him a lot of the times we ran into each other on the outside."

"Well, if I know Ven, I'm pretty sure that he's never held anything you said or did against ya, Riku. He's most likely well aware that you've never really been fully aware of the situation and had tried to help you despite what had happened all of those times, and I'll bet he still wants to, just like your friends do," Mickey reassured him. When he saw Riku think that over and eventually smile, Mickey knew that his guess was right, and he noticed Aqua smiling a bit more as well from out of the corner of his eye.

"Sounds like Ven hasn't changed a bit," Aqua murmured. Her smile fell away again as she remembered something else that Mickey had informed her of. "But, the worlds are still in danger."

"And it's partially my fault," Riku muttered.

The two masters gave Riku a small look that made it clear that they did not blame him for that and that they would be talking about the matter later just to prove it, before Aqua asked, "What about Terra? Did he ever make it back to the Realm of Light?"

"The only sign we've found of Terra is a Lingering Sentiment in the Keyblade Graveyard. As for Terra himself…we still haven't found him," Mickey admitted.

"I see," Aqua sighed, sadly. Mickey was sure that she was probably going to fall into her depressed mood again, so he was pleasantly surprised when Aqua looked up again with a smile on her face while holding her charm close to her heart as she declared, "Well, wherever he is, he's fighting. He'll beat his darkness, just like Ven did when he kicked Vanitas out of his body, and I know that they want me to keep fighting too."

"You're absolutely right. At least, I know you're right when you say that Ven doesn't want you to give up fighting, but I do think that Terra wants you to keep fighting too," Mickey agreed with a smile.

"Yeah. Terra will be just fine," Riku agreed. "When I met him, I could somehow tell that he was really strong just by looking at him. He'll be able to beat his darkness."

"And that means that you'll be able to do so as well," Aqua encouraged Riku, surprising the kid a little. When she noticed the question forming in his eyes, Aqua easily explained, "Terra would not have chosen you to inherit the power if he did not think you were strong enough to handle it, so as his inheritor, I know that you can succeed where he had failed. You can beat your darkness, and I get the feeling that it'll be you who helps to save Terra, Riku."

Finally, Riku had to smile an honest smile, and said, "Thank you, Master Aqua. That means a lot."

"Glad to hear it," Aqua nodded in return. "But none of us are going to be able to help anyone from here. We've got to go and find a way back to the Realm of Light. I've been searching for so long without any success, but maybe, with you two here, I'm closer than ever to finding the way back."

"Good," Mickey cheered, happy to see that his two friends had now cheered up. "Then let's all locate that key and go home together!"

"Does that mean you actually do know an exit," Aqua asked excitedly, with Riku turning to Mickey with the same question in his eyes.

Mickey froze up at that question, and his smile became sheepish as he admitted, "Well, uh, I was so busy finding a way in, that I didn't give a lot of thought to where there'd be a way out. I mean, Ven and I had been looking for one all these years with little success, so part of me kind of figured that I might have better luck finding it from this side. I guess I didn't really think it through that much when the idea first came to me, but together, we're sure to find an exit!"

Both of the other two just stared at the mouse for a few minutes, until Riku finally sighed in exasperation while his head dropped into his hand in a similar manner. He could not believe that this guy was actually supposed to be the wise and powerful king that Sora's new friends were looking for, and that had trained Ventus. How could he go through with a plan that half-baked and think that it could work without any kind of backup? Aqua on the other hand actually began to slowly smile a little more, until finally, a small giggle escaped from her, followed by another and another, until it finally turned into full blown laughter, much to the other two's surprise.

"You haven't changed at all," Aqua chuckled to Mickey, and her friend was soon joining in on the laughter as well, while Riku just looked back and forth between them in disbelief.

 _"She says that like it's a good thing,"_ Riku mentally cried. _"I think there's a good chance that I've just gotten myself stuck with a pair of crazy people…but then again, I'm the one who wanted to try and visit other worlds on a raft that my friends and I made out of wood and an old sail, so…"_

At the moment that he recalled that memory, Riku found himself joining the other two in their laughter, and it did not stop for a good little while. When the laugh spasm finally passed Mickey remembered something very important and looked up to the sky as he recited it aloud. "May our hearts be our guiding key."

"There's a phrase no one's used in ages," Aqua noted, happily.

"It is," Riku asked, clearly confused.

Mickey nodded in reply and explained, "Keyblade wielders used to say those words to each other, and now, it's something I like to try and remember."

Riku mulled that over for a minute, until he finally smiled and nodded in understanding. He may not understand the exact meaning behind it right now, but he figured it would come to him in time. Besides, he was now in the company of two great Keyblade masters. How hard could it be to figure out the meaning behind that phrase? Thinking of his two current travel companions, Riku looked to them both and said, "Well, we're not going to save the worlds by standing around here."

"Right," Mickey agreed, and he held his hand out to the other two. "So, are you both ready?"

Aqua smiled in response before clasping her hand in Mickey's and replying, "Ready."

"Ready," Riku agreed a second later, placing his hand on top of the other two's.

"All right then. All for one, and one for all," Mickey decreed, and with that, the new trio headed out, determined to do their part in saving the worlds from the darkness that was threatening them, and to reunite with the people that they each cared about so much in the Realm of Light.

* * *

If getting all the way up the castle in Hollow Bastion the first time around was hard, this time could be classified as nearly impossible. Not only were the Heartless stronger than before, but the more powerful ones were coming after the team of five in greater numbers too. Everywhere they turned, they seemed to run into Heartless, Heartless, and more Heartless without end! You would think that these things had nothing better to do in Hollow Bastion than attack the five, and considering that all of their leaders were now apparently gone, that was more likely the case, as scary as that sounded. This made the whole team glad that Ven had managed to stock up on things like Elixirs, Potions, and Ethers to the point where they probably had more than what could be considered overly necessary, but it still made it all the more tiring trying to get back to so much as the Castle Chapel.

"Are we there yet," Sora whined after they just finished slaying the last Wyvern in the most recent group of Heartless to attack them. He was not actually being serious in his rather childish question, but he did feel like they needed a way to diffuse the tension. Unfortunately, that was not the best way, because it was rather ill-received by some parties.

"Sora, you've already been through this whole damn castle. You should already know how to tell when we get there," Ventus practically snapped, startling the others a little bit.

"Sheesh. Sorry, but you can't blame me for just trying to keep things a little light-hearted with a quick joke," Sora defended.

Ventus sighed and then replied, "No, I'm sorry. I guess the tension is getting to us all a bit more than we would like. I mean, my last journey had a lot of weight riding on its success, but this…this is a lot different in comparison."

"Well, we've already come this far, and you guys have been facing down dangers in this journey without me long before now, and won," Kairi encouraged the two.

"Yeah, Kairi's right," Goofy agreed. "And since she's now fighting with us too, that means we'll be able to handle things even better than before, because we've now got one more best friend watching our backs when the fighting gets tough."

"Yeah! There's no way the Heartless can stop us if we all stick together," Donald cheered.

Sora and Ventus gazed over the three for a minute before they finally returned the smiles and exchanged a quick high-five to prove that they were in full agreement. This moment between the five friends had actually happened just after they had climbed off the last lift they needed to ride before they entered the Castle Chapel, and after a few brief skirmishes with the Heartless, the team finally entered said room and spotted the remaining five Princesses of Heart waiting for them in the middle of the chapel. The only thing that came as more of a relief to them was that the princesses were all now wide awake and free from the pods that they had been previously held in, and so, they saw no reason to refrain from going up to talk with the five young maidens with hearts of pure light any longer.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi made it a point to approach Alice and Jasmine first, seeing as they were the only two that all four of them knew, and once he had introduced Kairi to them, Sora immediately asked both of the girls, "Are you both all right now?"

"We're fine, Sora," Jasmine reassured him. "But you all need to hurry. Darkness is pouring out from the Keyhole more and more every second."

"It's all we can do just to hold back the darkness, and it's starting to wear us down," Alice admitted. "I'm beginning to wonder how much longer we can even manage that."

"Don't worry. We didn't come here just to say hi and leave that Keyhole open," Kairi reassured them. "We're not going to let that creep possessing Riku get away with any of this."

Jasmine and Alice both nodded in thanks to the girl, happy to see that they were all so willing to help out however they could. Still, Jasmine had to add, "I just hope you finish and seal it soon. I really want to go home to Agrabah and see Aladdin again."

"Don't worry. You'll see him soon. I promise," Sora guaranteed with a smile. This was not just a promise for Jasmine, but also a reassurance that he had not forgotten that the promise they had made to Aladdin as well when they told him that they would find Jasmine and bring her home for him.

While his teammates were speaking with the two Princesses of Heart that they had all met, Ven was taking this moment for a quick reunion with the other three, just to make sure they knew how glad he was to see that they were all okay. "Princesses Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora," Ventus smiled in greeting before bowing before all three. "You have no idea how good it is to see you all again after all this time."

"It's wonderful to see you as well, Ven," Cinderella smiled in return.

"Yes indeed. I'm so sorry for how the dwarves treated you the last time we saw each other, but they're much better now," Snow White reassured him.

"I'm glad to hear that," Ventus admitted. It was definitely a relief to know that if he ever went back to Dwarf Woodlands, he would not have to worry about the seven dwarves calling accusing him being a bad guy again. It was irritating enough the last time. He then looked to the elder most princess and said, "I know that technically, this is the first time we've really met and all, but still…"

"There's no need for you to worry. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather told me all about what you and Aqua did to help me, so I feel like we're already very good friends," Aurora reassured him. "To be honest, we've all been waiting for you and your apprentice to return, Keyblade Master. Though we did not expect you to be bringing the seventh of our number with you as well, or for her to be a Keyblade wielder as well."

Ventus could not help but smirk a little as he replied, "Well, Kairi's a very special girl, even without being a Princess of Heart." He then glanced over to her and quietly added, "More so than most people probably realize."

"Hey, where's Ansem," Donald asked, having realized that there had not been any sign of Xehanort's Heartless still being here since they had arrived.

It was at that point that all three Keybearers finally realized that Donald had a point in asking that question. They were now just one room away from the Keyhole that Ansem had manipulated Maleficent and Riku into helping him complete and then open, and they could not sense even the smallest taste of his darkness nearby. They knew there was little chance he would leave the Keyhole to darkness unguarded, but they had at least partially expected him to have been protecting it himself, or least using something that gave off his presence.

Ven looked to the three before him, silently repeating Donald's question, and grew a little more worried when they all glanced down in what he could only describe as a mixture of concern and fear. "He's gone," Snow White finally replied.

"When the Keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it," Aurora recounted for them. "I'm sure you already know about that, but what you don't know is that after you escaped, that same darkness swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared."

"Does that mean that Riku's…" Sora started to wonder, but he found himself unable to finish the thought.

Kairi immediately placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and smiled as if to say that he should not worry. Sora returned her smile in kind, and placed his hand on top of hers in thanks, before they returned their attention to what the princesses were telling them. "Though Ansem is gone, the flood of darkness hasn't stopped, so we've been working together to hold it back as best as we could."

"I cannot forget the look on his face before he disappeared though," Aurora admitted with a shiver. One that was shared by all of the other four girls. "As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Ventus snarled under his breath, glaring down at the floor as he did. "Xehanort has always been most at home in the darkness, and it only makes sense that would be even more true for his Heartless."

Sora and Kairi quickly exchanged worried looks with each other and with Donald and Goofy. They really did not like seeing how bent out of shape Ven got whenever he thought about Xehanort, but they were not entirely sure if they could do something about it. After all, this was the kind of anger and resentment that could only have come from years of hatred and suffering, and Ven most definitely suffered because of his former master's actions. That did not mean they could not at least try to do something in an attempt to cheer the blonde up. Before they could though, Ventus seemed to pull himself out of it and get his mind back onto their current mission, as he looked up with a steadfast gaze that radiated confidence.

"Don't worry. We'll be sure to deal with him soon enough, but first, we've got to seal the Keyhole and prevent anymore of its darkness from flowing out into the worlds," the blonde promised.

The princesses all nodded in thanks to Ventus for that, and seeing as there was nothing more to say, the team all turned and marched onwards to the Grand Hall. Any Heartless that stood in their way after that were swiftly dealt with, and the five barely even batted an eye at the dark creatures. The team was not willing to waste time dealing with any more delays that appeared in their paths, and they made that quite clear to each and every Heartless that tried to cross them. Sora and Kairi even made it a point to blast some away with a few rounds of their personal Shotlocks, and Ventus even went so far as to use some of his more powerful fighting techniques just to wrap things up a little more quickly. Sure, it resulted in the blonde having to down a few Ethers just to make sure he was at full strength for whatever was waiting for them inside of the machine that led to the Keyhole, but it was well worth it in Ven's opinion.

After crossing the Grand Hall and stepping up to the heart-shaped machine that acted as the gateway to the Keyhole, the team took a moment to pause and gather themselves. No one was going to kid themselves into thinking that whatever was waiting for them on the other side was going to be any less powerful than the things that they had just been fighting on the other worlds before coming back here, so they had to be absolutely sure that they were prepared. They were not about to go in there when they were tired and unable to fight at any less than their best. Once they were all certain that they were ready, they slowly stepped through the machine and into the realm that lay beyond its gate.

When they came into the place where the true Keyhole was kept, they all noticed that there was not anything too significant about the place beyond its lack of…anything, really. It all looked like one, large empty room that was made up of a rainbow of colors that slid along the floor, walls, and ceiling, and just on the other side of this empty space, they all easily spotted the Keyhole itself, just waiting for them to come and close it. The only problem was that said Keyhole had a guard dog that was far from anything resembling small. The massive being was probably one of the biggest Heartless any of them had seen to date, and from given how its sheer presence radiated with power, they could all tell that taking it down would be no easy feat. This was without the fact that this quadruped monster had black claws on each of its toes, curved tusks that sprouted out from its lower jaw, and a large body that proved even more that it was meant to be incredibly strong.

After taking in this beast's appearance for another few minutes, Ventus finally turned towards Sora and asked, "Jiminy, tell me you've got something on what we're looking at here?"

The cricket had immediately hopped out of Sora's hood the minute he heard his name, and leafed through his journal's notes until he found the page he was looking for. "Yep, I've got it right here," Jiminy confirmed. "This fella is called a Behemoth, an immensely powerful Heartless. They can trample over their enemies and repel most attacks with their large frames, and this is without even moving all that much. Plus, when they walk, they can create small earth quakes. They're also known to be able to cast a powerful a wide-spread storm, nearly unavoidable storm of Thunder spells, though only after they've been stunned and regained consciousness. Oh, and it has an ability called Energy Rain, in which it charges energy into the horn on top of its head and causes energy balls to rain down from the sky. I doubt I need to tell you that they're not too agile, but then again, considering what we're up against, I'm pretty sure they don't need to be."

"Does it say anything on how we can stop it? Like a weak point or something," Sora requested, Oathkeeper already in his hand to show he was prepared to charge at any moment.

Jiminy quickly skimmed through once more before he finally said, "Yep, there is one weak point: the horn on top of its head. Hit enough and you can knock it unconscious for a little bit. When that happens, you'll want to hit it with as many powerful strikes as you can, right in the exact same spot."

"Easier said than done, seeing as it'll likely take a bit of doing to get up there," Goofy pointed out, as he ducked behind his shield a little.

"Doesn't mean that it's impossible, and we're going to prove that," Kairi guaranteed, and just to emphasize her point, she immediately aimed her Keyblade at the Behemoth, charged up the energy she needed, and shouted, "Starlight Storm!"

Seconds later, the other four were all watching as Kairi's personal Shotlock bombarded the Behemoth with several star-shaped projectiles. It may not have stunned the beast like Kairi had been hoping, but it did slow it down in its advance towards them. Ventus could not help but grin a little at Kairi's choice to take the initiative, and eventually said, "She's right, and if we want to seal the Keyhole, then we can't let some overgrown ox stop us. Donald, Goofy, you two help Kairi keep it busy. Hit its horn with long-range attacks whenever you see a chance, but your main objectives are to go for the eyes and mouth. Sora, you and me are going to do whatever we can to get on top of the thing and so we can take a lot off the top."

"Right," the others all chorused in response, and with that, the adventurers had entered battle with a Heartless boss once again.

They actually ended up being a bit disappointed when the fight with the Behemoth turned out to be more tiresome than anything else, because felling this particular Heartless boss ended up to be far too easy for anyone's liking. Donald, Kairi, and Goofy ended up not really needing to do too much to distract the beast, because even when the Behemoth did see through their efforts, it was too slow to really do anything to stop Sora and Ven's attacks before the two were already in position. Not only that, but stunning the beast was relatively easy when Sora and Ven used some of their close-combat Keyblade abilities, and when the thing did drop to the ground, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the team was able to deal a large amount of damage. Sure, it had an incredible amount of defense against magic, making most of Kairi and Donald's best abilities nearly useless, but under the assault of these five warriors, the Behemoth was not able to stand strong for long.

That was not to say that the Behemoth did not make things a little challenging for them. There were in fact times when they had to get a little creative in how they evaded its attacks and got around whatever defenses it did put an extra effort into, but it was still not too terribly so. Although, they did have to react very quickly in order to either avoid or protect themselves against the Thundaga storm it rained down on them whenever it recovered from being stunned, and many times, they were not so lucky. The only other attack in the Behemoth's arsenal that they had trouble avoiding was its Energy Rain, and that was mostly due to how the deadly energy orbs came down on them from random locations at unpredictable intervals, assuming that Behemoth was able to actually charge up to the point where it could actually use that attack. After the first round, the five made it a point to do what they could to prevent the Behemoth from using Energy Rain a second time, though only Sora, Ven, and Kairi were successful in those efforts. This was mainly in thanks to some well-placed Shotlocks that quickly threw the Behemoth's concentration off and left it open for them to counterattack. After what seemed like an eternity though, the team finally managed to destroy the Behemoth, and they did not even spare it a glance as it faded into nothing while releasing a crystal heart from its being afterwards.

"Well…that was disappointingly easy," Donald remarked, clearly a little miffed that they went through all that trouble in preparing for a major fight just to end up with something that was so easily handled.

"Honestly, I have to agree with you. I can easily think of a few Unversed that were harder to beat than that thing," Ventus nodded to his friend.

"Well look on the bright side, fellers," Goofy encouraged with a happy chuckle. "Now we can go and seal that big Keyhole!"

Everyone nodded in agreement with that, and immediately turned their attention to said Keyhole, when Leon's voice suddenly called out, "Sora, Ven, Kairi, you did it."

Hearing the Gunblade wielder's voice was enough to make them pause on its own, but the bigger reason why they all stopped in their tracks and looked back to the entrance into this place in surprise. Wanting to know why they had heard their friend's voice like he was just outside, the three Keybearers immediately led the way back out to investigate, and they were all surprised to find Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Yuna all waiting for them just on the other side. Despite how surprising it was, they were still glad to see so many more friendly faces in a place that was once Bad-Guy-Central, and Ven could not help but feel happy at seeing his friends from Traverse Town had returned home again after so long.

Still, it did leave one thing unanswered, and Sora was not leaving this question unanswered. "What're you guys doing here? Shouldn't you all be back at Traverse Town?"

"We were, but Merlin insisted that he had things under control. Pretty easy to believe since there were barely any Heartless in the streets when we arrived, ya," Wakka explained.

"So we all piled into Cid's ship and came here," Yuffie continued.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith reminded him as she waved between herself, Yuffie, and Leon. "So it didn't feel right to not come back here now that Maleficent had been defeated for good. Besides, we knew you would have managed to make sure that it would be safer by the time we had gotten here."

"Still, it doesn't change the fact that this place is in worse shape than I feared," Leon noted as he glanced around at the Grand Hall, and everyone knew that he was not just referring to the castle alone. "It used to be so peaceful…"

"And it can be again," Ventus assured him. "So long as you all believe it's possible, and someone is willing to put forth the effort to do so, this place can indeed one day return to its former glory. I'm sure of it."

Everyone who came from this world smiled in thanks to Ventus, but Yuna and the others all just hung their heads sadly due to being reminded of a single fact when he said that, despite how unintentional the reminder may have been. "Too bad the same can't be said for our island," Selphie pointed out.

"Or Spira," Yuna added, her thoughts immediately going to some of her best friends from back on her world, like her cousin and another close friend of theirs.

"Don't worry," Aerith reassured them, gaining the attention of everyone who was not already aware of the fact she was about to reveal. "Once Ansem is defeated, all should be restored. Including your homes."

"Really," was the shared exclamation from Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Yuna, and Aerith just nodded with smile, confirming that they heard right.

"She's right," Ventus confirmed as well, and everyone who did not know that was ready to start jumping up and down in excited celebration, until Sora noticed that his master's face did not seem to give off the same feeling of joy that they were all feeling.

"What's the matter, Ven? Isn't that a good thing," Sora asked, halting the celebrations when he did.

"No, it is. Of course it is," Ventus reassured the kid, but his smile did not quite reach his eyes, since he knew that the downside to this great news was likely going to leave both Sora and a lot of the others feeling really upset. "It's just…Well…"

"It will also mean goodbye," Yuffie finally revealed, sparing Ven the trouble even though she did not like it any better than him.

"What? Goodbye," Tidus questioned, not really understanding at all and he was definitely not alone in his confusion.

"Once the worlds are restored, they'll all be separate again," Aerith explained a bit sadly, something that did not look right on her in any the opinion of anyone in this large group.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie finished.

"Well that doesn't seem so bad," Kairi remarked, not seeing what the problem was. "We can just visit you all with the gummi ship." She then glanced over to a certain pair and added, "And we I'm sure we could help Yuna and Tidus visit each other too, right?"

As much as they wanted to say yes, Leon and the others who knew the whole truth could not bring themselves to do so, knowing that they would be telling a lie if they did. "It's not that simple," Leon explained. "Before all this, you didn't know about the other worlds, right?"

"Well, we kinda knew about them," Sora started to point out, thinking back to how he and his friends had dreamed of seeing other worlds even when they were kids. He had to pause for a moment though, and eventually correct himself though. "I mean, we believed there were other worlds out there, but the only proof any of us back on the islands had was Kairi, and that was a little shaky in some people's eyes."

"Well the reason no one really knew for sure was because every world was isolated," Aerith explained. "Impassable walls divided them, but the Heartless destroyed those walls, and if the worlds return, so will the walls."

"Which means that gummi ships will be useless, and all the pathways that you could travel will be wiped from existence," Leon finished at last, finally unveiling the big truth that had been kept hidden for so long.

"So you're saying we'll never…" Sora started to ask, unable to really bring himself to actually say the words. When everyone who came from Hollow Bastion just hung their heads low, no further confirmation was needed, but Sora was not willing to give up so easily. "But…But what about Ven? I mean, he'd been able to travel to other worlds long before the Heartless had shown up, and before gummi ships had even been invented! There has to be a way! Come on, Ven, tell them!"

Ventus really wished he could do as the boy asked, but he still had to tell him the sad truth. "Sora, my friends and I were only able to reach other worlds because of our armor and Keyblades, and while there are people who can do so without a Keyblade, they had a very special magic at their disposal or help from another wielder," the blonde sadly informed him. "Besides that, neither you or Kairi have learned how to reach other worlds without a gummi ship, and learning how to do so takes time. Yes, the Keyblade Glider is involved, but learning how to use it for traveling to other worlds is a lot different from using it to fly around on one world. I'd hate to say it, kid, but Leon and the others are right. For now, this could very well be the last time we see each other, at least as far as anyone who's from a world that is different from yours is concerned."

"But then…wouldn't that also mean," Kairi started to ask, her eyes already trailing back to Yuna and Tidus. From the looks on their faces, it seemed that they had also realized this fact, and they were not any happier about it either. Yuna especially.

"No," Yuna whispered, shaking her head in defiance of the idea.

"Hey, it'll be okay, Yuna," Tidus tried to reassure her, even though he was clearly not so confident about it himself. His only response was Yuna shaking her head again, and he quickly stepped over to wrap his arms around her in a gentle hug. "Come on. It'll be okay. I don't care what the others say. We will see each other again someday."

"But…But…I don't want to say goodbye," Yuna whispered, returning the hug by wrapping her arms around Tidus as tightly as she could. "I don't want to lose you."

"I feel the same way," Tidus assured her, and they both knew that they were saying so much more to each other beyond those simple words.

This was apparently evident to everyone else as well, but they were all focused more on the meaning behind what was on the surface, and Ventus was not about to let them feel all depressed right now. "Tidus is right. You've all formed a strong bond in your hearts with one another, and those will never be broken so long as you all remember each other."

Leon nodded in agreement with that, and said, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith added with a smile, and that seemed to finally brighten up Yuna and Tidus's moods a little more, while also prompting them to silently promise each other that they would one day see each other again.

"Besides, I couldn't forget any of you even if I wanted to," Yuffie joked, and from the way she had turned to them, it was obvious that she was mainly directing that towards the three Keybearers.

"What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, feeling a little insulted by the remark.

Ven on the other hand just laughed and patted him on the shoulder as he said, "Just Yuffie getting as close to sentimental mushy stuff as she can without thinking she's messing up her reputation as a badass ninja."

"You wish," Yuffie playfully scoffed, drawing laughs from everyone immediately after.

It was not until Donald and Goofy called out to the three Keybearers, asking them to hurry up and come close the Keyhole that the laughter finally stopped, once again, that task looked like it would be delayed, as Ventus suddenly noticed something on the edge of his senses that made him stop short. When Sora and Kairi looked back to ask him what was wrong, Ven just looked back to the Grand Hall's entrance in silence. The two Keyblade Warriors were about to ask him again, when Ven looked back and said, "Kairi, you go on ahead with Donald and Goofy and seal the Keyhole. Sora and I have something that we need to check out in the meantime."

"We do," Sora asked, now completely lost.

"Yes, we do," Ventus repeated, and he immediately started heading back out of the room leaving Sora no choice but to follow behind him. The blonde did pause for a minute so he could look back to Kairi and add, "When you're done, head back to the Castle Chapel with Donald and Goofy, and wait for us there."

Kairi barely had enough time to nod before the blonde rushed out of the room with Sora, and Sora did not receive any further explanation on what had gotten his master so worried until after they had met up with the five Princesses of Heart that were still waiting for them. When the princesses saw the two come in without the rest of their team, they each became worried, but only Alice proved brave enough to ask the questions. "What're you two doing here? Where's the rest of your team? Did something happen when you tried to seal the Keyhole?"

"Don't worry. Kairi, Donald, and Goofy are all fine, and they're sealing the Keyhole right now," Ventus reassured them. "I just came here with Sora to investigate something. I think you all know what I'm referring to."

Sora did not know what he was talking about, but he was definitely growing worried when each of the princesses all began to look even more concerned than before. At that point, they all turned towards the back wall, and when followed their gazes, Sora was surprised to see that the gate leading to the inner sanctum they fought Maleficent in had reappeared. How he had missed that before, he could not say, but considering what they had dealt with the last time they went into that particular room, Sora just knew that it could not have meant anything remotely close to good news.

"It just suddenly appeared out of nowhere a few seconds ago," Snow White started to explain. "We weren't entirely sure why, but we could all feel something coming from it, and it only grew stronger when we got closer."

"We're not even sure what it is," Jasmine added. "It's obviously not something of the light, but it doesn't necessarily feel like darkness either."

"All we do know is that it feels…dangerous," Aurora said. "Almost as though it were more powerful than the darkness we've seen up until now."

Hearing that, Ven and Sora both grew a little nervous. Calling something was more powerful than the Heartless or Xehanort's Heartless was not something that should be done lightly, but clearly, each of these five Princesses of Heart felt that it was appropriate to describe it as such. Despite their new flare of nerves, the two Keybearers had no intention of leaving this unchecked, and it showed when their expressions hardened a little more in determination. Ventus then looked to the princesses and stated, "If this really is as bad as you believe it to be, then we need to deal with it."

"Yeah. There's no way we can leave something like that alone if it turns out to be a threat," Sora agreed.

"Are you sure? After all, like we said, it isn't something that gives off a feeling of light or darkness, so what if it's just a thing of our imaginations," Cinderella asked.

"Considering that all five of you are getting the same feeling, and this thing's presence was enough to pull me and Sora here, I don't think that's a very strong possibility, Cinderella," Ventus pointed out. "Now, I'm going to go in there and check things out for myself, but Sora, if you're not feeling up for it, I'll understand if you stay here with the princesses."

"No way. If thing really is that bad, then I can't let you face it alone," Sora argued, and that was all that Ventus needed to hear.

After the blonde had nodded to Sora in thanks, he asked the princesses to keep Kairi, Donald, and Goofy from going into the gate after them when they came here. He did not want to put anyone else at risk if it was not necessary, especially in the case of Kairi, and while they were reluctant to agree, the princesses did grant his request all the same. They then watched as master and apprentice stepped through the gate, each feeling a dark foreboding fall over them after the two had disappeared from sight.

* * *

When they came out the other side of the gate, Sora and Ven did not really see anything too noteworthy about the inner sanctum. From where they were standing, it looked just the same as it did the last time they had been in there, just without any of the large vines that had once littered the room while Maleficent was still around. Despite that, there was no denying that whatever presence Ven and the princesses had felt earlier was here, and now, Sora was starting to feel it too. More than that, despite lacking any light or darkness, Sora could still pick up on a trace of something that made him a little uneasy. He could not really describe it beyond that, but he could say that it felt similar when he was around to Xehanort's Heartless back when they had last been in Hollow Bastion. When he told Ven this, the blonde immediately summoned forth Guardian Wind and told Sora to be on his guard for anything.

The two Keybearers then slowly advanced further into the room, their eyes darting in all different directions in an attempt to locate this mystery being with no success. Not once did either of their gazes land on anything that could be the source of this odd feeling, until Sora suddenly felt like there was something coming up from behind him. He slowly turned around to glance back and gasped in shock when he saw a tall figure clad in a black coat suddenly appear to materialize from nothing like a bad picture coming into focus, and before he knew what was happening, the figure had suddenly seemed to just pass right through Sora. When the figure did, Sora suddenly found his head being filled with all sorts of memories from his journey, things that were said, people he had met, and it was all coming into his mind so fast that you would think he was watching a movie at several times the speed it was supposed to have been viewed. Such an experience not what you would call pleasant, so ultimately, Sora could not help but drop to the floor while his head started to hurt so much he thought it would explode.

Ventus did not miss his apprentice's surprised gasp or the sound of Sora falling to the floor, but when he finally turned his attention to the boy, he saw that Sora had already managed to recover and was now looking at the individual responsible for what had just happened to him. Not that they really had too much to look at. Whoever this person was, he kept his face well-hidden behind the hood of his black coat, and made sure to do everything he could to keep the Keybearers from getting any good looks at him. "Who are you," Sora finally demanded once he was on his feet again.

When he heard the boy's question, the mystery figure slowly turned towards the two, and while his voice did confirm that he was a man, he did not give any sort of answer to what Sora had asked. "Ah, it seems you are special, too," the figure commented to Sora.

Ventus had to pause for a minute, because this man's voice sounded oddly familiar, but there was just no way it could have been who he was suspecting it to be. The princesses had told them earlier that said individual had disappeared into the darkness after the Keyhole had been opened. He had to be sure though, so Ven ended up asking the question. "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness?"

The figure regarded Ven for a moment before he answered, "That name rings familiar." It was not quite the answer that the blonde was looking for, and this man probably knew it too, but he was not really making any effort to elaborate. Instead, he simply added, "You two…you remind me of him, each in your own ways."

"What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, not noticing how the man's fingers were flexing on one hand.

Ventus did though, and he knew what such a thing more than likely meant even before he saw an odd-looking orb of electricity flash to life in the mystery man's hand. "Sora, watch out!"

On instinct, Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade and raised it up in defense, blocking a stream of lightning that the finger threw from his hand before it could hit him. It was not an easy task keeping this continuously running jolt of electricity at bay, but somehow, Sora managed to hold his ground and eventually managed to deflect it all back up towards the ceiling above them. Apparently, this did not concern the stranger at all, because he simply continued what he was saying in the same neutral tone he had held before. "In the case of your friend, it really refers to a more physical sense, but you…It means you are not whole. You are incomplete. Allow me to test your strength."

Sora and Ven both dropped onto the defensive as the figure suddenly threw out a pair of energy orbs, and even though they both dodged the projectiles, they were not expecting the orbs to expand into much larger spheres that crackled with electricity. That made it much harder for them to avoid the attack; but thankfully, they got away with only a minor jolt. Ven was not expecting the figure to suddenly fade into a cloud of shadows and rush towards him though, so he was barely able to raise his Keyblade in time to block the red energy blade that extended from the mystery man's right hand as he swung. After parrying away the energy sword, Ven tried to go for a counterattack, but he found himself pushed back by an energy screen that the figure suddenly erected between them with a wave of his free hand. Not only that, but whatever energy this man had been throwing at them was also infused into the screen, so Ven received a full jolt of its electric-like shocks when it slammed into him.

After Ven had gotten hit by the screen, the figure was prepared to cut him down with his energy blade again, but Sora had quickly come to the rescue with a quick Strike Raid from behind. The figure flinched a little when he was hit by the spinning form of Oathkeeper, but he appeared to be otherwise unaffected by Sora's attack, and he proved it when he retaliated with another few rounds of energy orbs. Unlike the last ones though, the figure seemed to direct their path a little more than before with a wave of his arms, so that made it a lot harder for Sora to dodge them. By some crazy stroke of luck, Sora did manage to escape the wrath of both orbs that had been thrown at him, but he was not able to avoid being ensnared in a set of energy bindings that the mystery figure caught him in before lifting him up off the ground. Sora would have retaliated, but he was barely able to even writhe in pain from the jolts that were flooding through his body.

This time, it was Ven who came to the rescue, as he quickly slashed the figure in the back with his Keyblade and then again several times over with the powers of Sonic Blade to help in his attack. After the last hit, the figure dropped Sora in favor of creating another energy screen between him and Ventus, but Ven had been expecting it this time, and simply back flipped away before he got hit by the screen's powers. A quick glance to Sora allowed Ven to see that the kid was already taking aim with his Keyblade in order to prepare a Shotlock, so the blonde decided that he had best keep whoever this guy was busy until his apprentice was ready. A task that was easier said than done, because the figure seemed very determined to keep most of his attention on Sora. That did not mean Ven made it easy or even wise for this guy to take his eyes off of him for long, but that soon turned out to be just as bad of a thing for Ven as it was good for Sora. The mystery man easily turned to smoke once again to get around behind Ven, and when he reappeared, he created a number of energy blades that floated in a ring formation while peppering Ventus with several energy bolts. It was only thanks to some quick spins of his Keyblade and a last minute Aeroga spell that Ventus managed to either deflect or block the energy bolts before they could do him too much harm, but he did still suffer from a few hits all the same.

Ven's distraction efforts did eventually pay off though, because a moment later, Sora came rocketing towards their mysterious foe, his Keyblade charged up with the power of Radiant Blade. With his Shotlock providing him an extra aura of protection and an added speed boost, Sora was able to land quite a few, powerful hits on this mystery man that dealt a severe amount of injury to him. At least, he assumed that they did, but considering that the man did not show any signs of being injured, Sora could not be entirely sure. When his Shotlock's power reached an end, Sora found himself a little too close to the guy for comfort, and that was especially true when the man encased himself inside of an energy shield that fired out a number of lasers in all directions. Ventus and Sora were both on their feet and scrambling to avoid getting sliced in half or worse by the lasers that were slowly cutting across the field, and when the shield finally vanished, they tried to rush the mystery man once again, Ventus calling upon the power of Fever Pitch to enhance his speed and strength as quickly as he could while he did.

Their charge proved futile, as the figure turned to smoke again and summoned another ring of energy blades to fire another salvo of laser bolts, this time on both Keyblade wielders. When the barrage ceased, Ven had to move fast in order to keep the figure from slicing through Sora with two energy blades instead of one, but to his surprise, it was taking a bit for him to keep up with the speed of this stranger's swings. Eventually, the stranger managed to get a lucky shot through Ven's defense, and the blonde was blown back by the attack in result. When Sora saw this, he immediately started to slowly back away, searching his pockets for a spare Potion or Elixir that he could throw to his master, until his hand brushed over his newest summon charm. It was the only one that he had not given to Kairi before they had last left Traverse Town, and since the girl had not managed to give his others back to him before now, it was also the only one he still had on him. Thinking that he really had nothing to lose, Sora quickly pulled the charm out, infused it with magic, and raised it high into the air as he cried out for the summon to help them, praying that it would be something that could do just that.

When the summoning spell began, the whole area immediately around Sora became engulfed in hot, ash-filled smoke that made it hard to really see anything that was inside. That alone was reason enough for the mystery man to pause and attempt to figure out what Sora could be planning while he was behind this little smoke screen. A minute later, a large, red dragon head seemed to rise up from the smoke, glaring down on the mystery man as it growled, until finally, it lost its silhouette and revealed a dragon with large eyes, red skin, and a yellow-orange belly. "Tremble in fear, for the mighty Mushu lives," the dragon roared loudly. He then grinned savagely as he added, "So tell me who's looking to get a face full of my fire and dragon fury. You just say the word, and I'm there."

"Umm…" Sora started to say, only to get interrupted by the dragon who apparently called himself Mushu.

"Just let me finish first, okay, kid," Mushu requested, though he did not wait for an answer. "Anyone who _dares_ to cross me, the family I serve as guardian for, or my friends, shall find themselves in deep trouble, because…vengeance will be _mine_!"

"HEY," Sora shouted at last, putting an end to Mushu's show of ferocity just as the dragon was starting to snarl dangerously. "Are you really a dragon?"

"Yes, of course, kid. What do you think I am," Mushu demanded hotly. "And if you say lizard, I'm gonna have to get my dragon dandruff up! I don't do that tongue thing."

"Well it's just…You're…"

"Intimidating? Awe-inspiring?"

"Tiny," Sora finally said. Indeed, Mushu was in fact very small, to the point where he only reached Sora's knee at most when standing up straight.

"Of course! I'm travel-size for your convenience. If I was my real size everyone in here would die of fright," Mushu explained, sounding more than a tad bit boastful near the end.

Sora would have questioned Mushu a little more had Ven not suddenly jumped in front of them both to block another blast of electricity from the stranger with Guardian Wind. "How about we deal with this guy now and question your newest summon later, Sora," Ventus suggested after he had deflected the blast into the wall.

"Fair enough," Sora shrugged, and he allowed Mushu to slither his way up to the top of his head before charging in again. Just when Sora was close enough, the stranger looked like he was about to throw another blast that would send him flying again, but Mushu prevented that from ever happening by blowing out several fireballs at once. This gave Sora just opening he needed to deal a few blows of his own onto the stranger, and when he jumped back, Mushu gladly let loose another torrent of fireballs to cover Ven's approach from behind.

The three kept up this pattern for a few more minutes, and it seemed to back the stranger into a corner, until finally, Sora and Ventus both powered up with their respective Unique Command Styles, with Ven going the extra mile and jumping right into Wingblade soon after. Mushu then unleashed one last volley of fireballs on the stranger, and this allowed Sora to dash in and deliver a powerful assault with Destiny Blaze fueling his attacks with extra speed and strength. When Sora jumped up over the stranger's head, Ventus pressed his own attack, and came at the stranger with all of his energy swords swinging in quick succession. If the stranger had been against only one of the two Keybearers on their own, he might have managed to throw up more of a defense, even with their powers supplemented by their Command Styles, but since they were fighting together, and with the aid of a summon at that, there was nothing more he could do than resign himself to the beat-down that saw an end to the fight at last.

Even though they never got the chance to unleash their Command Styles' finishers, Sora and Ven could tell just from the stranger's weakened state that they would not be needed. After all, why overdo things when your opponent is already limping away from you and favoring one side over the other. At least, they thought that was the case, until suddenly, the man waved his hand, and his form seemed to shatter like glass, erasing his injuries in an instant, while he stood just as tall as before. The Keybearers and small dragon immediately tensed up once again, but the figure did not show any signs of making another threatening move against them. Instead, he just stood there for a few moments, looking at them in silence before he finally made another comment.

"Impressive," the mystery man admitted. "This will be enjoyable."

"What are you talking about," Sora demanded, ready to rush the stranger once more. He probably would have too, had Ventus not suddenly grabbed his shoulder in an effort to hold the kid back. It was not that Ven did not think that Sora could handle himself if he got into another bit of trouble with this guy, but considering that he just shrugged off all the damage they did to him like a snake shedding its skin, Ven did not want to take the chance and find out that this guy had been going easy on them the whole time.

"It is beyond your comprehension, for now," the stranger informed them. He then turned and began walking away, as he bid, "Until we meet again."

"Wait! What are you…" Ventus started to ask, only to gasp a little along with Sora as the stranger's form flickered like a bad picture on an old television before he could finish.

"I am…but a mere shell," was all that the figure said before vanishing completely, leaving the two with more questions than answers, a new summon to bring up to speed in regards to their situation, and to their surprise, another page from the report that was written by Xehanort's Heartless. When Ven grabbed the page and skimmed over it, he knew that they needed to get back and inform the others about its contents, and since he had taken that time to fill Mushu in on the details of their mission, Sora did not argue with him as they hurried back to the gate after dismissing the summon.

* * *

When Ven and Sora came back, they found Kairi, Donald, and Goofy waiting for them with the princesses, each giving the two a look that demanded an explanation. Not that said looks were necessary, because Ven and Sora had both intended to explain what had happened anyway. After the two had finished regaling everyone with the details of what had happened, and their fight against the mysterious individual, the others were torn between shock, amazement, and intense worry. If someone that powerful could give both Sora and Ven that much trouble in a fight, then they were doubtlessly someone that they needed to watch out for in the future, and given that the figure had said they would meet again, there was no question as to whether or not they would come across this person some time soon. For now, they just had to hope that they did not have to deal with him before they finished with their current mission.

It did still leave the explanation of what the individual was unsolved though, because the entire time Sora and Ven were fighting him, no one had sensed any surges of light or darkness, aside from the ones that came from the two Keybearers. When Kairi brought that up, Ventus revealed that he had a thought about that, and produced the most recently found page from the Ansem Reports so that he could read it for everyone. "Where does the body go when it separates from the heart? If the soul remains within the body, is it still considered deceased," Ventus recited as he looked over the page. "When the heart returns to the Heartless, the physical form disappears. But that is merely true in this world. Perhaps the body exists in another form in another world. If that is the case, then it is possible for one to exist in two worlds. A being that is neither darkness nor light; belonging nowhere; abandoned by its heart; a mere shell of its former self. The relation between the heart and body is complex. However, I am certain that if your self exists here, then by definition, the other cannot truly 'exist.' The other, the one which does not exist, shall be dubbed 'Nobody.'"

Everyone was silent for a moment after Ven had finished reading, until Sora finally asked, "So what does that mean? Is there…some other kind of creatures out there that are born after someone loses their heart to the Heartless, or is this something completely different?"

"I'm not entirely sure right now, Sora. Whatever that guy was, he probably could count as one of these supposed 'Nobodies,' but for now, we can't let it worry us too much," Ventus reminded his apprentice.

"He's right," Kairi agreed. "Now that we've sealed the Keyhole, everything should start going back to normal, right?"

"Well, I do believe that the darkness has started to weaken quite considerably now that you have sealed the Keyhole," Alice admitted, and looking over the five princesses, the others could tell that they definitely seemed a lot lighter now than before when they seemed like they were straining against something.

"But I can still feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away," Jasmine revealed.

"It must be where Ansem went: the heart of the darkness itself," Aurora theorized.

"Then that's where we need to go next," Sora determined. "We'll take the gummi ship, deal with both Ansem and the Heartless, and get our friends back."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Sora," Ventus praised.

"Most certainly. That definitely is a worthy answer, Keyblade Warrior," Cinderella praised.

"And once the darkness is gone, everything should return to its original state, including each of our own worlds," Snow White piped in. "Your friends will all be back home again, and you should be, too."

"No," Sora protested, surprising everyone a little. "I can't go home until I find Riku, the king, and Master Aqua."

"Finding Riku is one thing, but Sora, you don't need to help find Mickey and Aqua too," Ventus told the kid. "After all that's happened, you and Kairi both deserve to go back home and live peacefully with your friends. Just leave finding Mickey and Aqua to me, Donald, and Goofy after we beat Ansem and save your friend."

"No way. I promised you guys that I would help you find your friends if you would help me find mine. I'm not going to go back on my word just because it would be easier, so I'm going to stick with you until we find everyone we're looking for," Sora reaffirmed.

"Sora…" Kairi whispered. She did not really like the sound of where Sora was going with that. To be honest, she actually wanted to go home when this was over, especially after everything that had happened. It was not that she was unwilling to help too, but she felt that she needed a break from all of this, both to rest and to get better as a Keyblade wielder before she really joined in on this journey completely as opposed to the temporary position she was technically in right now. If Sora was thinking about continuing on, she was not sure if she could bear to part from him.

Ventus could tell just how important all of this was to both of the kids, and he was not all that willing to hash out the details on the matter right now when there was still so much to do, so he simply sighed and said, "We'll talk about this later. Right now, we have a madman's Heartless to stop and worlds to save."

Thankfully, no one argued with that, and the five all immediately stepped back so that Chip and Dale could bring them back aboard the _Kingdom_. When they were all back on the ship and strapped into their seats, Ventus immediately set course for their next destination, after having Kairi give them a better sense on where they were heading, and just like that, they were off once again. The question of just who Sora and Ven had fought before they left was still weighing a bit heavily on their minds, but right now, they knew that it could wait for later. All that mattered now was stopping Ansem, saving their friends, and putting an end to this madness at long last. No matter what it took, these five were going to see things through to the end, and they were going to make sure that the darkness would not have any more chances to consume another world after today.

* * *

After his battle with Sora and Ventus, Xemnas had retreated into a place in the Realm of Darkness that was known only as the Dark Margin. He did not come there to hide in shame from how he had been defeated, though. It would have been ridiculous to think that was the case since Nobodies did not even feel anything anyways. No, his reason for being here was so that he could contemplate what he had learned from seeing the two. He was impressed with the talent that they had shown him, but at the same time, he was also confused. The newest and thirteenth of their number was obviously the younger Keybearer's other, so then why was it that he resembled the blonde master instead of Sora? Could it be that there was something he had missed when he found Number XIII, or was there something even more unique about Sora that he still had yet to realize? Regardless of whatever the case was, if he could feel, he would say that he had been satisfied with what he learned, and he did have one way to try and figure out something about the mystery surrounding Number XIII.

It was for that reason that he was not surprised when Roxas suddenly appeared near him on the shores of the Dark Margin. After all, he had informed Saïx to send the boy here when he was first available, and apparently, that time was now. "I've been to see him," Xemnas told the young Nobody, thinking that Roxas would know who he was talking about. "He looks a lot like you."

Roxas must not have really understood, but that was not surprising. The boy was only just now starting to really gain more self-awareness than he had a little while ago. If he were to use Axel's words, Xemnas would classify Roxas as a near mindless zombie, barely able to comprehend anything other than the most basic of basics. It was for that reason that he was not surprised when Roxas asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm what's left," Xemnas replied. "Or…maybe I'm all there ever was."

"I meant your name," Roxas clarified, almost sounding a little indignant when he spoke this time.

"My name is of no importance," Xemnas brushed off, knowing that Axel or really anyone else in their group would remind the boy later. He then turned to face Roxas again and asked, "What about you? Do you remember your true name?"

Apparently, this question had thrown Roxas off a little, but he still persisted in trying to answer regardless of whether not he could. "My true name is…"

Xemnas was not surprised when Roxas finally gave up, clearly unable to find the answer on his own. Still, it was a little surprising that the boy could not remember that much from before he was created. "You have been with us for six days now," Xemnas noted aloud, and he then stood up straight so that his next announcement to Roxas would have a little more impact. "The time has come."

Roxas watched as Xemnas walked over to him, patted his shoulder, and whispered a single word to him. What that word was, Roxas could not tell for some reason. It was almost like the man had not spoken at all, yet Roxas was sure that he had. Either way, he could only watch as Xemnas disappeared into one of those dark corridors, leading the way back to the castle that their group had made their home. Roxas was not entirely sure what to think about that, but he did know that he would probably get into trouble if he just stayed here. Clearly, if Xemnas was heading back like that, something important must have been happening.

Walking into the big meeting room with the tall chairs, Roxas could not help but wonder if it really had been nearly a week since he had joined this group, and after pulling out a small calendar that Axel had given him, which highlighted the day that Roxas first came here, he saw that six days had indeed passed, with today being his seventh day here. He just shrugged at that though, and then proceeded to take his seat along with all of these other strange people, right at the moment when Xemnas appeared before them all at last, his face stretched into the same smirk that always seemed to leave Roxas a little unsettled whenever he saw it.

"Good tidings friends," Xemnas greeted the room at large. "Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat…Number XIV."

While the announcement confused Roxas a little, since he figured that there would only be thirteen people in this group considering what it was named, he was still a bit interested in seeing a new member join them, so he joined the others in looking down at their new comrade. What he saw surprised him a little, as the person in question looked smaller than him. From what little he could tell, the person was most likely a girl, and not just because her heels clicked on the floor in a way that was a lot like how Number XII's did. Her coat, while still loose, seemed to hug her figure a little bit, and when she turned towards him, Roxas caught a tiny glimpse of her blue eyes from beneath her hood. When her gaze paused on him though, he gasped a little when she seemed to smile at him a bit, and suddenly, he seemed to be overcome with an urge to look out for the newest member. But why was that? He had not even spoken to her yet, so why would he care that much? Such a thing was so confusing that he missed anything else that was said in the meeting, including Number XIV's name, much to his dismay. Oh well, he could always ask Axel later.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there's the second trip to Hollow Bastion. Beast was reunite with Belle, Kairi received her first Keychain (you didn't really think that Sora was going to be the only one to get them in this story, did you?), they bested the Behemoth and sealed the Keyhole, summoned Mushu, and, hey look at that! Xemnas decided to show up and corner Sora and Ventus for a bit! Not to mention another familiar face from the Kingdom Hearts series made her debut today as well, even if we never actually referred to her by name. Like we don't all already know who Number XIV is, right?_**

 ** _Xion: It's me! Just in case anyone didn't know._**

 ** _AN: Now, before anyone says anything, yes, I'm well aware that Xion and Roxas first saw each other on Day 7, and Xemnas had said during his meeting with Roxas in the Dark Margin that he had been with them for six days, but I can't really recall ever seeing anything that says that said meeting had happened on the actual Day 6 of Roxas's existence, or if it was the start of Day 7 and Xemnas just was not counting that day in his recollection. Besides, I did want to at least give Xion something of an appearance here in this story. It wasn't really fair to only let Roxas and Axel hog all the fun, you know._**

 ** _Axel: Even though you should, since me and Roxas are both awesome like that._**

 ** _Xion: Hey! That's not funny, Axel! Just for that, I don't think you deserve the Sea-Salt Ice Cream I brought for you and Roxas. I'm sure Roxas wouldn't mind getting an extra._**

 ** _Roxas: No I wouldn't, but you can have it if you want, Xion._**

 ** _Axel: Wait! Come on guys, I was just kidding!_**

 ** _AN: Ahem! Yo, Sea-Salt Trio! I'm trying to do a closing statement here!_**

 ** _Roxas,Xion, &Axel: Sorry. [all go off to enjoy their ice cream]_**

 ** _AN: Anywho...including the fight with Xemnas was a no-brainer from the start. Can't really have him go to see our heroes in an off-screen adventure or something, because as someone previously pointed out, Xemnas did indeed confirm to Roxas that he had visited Sora, and his Secret Boss battle with Sora was among the memories Roxas saw during his Seven Days in the Virtual Twilight Town. What I didn't expect, was that I would be including because the fight with the Behemoth was not all that spectacular. I'm not saying that it wasn't hard in the game, but as far as I can recall, it was definitely one of the easier boss fights, which is a little disappointing given the point in the game that you fight the thing. Plus, when you try to describe said fight, you can't really make it all that much more spectacular. The location it was happening in did not offer much help either._**

 ** _Oh yeah! And look at that! Riku and Mickey did it! They found and rescued Aqua at last! And now they've formed a new team of three in order to find the Kingdom Key D and make sure they can seal the Door to Darkness from their side!...Yeah, not really that much more to say there, other than commenting on the changes in dialogue that I can assure you were necessary both for the changes in this story, and some other important reasons as well, most of which are reasons that we should all know._**

 _ **By the way, did you guys really think I would let Yuna and Tidus suddenly get separated without any explanation as to why they were suddenly pulled apart? That's the whole reason as to why they were there in Hollow Bastion for the little revelation on what will happen when the worlds were restored. Sure, Wakka and Selphie being there too might have been a little unnecessary, but I wasn't going to just make them stay in Hollow Bastion while their friend they'd already spent so much time apart from went gallivanting off to another world again. It's heartbreaking, sure, but at least this way, they would at least be a little prepared for when it happens. If they got separated so suddenly without the explanation, it would've been a lot more heart shattering for everyone. Btw, I hope you all took note of when I referenced a specific pair of Yuna's friends from Spira up there. Namely the cousin and another close friend of theirs? Can anyone say Gullwings reference?**_

 _ **Well, even if you can't, it doesn't matter now. What matters is what's coming up next, and we all know what the team's diving into next time, which includes a battle against the greatest villain in all of Disney! Need I say more? Because I can given how short the preview is, but then again, you'll see that for yourself when you move Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _They're finally here in the final stretch. At long last, our heroes have arrived at what promises to be their final destination in this grand journey, and even from a first glance, the place can clearly be seen as being one that is wrought with danger. Just what sort of things will they find here in this place where the ruins worlds that have fallen into darkness have gathered? Or more importantly, what sort of enemy will they be forced to fight? The end of the long journey is finally about to begin, next time._**

 ** _See, I told you the preview was short. And they're likely going to be as short if not shorter than this from here on out. Not really anything to be done about it though, but for now..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	25. Delve Into Darkness

_**AN: Okay, so once again, I'm going to try and keep this brief so you can all enjoy the chapter as quickly as possible. Not because of the chapter's length, but because this is one the final chapters, and I want you all to get right into the action.**_

 _ **Sora: And while you guys are doing that, we'll be over here throwing a little celebration party!**_

 _ **AN: Wait, what? [looks just in time to see a massive party suddenly erupt with everyone happily laughing and hanging out like typical party-goers] Hey, hey! Wait a minute! I didn't sign off on any of this!**_

 _ **Ventus: Oh relax, lyokoMARVELanime. Just enjoy the festivities and have fun with it.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I think I'll do that after I answer a couple of reviews here. First off, for those of you who were wondering about this, in terms of Aqua's appearance next to Ven's. As well know, Aqua has not changed at all during her time in the Realm of Darkness, and that's not going to change here, either. Ven on the other hand has been wide awake, unlike in cannon, and has been through not just training but a bit of a growth spurt too. If you were to put the two side by side with each other in this story's continuity, you would see that Ven is in fact slightly taller than Aqua, but not to the point where he would be towering over her like Terra sometimes seems to. If anything, the two are now perfectly eye-level with each other, as opposed to when Ven was younger and he had to look up at Aqua unless he wanted to be staring at her chest.**_

 _ **Aqua: Hey! Ven wasn't that short in BBS!**_

 _ **AN: Um...Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was.**_

 _ **Aqua &Ven: [both blushing fiercely]**_

 _ **AN: Anywho, btw "readingchameleon", just in case I did not already make it clear by now, the Ventus in this story is the same Ventus that we saw at the end of Keyblades of Future Past. He's not from a parellel universe or anything like that. Don't where you got that idea from, or how you didn't already figure that out. No offense. And as for Chain of Memories, we're skipping over those events and those of 358/2 Days and going right into the start of KH2. We'll mention some things that had happened in both stories during the journals that we'll see in the next story, but aside from that, I have no plans to do a Chain of Memories or 358/2 Days story for this version of the KH continuity.**_

 _ **Finally, regarding any questions you guys had about what the fate of Aqua and Ventus would be when it was time to close the Door to Darkness, and what they'll be doing come the next story, you'll just have to wait and see like everyone else. Trust me, all those questions will be answered in the next chapter, you know, since that's the chapter that all of that will be happening in and everything.**_

 _ **Riku: Um, isn't that a bit of a spoiler?**_

 _ **AN: No, it's really more of a heads-up on where this chapter will leave off. Speaking of which, move over and gimme a slice of that pizza! I wanna get me some eats while my readers and followers head on down to the disclaimer and the main story!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XXIV**

Before they left Hollow Bastion for their final destination in this journey, Ventus had all but thrown Chip and Dale off the ship on the grounds that they might not be able to get back again. It was not that he thought they would fail, but he was very certain that the ship would not be able to survive what they were going to be flying into, and he did not want their two engineers to end up stranded with it on the off-chance they were not sent back to Disney Castle after Ansem was defeated. Chip and Dale argued with him as much as they could, citing that the team still needed them, but Ven was quick to remind them that they could still help out via an experimental link they had set up for the ship's engineering functions. It was an experimental link that was completely untested, but it was still better than just leaving the team without any engineers at all, save for Donald, who had already volunteered to take over for the two after they left. With that in mind, it was not long until Chip and Dale realized that they were not going to win the argument, and they finally agreed to teleport down to Hollow Bastion, but not without giving the team heartfelt goodbyes and a wish of good luck in their endeavor. Once the two were gone, Ventus took a moment to call Cid and ask him to give Chip and Dale a lift back to Disney Town, and with that, the team was truly ready to get underway.

That particular conversation was still hanging a little heavily in the rest of the team's minds as they flew to a place that Ventus had said was known only as End of the World, and they were all still a little worried about how long they would last without Chip and Dale right there with them to oversee all things in engineering for them when they got into another aerial battle with the Heartless. Even Donald was worried about this, despite the fact that he had been so quick to volunteer his services for engineering in the chipmunks' place, and he made it no secret either. "Do you really think we'll be okay without them," the magician asked a few hours after they had left.

"Hopefully, yes," Ventus admitted, showing that he was a little unsure of his decision as well. "To be honest, I just wanted to make sure that they would be safe at home again in case they weren't able to be sent home after the worlds were restored. I'm not saying that they wouldn't have been, but I'd really rather not take any chances. Plus, I get the feeling that the _Kingdom_ may be facing its last flight, so I'd rather not risk losing them in the coming battle with the Heartless."

No one could do anything other than agree to that. They were all most likely going to be able to get through the entirety of the journey, but if something did happen that caused them to lose Chip and Dale along the way, they would not have been able to forgive themselves. The little guys had done so much for them up until now that it did not seem fair to ask them to put themselves into so much danger like that. Sure, any one of the five of them could be just as easily lost while in-flight to this place, but the risk to the two chipmunks was significantly greater in more than a few ways, so the other four were definitely able to understand Ven's reasoning a little better now. With that reasoning now out there, they all silently agreed to let the matter drop and put all of their focus on the mission at hand.

Well, most of them put all of their focus onto the mission, because there was something that Ven had said that made Goofy pause and think for a moment. The others all quickly caught onto that when he suddenly hummed in thought, and they were just as quick to ask what was wrong. "It's nothing really," Goofy assured them. "I just couldn't help but notice what Ven called Disney Castle just now." When the blonde threw him a look of confusion, he explained, "You called it 'home,' and in all the time you've been there with us, I don't remember hearing you ever call the castle your home before. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time you've ever done so."

"What? Come on, of course I've…" Ventus started to argue, only to stop short and begin really thinking about the matter himself. When he found that he was unable to recall a time when he had referred to Disney Town or its castle as his home, he finally muttered, "Huh, I guess you're right. This _is_ the first time I've ever called Disney Castle or any part of Disney Town home."

"You mean, you've never thought of it as your home before now," Kairi asked in disbelief, and from the look on his face, Sora had a hard time believing it too. They both remembered Ven telling them that he had lived at Disney Castle with Donald, Goofy, and the king for ten years, so how could he not start to consider the place as his home in all of that time?

"Not really," Ventus replied, knowing he was going to need to explain himself to the two kids right away. "I may have lived there for the last ten years, but…well, as the old saying goes, home is where the heart is, and my home had disappeared into darkness a long time ago."

"You mean you lost your world to the Heartless too," Sora asked, never once thinking that his master had been in the same situation as him until now.

"No, not to the Heartless, and I wasn't talking about a place, Sora," Ventus corrected. "My home is, and always has been with Aqua and Terra for as long as I can remember. A home can be defined in many ways, Sora. While for some, it is a place that they know very well and love with all their heart, but for others, the only thing that they needed to call a place home, it to be with the people that they care about the most in their hearts. Sure, the world that Terra, Aqua, and I grew up on has been…changed a great deal since I was last there, but the thing that made it home for me has always been my best friend who was like a brother to me, and…and the woman I came to love more than anything."

Kairi and Sora both immediately smiled when they heard that, because of Ven's proclamation of his feelings for Aqua, and because they understood what he meant very well. Even though Kairi had wondered what her birth world was like, she had not really thought of it as her home since she first came to Destiny Islands, and like she had told Sora before this whole mess had started, she was happy there, and she wanted to go back someday no matter where she went or what she saw. Sora felt the same way as Kairi, but mostly because he had actually been born on Destiny Islands and had grown up there right alongside Riku and later Kairi. Despite what they had seen on this journey, they both still believed that there was no other place like Destiny Islands anywhere at all. Knowing that made it all the more important for them to succeed, because they were going to get their home back, and they were going to make sure that Ven got his home back too, even if it was only part of it, by saving Aqua as well as the islands.

The touching moment that they were sharing was quickly abolished though, when the ship suddenly shook under a force that could only have been enemy fire. They did not need to look at the scanner or out the viewport to know that the Heartless had finally caught up with them and were now doing whatever they could to keep the team from reaching the place Ansem had fled to, but they still did so, and when they saw what was outside, they were left flabbergasted at the sight. Outside the ship was probably the largest force of Heartless ships that they had ever seen until now, and they came in all shapes and sizes. There were massive ships slowly closing in on them with weapons galore, what looked like tanks parked on some of the meteors that hovered along the path they were taking, and several different varieties of smaller fighters that were armed to the teeth just to make sure that none would pass through here. Anyone else would have looked at this armada and think that it would be insane to try and fight that with one, single ship, but this group was not anyone else, and not only they could not turn back now, they were definitely not even _planning_ on turning back. They all intended to make that very clear to the Heartless.

"Goofy, divert all unnecessary power to shields and watch the scanners for anything else that may come after us! Sora, Kairi, man weapons and fire on anything and everything the minute you're ready! Donald, do whatever you can to keep the ship together, because this is about to become a very rough ride," Ventus ordered everyone, his hands flying the pilot controls as fast as he could, and the others were all moving just as fast to carry out his orders.

Sora and Kairi ended up being the first ones to get completely ready, but only because all they really needed to do was switch the weapons controls over to the game-controller like system that they had been using for so long now. The minute that said controllers had ejected into their hands, the two Keyblade Warriors opened fire with every weapon that they currently could use, annihilating several fighter ships in a matter of seconds, while some of the larger ships received significant damage. While the two were doing that, Goofy finally reported that everything on his end was ready, and Ventus took that as his cue to gun the ship forward, so he looked over at everyone else on the bridge while speaking to Donald over the intercoms and shouted, "Everyone hang on!"

The others barely had enough time to secure themselves in place before Ven opened up the engines to full-throttle, and the _Kingdom_ immediately blasted off into the midst of the Heartless armada before them. Sora and Kairi were soon working overtime in trying to shoot down any Heartless ships in their path, and when they did miss one, they paid it little mind afterwards. There was no reason to think that it would be a problem since the ships would normally just let them go after the _Kingdom_ had flown past, but unfortunately, this time turned out to be different. In a mere matter of minutes, the ship had been shaken up by an explosion from the rear, and Goofy quickly checked the scanners before informing everyone that several Heartless ships were now coming at them from behind. When they heard that, the two Keyblade Warriors immediately began dividing their attention between the enemies that were in front of them and behind them, and needless to say, it made things a lot more difficult, as the constant explosions and shaking of the ship proved for everyone.

Ventus did not appear to be too concerned though, but that was only partially because he had to focus on flying the ship through this maelstrom of enemies. The rest of his reasoning was that he knew they still had their shields going, so any actual damage to the ship would be superficial at best for now. That was quickly dashed though, when they received a particularly hard hit that made the shields fluctuate in a way that caused them to be seen by everyone for a minute or two. "Donald, what just happened to our shields," Ventus demanded.

 _"Some of those last few hits have started to finally wear them down,"_ Donald reported. _"If we take too much more damage, the shields will be completely gone, and there won't be anything I can do to repair it!"_

"Have you contacted Chip and Dale to see if they can help via the remote link," Ventus asked.

 _"Yeah, several times! It's not working,"_ Donald cried out.

"Damn it," Ventus cursed, but he quickly regained as much of his composure as he could. "Sora, Kairi, one of you turn all of your focus to the enemies on our six while the other handles what's in front of us. If the shields go, I don't want to lose the engines before we've at least gotten close to our destination."

"How much farther do we even have to go," Kairi questioned as she switched her controls over to the rear-facing weapons with a few clicks of the buttons.

Goofy was the one who gave that report, but his answer was not all that favorable for the team. "We're just about halfway there now, but the number of Heartless ships is starting to increase!"

"No kidding," Sora retorted as he unleashed several rounds of lasers, torpedoes, and any other weaponry he could on a large ship that had just flown into their path. Thankfully, said ship was destroyed, and before it went up in smoke completely, Ven managed to fly the _Kingdom_ through a hole that Sora had blown through it with the skill of an expert pilot.

Just like Goofy said though, the number of Heartless ships ahead of them did increase, and Sora found himself having to focus fire on more and more of the larger ships than before. He managed to get a few of them, but not all of them, and Kairi was left to knock them out in his place as they appeared in her own scopes. Thankfully, the larger ships were not as maneuverable as the small fighters, so they did not have to worry about them coming back around to attack the _Kingdom_ from behind. Still, some did manage to score a few hits on the small gummi ship, but thanks to Kairi, most of the ships were not able to line up a good shot on the engines. Such luck could not last forever though, and they all knew it just like they knew they had to get to their destination before said luck finally ran its course.

At long last, they came to a point where they could see the world on the edge of their long-range sensors, and Goofy reported that they would be within visual range at any second. While this would typically be good news, it was soon overshadowed by the turn of misfortune that they were soon facing, as the shields had finally gone out a few minutes earlier. Just when they were reaching visual range, one of the Heartless ships finally evaded Kairi's attempt to keep their engines safe, and scored a lucky hit on one of the main engines. Everyone felt the explosion that had followed afterwards, and while it did push them forwards a little faster for a minute, they were soon slowing down quite a bit, while several alarms began going off to warn of severe hull breaches all along the rear end of the ship. Those same hull breach warnings were soon including several other points on the ship as well, and they all knew that it was only a matter of time before they went down if something was not done now.

"Donald, hold this thing together," Ventus shouted.

 _"I'm giving her all she's got, Ven! She can't take much more,"_ Donald protested.

At that point, another hit from behind was scored on the _Kingdom_ , and when they heard a something cracking above them, the four on the bridge all immediately looked up and saw that several cracks were forming in the glass dome of the bridge. "All she's got may not be enough! Give us something," Ventus pleaded over the explosions and cracking.

 _"I'm trying! I don't know what else I can give her!"_

When he heard that, Ven knew that there was only one option left open for them, and he did not like it one bit. Unfortunately, there was no other way out of the mess they were in at this point, so he could only sigh in defeat before relaying one last order for Donald over the intercom. "Donald, do what you can to get as much power to the shields and hull integrity as possible, then get back up here to the bridge. If we can't do anything to repair or prevent further damage, then we'll have to ride it out to the end."

 _"…Understood, Ven,"_ Donald replied, his tone showing that he knew exactly what Ven's orders really meant. Not that the blonde was surprised. Donald had mentioned once or twice that he had done something similar to this back in the day, both in his past adventures with Goofy and the king, and in some of his previous adventures with his rich uncle. That did not mean that he was proud of the fact that he had to do it back then, and he certainly did not seem to like it now.

The ship had shaken under the force of another explosion just as Donald had returned to the bridge and strapped into his usual seat, while Sora and Kairi were scrambling to blast as many Heartless out of the sky as they could in a desperate effort to keep the creatures of darkness from destroying their ship. Ven appreciated the effort, but at this point, what was about to happen to their vessel was inevitable. He just had to make sure that they got to their target destination before that finally happened, or at the very least close enough to it where they could use an emergency teleportation safely. He was really not in favor of the latter option, since they could not afford any chances of getting separated in this particular place, but if that was the only option open to them, they had to take it, both for the sake of their survival, and that of all the worlds. Thankfully, it began to seem like they would not need to do that, because at long last, they began to close in on their destination.

It did not matter if it was from a distance or up close, because no matter where or how you looked at it, this place that Ven had called End of the World was nothing too impressive to look at, yet at the same time it still gave them a sense of dread and despair. Most simply described, it looked like a large, dark sphere with cracks along its rough surface. Several, light blue streams could be seen pouring into the sphere, while dark rings circled around it. Place all of this against the dark cloud that acted as the backdrop for this part of interspace, and you would have to be as crazy or twisted as Maleficent to not be a little on edge at the sight of this place. Any further studies of End of the World were brought to an end soon enough, as the Heartless armada managed to score a few final hits that ended up being the final blows necessary for the ship's sensors to warn that hull breaches were imminent on several decks. Not only that, but Ventus soon found himself unable to so much as slow the ship down, and since they were careening right towards the dark world before them uncontrollably, there was only one option left for them at this point.

"Everyone, get to the teleporter. Abandon ship," Ventus finally ordered with a great deal of hesitance.

"WHAT," the other four all shouted.

"You can't be serious," Sora protested.

"If we do that we could get stuck here," Donald argued.

"And what about the _Kingdom_? We can't just let the Heartless destroy it," Kairi added.

Goofy would have put in his own two cents on this argument, but Ventus was already countering all arguments before the knight could say so much as one word. "The ship's already lost, and if we don't get out now, we'll be destroyed with it! We came here to stop Xehanort's Heartless, but we can't do that if we go down with the ship! I don't like it any better than you guys, but it's our only choice. Now do it! Abandon ship!"

No one argued any further after that, and they all immediately sprang from their seats to get to the teleporter. They stumbled quite a few times, due to how the ship was still shaking and exploding around them, but somehow, they did eventually make it, and Ventus programmed in a set of coordinates that looked like a safe enough landing zone before joining them on the pad. Just before the teleporter had fully activated, Ventus made it a point to activate his armor, prompting Sora and Kairi to do the same, while Donald and Goofy cast some special protective spells that would serve the same purpose as the armors, and with that, they all disappeared from the _Kingdom_ , only to reappear again on the dark region below them. They all took a moment to look over themselves and each other, just to make sure that they had all made it down in one piece, but those examinations came to an end when they heard a loud explosion coming from above them. When they looked up, they all felt a great deal of dismay wash over them at the sight they were greeted with, for it was at that moment that they saw the _Kingdom_ , or what was left of it at least, finally erupt into an explosion of fire and gummi blocks, leaving absolutely nothing in its wake.

A somber silence hung in the air for them at the sight of their faithful ship being destroyed, and it remained there for a few moments as they mourned its loss, until Ventus finally whispered, "What have I done?"

"What you had to do to make sure we could do what we came out here to do," Sora reassured his master, and though his smile did not quite reach his eyes, Ven could tell that the kid still meant exactly what he said in his reassurance of the older blonde.

They all stood there in silence for another few minutes or so, each sending their own quiet farewells to the _Kingdom_ , with Donald and Goofy standing at attention with respectful salutes in the ship's memory, until it finally reached a point where they were unable to do so any longer without wasting time that could be spent hunting down Ansem. After all, as sad as this recent loss was, the _Kingdom_ was still just a ship, and there were far more important things at stake here. So, once they were sure that none of them were being weighed down by sad thoughts regarding their vessel, they all turned to make their way out of the cave that Ventus had beamed them down into, and began to venture out into the dark reaches of this strange world that sat right in the middle of the border between the realms of light and darkness.

When they came out of the cave, they were all shocked and slightly frightened by the sight that greeted them, because from what they could tell, a large dark expanse of nothing was all that could be seen, right up to a large, swirling dark vortex that rested on the opposite side of the abyss in front of them. Said abyss had a few small dirt patches here and there along the way to the vortex, while the vortex itself had several large, stone pillars circling around it. It may not have seemed like much, but this emptiness was certainly enough for the blood of all five members of the team to suddenly run cold with dread at what it likely meant.

"Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless," Goofy asked in despair.

"It certainly looks like it," Kairi admitted, clutching a hand to her chest when she spoke. "I can feel…something from this place. A faint light that's slowly flickering out into nothing."

"Don't worry. Those worlds will be restored when we beat Ansem, remember," Ventus pointed out to everyone, reassuringly.

"Yeah, and everything will be good as new," Donald nodded in response, clearly catching onto the positive Ven was trying to reinvigorate.

Despite his master's efforts though, Sora did have one major, overarching concern. "But, if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh…" Donald did not have an answer for that, because it was certainly a good question. Sure, they had been assured that everyone would be sent back to where they had came from when the worlds were restored, but there was a distinct lack of details on what would happen to them once they defeated the Heartless and their master. He did not want to give an answer when he was not entirely sure about it himself.

Thankfully, Goofy had his best friend's back, and easily replied, "This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear." When the others all gasped and looked to him in a panic, Goofy did not let it bother him too much, because he was not quite finished speaking yet. "But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will."

By the time Goofy had finished talking, the other four had lightened up quite a bit, and Ventus soon commented, "Goofy's right. We didn't come all this way just to go down with the bad guys. We'll make it out of this and reunite with our friends soon enough."

"Yeah, you're right," Sora nodded in agreement, pulling out Kairi's good luck charm so that he could hold it close to his chest for a minute. He then looked to the girl in question and declared, "I intend to return this soon. I promise."

Kairi smiled in return, knowing exactly what Sora meant by that statement. With those simple words, he was promising her that no matter what happened, they would all make it home together, and with Riku and all of their other missing friends as well. Kairi was truly grateful for that, but she was not about to let any of them go out there without making sure Sora knew one important fact. "Sora, promise me something else," she asked.

"What," Sora questioned, wondering what else he could possibly promise her at this point that he had not already.

Kairi locked a loving gaze on the wielder of Kingdom Key, and softly said, "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

Sora could only stare back at her in surprise, until his eyes softened into a heartfelt gaze and he nodded in return. That was something that he never had any intention of forgetting about. After all, how could he, when he knew that her heart belonged to him just as much as his heart did with her? The two of them would always be one, just as he, Riku, and Kairi would always be best friends, no matter what happened, and nothing was ever going to change that, be it the Heartless, Xehanort's Heartless, or anything else. In that moment, Sora acted on instinct and gave Kairi a quick peck on the cheek, only to have her pull him back in for a full kiss on the lips seconds later, just to make sure he was entirely assured of what she had said to him.

Seeing the two like that brought a smile to Ven's face, while also reminding him of the last night he spent beneath the same stars as his two best friends, and at that thought, Ven immediately pulled out his Wayfinder so that he could give it a loving gaze. "We'll all be together again soon, Aqua and Terra. I truly believe we will," Ventus softly whispered as he held the charm close to him. He then glanced over at the two young Keybearers and added, "And I know that these guys are going to help make that day happen. After all, they've already helped us quite a bit, even if they don't realize it."

When he said that, Ven's mind replaced the image of Sora and Kairi before him with one of much older versions of the two of them, right when they had pulled apart and turned to look at him. They were not just older versions though. These two were full-fledged Keyblade Masters with fully evolved Keyblade armors, and an air of confidence and assurance that could make anyone believe that anything was possible. After a minute though, Ventus blinked the image away, and he was once again looking at the present day versions of Sora and Kairi, who he saw were looking at him a little oddly. He quickly waved off their concerns, saying that he was fine and the needed to get moving, and with that, the five marched onwards.

Their march barely got more than five feet ahead before Goofy suddenly noticed something coming straight towards them from above, and immediately shouted, "Look out!"

On instinct, they all ducked their heads and raised their arms up in an attempt to shield themselves from the massive dark orb that was falling towards them from some unknown part of the sky, but when the orb finally dropped all the way, they were surprised that they did not feel any pain whatsoever. That small relief was quickly dashed when they looked up again and saw that the abyss had been replaced by an odd-looking battle-ground that seemed to lead into a large maze, and all around them were several Heartless. A good number were Shadows or NeoShadows, but for the most part, there were also several new ones that Sora could not help but notice had a few similarities to the one he had fought just before Destiny Islands had fallen to darkness. They were nowhere near the same size, but they did have a similarly muscular frame, and a heart-shaped hole in their chest, but said hole was definitely smaller and more embellished. Some other differences to note between these guys and that one massive Heartless was that they had sharp purple and blue horns, bat-like wings on their backs, gold-tipped feather wings on their forearms, and their pointed feet had bluish-purple fireballs beneath them. Add in the scalloped, blue-bladed sword and the tails that ended in a crescent-shaped blade and Sora just knew that these guys promised to be trouble.

"Jiminy," Ven asked as he summoned Guardian Wind, with the others summoning their weapons mere seconds later.

The cricket automatically knew what Ven was asking for, and had already located an entry in his journal that had details on the new enemy. "These guys are called Invisibles," the cricket reported.

"I'm not really seeing much reason for a name like that," Kairi stated, clearly thinking about how these things were very visible to them.

"The name is more of a reference to how they can disappear when using a curse attack known as Ring of Fire," Jiminy explained. "You'll know it's being used when the Invisible throws its sword into the ground, while the main body turns into a ring of dark fire that quickly surrounds whoever is closest to it. Once the time is up, the curse explodes and can deal a large amount of damage to anyone in the vicinity. You should be able to dodge it by jumping or evading it any way that you guys normally would, but it'll require a certain amount of precise timing. They'll also attack with their swords, their tails and wings, and, on occasion dark energy."

"In other words, approach a fight against them with caution," Ventus summarized right before he moved to engage the closest NeoShadow. Said NeoShadow was swiftly destroyed the minute that Ven had struck it with Guardian Wind and another one soon followed afterwards, but the blonde's combination of attacks came to an abrupt halt when he had to block an Invisible's sword from cleaving him in two.

Kairi immediately came to Ven's rescue with a blast of Firaga, and she kept the other Invisibles at bay for a little while through the use of the spell Gravity. When she had time to learn that, Ven could not tell you, but he was certainly not complaining, since it was keeping the Mini-Darksides off him and the others for the moment. Sora had to agree with that sentiment, but also because it gave him time to target all of the Invisibles with his Keyblade so that he could unleash Typhoon Barrage on them. His efforts proved successful, and allowed them to be rid of at least two or three Invisibles in an instant. There were still quite a few left, but Donald was able to eradicate a couple easily enough along with some Shadows with a blast of Thundaga. Goofy instantly charged in to unleash a spinning attack on some Shadows and one of the remaining Invisibles, and while he was successful in destroying the Shadows, he was unable to hit the Invisible in time, because it quickly threw its sword into the ground and disappeared into a ring of dark fire, just like Jiminy said it would. There was no question that it had unleashed its curse on Goofy since he was the one closest to it at the time, and Kairi and Donald were both immediately throwing some spells over to Goofy that they were sure would help keep him safe when the curse wore off.

Somehow, the two's efforts to keep Goofy from being too injured by the Invisible's curse paid off, but just barely, as Goofy was easily dazed when the curse finally reached its end. On the bright side, the Invisible that had cursed the knight had unknowingly left itself open to Ven's next Shotlock, and it was soon eradicated along with some more NeoShadows by his Pulse Bomb. Sora quickly jumped on the remaining NeoShadows, blazing a trail through them with Oathkeeper cutting down any Heartless that dared to come close at every turn, and when Goofy had been healed up enough by Kairi, the knight had easily managed to join in on Sora's assault and help him finish off the remaining Shadows. Seeing as there were no Invisibles, Shadows, or NeoShadows left, the five all thought that meant they had won, but unfortunately, they were far from done, as a swarm of Darkballs soon appeared to replace the previous enemies, along with more new Heartless that looked far more fragile and weak than any of the Heartless they had seen thus far. This was mostly due to the fact that they had bodies that looked to be made of transparent glass in a delicate bell shape, soft blue and purple wings, and appeared to have a gold spike jutting out from the bottom of its body, surrounded by a pair of light blue rings.

Jiminy quickly identified these new Heartless as well, and announced to them, "Those are called Angel Stars, flying Heartless that cast potent spells. They're said to be born of holy spells, but considering its nature as a Heartless…yeah, I think you can see why I'd question that. They always attack from long-range with magic, and block physical attacks with their wings."

"Got it," Sora told the cricket, and he immediately leaped into the air to try and bring his Keyblade down on one of the Angel Stars from above. His efforts did little good, as said Heartless just deflected his attack with its wings. Thankfully, Ven was able to make up for the failure and hit it from behind with Guardian Wind, destroying it in an instant.

Kairi quickly cast a blast of Thundaga that immediately struck the other Angel Stars, but before she could do anymore, she had to roll out of the way of an attack from one of the Darkballs. Donald was quick to retaliate on said Darkball for Kairi, and he did so with a blast of Firaga that vaporized the flying orb in an instant. After giving Donald a nod in thanks, Kairi noticed that Goofy had just bashed another Darkball aside before throwing his shield into an Angel Star that had tried to attack Sora with some fireballs that appeared to be infused with lightning. Thankfully, Sora was able to deflect the attack just in time, but he still felt a bit of a jolt afterwards, and Kairi could see that very easily. So, after casting a quick burst of Curaga in Sora's direction, Kairi called out for Goofy to give her a boost, and she was soon using Goofy's shield as a springboard for her to fly above the offending Angel Star and strike it down from the air. Another few soon followed after thanks to Sora blasting them with a rapid-fire barrage of Blizzaga, and the last one was soon felled by Ven knocking it out of the air with Freeze Raid, leaving it open for Donald to destroy with another lightning spell. After that point, all that was left for them to deal with were the Darkballs, and they fell much more easily than the newer Heartless that had tried to get in their way.

With the battle finally ended, a strange, dark smokescreen seemed to fill the area around them, and when it cleared, the team was surprised to find themselves right back where they were before. They were all naturally a little confused at first, but they ultimately shrugged it off and decided that they needed to just keep an eye out for anymore surprises from above before they started walking forward. At least that was the plan until Donald suddenly slammed into some sort of invisible wall, much to their surprise. Ventus, Sora, and Kairi all slowly approached where Donald had stopped, and began to feel along the invisible wall for a few seconds, trying to figure out where it ended and where it began.

"What the heck is going on," Sora finally asked, when he failed to notice any openings in whatever was stopping their advance.

"Hey fellers, wasn't there a wall right here when we were fighting those Heartless a minute ago," Goofy asked.

Kairi's eyes widened in surprise at that, and she immediately exclaimed, "Hey, Goofy's right! I remember there being a wall right here too!" She then glanced around for a minute or two, until she settled her gaze on something close to them, and pointed out, "There was also an opening in the wall that led to the chest right over there."

"I get it," Ventus caught on. "This place isn't some kind of empty chasm, but an invisible maze! One that can only be seen inside of a battlefield, and those dark orbs that fall from the sky instantly make things become clear while summoning out Heartless to try and stop intruders."

"So the only way we'll be able to see a path forward is to _let_ the Heartless attack us," Sora asked, incredulously. He was certainly not in favor of having to fight several Heartless over and over again just to see where a path opened up and where it closed.

"Not necessarily," Ventus replied, noticing how some of the small rock islands stood in the abyss. "We can probably gather on a direction the paths take based off what parts of the trail is visible, but we should still be careful. Those orbs in the sky could drop on us again at any minute, and those treasure chests could easily booby-trapped to summon some Heartless out as well. So watch your step, and don't touch anything without all of us being ready and sure that its safe. Everyone got that?"

"Yep, we've got it," Donald replied, but clearly he did not understand that well, because he actually opened up the treasure chest that Kairi had pointed out earlier like he did not have a care in the world.

"What did I just say about touching things carelessly," Ventus demanded, despite the fact that it was already too late to stop Donald.

The minute the treasure chest had been opened though, another dark smokescreen blinded them to their surroundings, and they all soon found themselves in another battlefield, with several Invisibles, NeoShadows, Darkballs, and Angel Stars surrounding them once they could see again. Despite being surrounded though, Sora, Ventus, Kairi, and even Goofy all still found it necessary to glare at the person responsible for drawing them into this and growled, "Donald."

"Uh…Whoops. I'll be good," Donald weakly apologized as he summoned his staff.

Ventus just sighed tiredly as he called Guardian Wind into his hand again, turned to face the Heartless around them, and then said, "Let's destroy the Heartless for now, and worry about punishing Donald for his stupidity later."

"Agreed," the others nodded as they brought their weapons back out as well, and when they entered into another fight, they all heard Donald moaning in dismay at the knowledge of what was going to be coming to him after this was over.

* * *

After effectively dealing with the results of Donald's carelessness and said duck getting a slap upside the head from each of his four friends and teammates, the adventurers had carefully made their way across the abyss and through the invisible maze. None of them were too eager to so much as touch the other treasure chests that they spotted after getting caught in the trap that first one came attached too, so they did not come across any diversions of any kind in trying to reach the vortex that would doubtlessly lead them further into this dark place. Right when they had reached the vortex though, they found themselves caught in another dark orb from above, only this time they had to fight against another Behemoth. Since they had already defeated one before, they were able to handle this one just as easily, if not easier, since they did not wish to waste time and made sure to hit the beast with a lot of their most powerful abilities and attacks, making short work of the beast. When it was finally vanquished and they were able to proceed into the vortex, they all found themselves suddenly dropping down into large, colorful canyon that was suspiciously quiet. What really grabbed their attention though was when Donald took a closer look at some of the rocks lining the canyon and discovered that a good deal of them were actually gummi blocks, much to their surprise. When he heard that, Ven stated that Mickey had long suspected that the material had some sort of connection to what had been happening to the other worlds over the years, but he never really had any solid proof of it. Apparently, they now had that proof, because this certainly seemed incriminating enough to them.

The thing that really bothered them about this place though, was that there did not seem to be any Heartless in the area as far as the eye could see. Normally, that would have spelled trap in big, neon letter, but after reaching out with her senses, Kairi quickly informed them that there were no Heartless in this place. At least, as far as she could tell there were not any, and given that her instincts as a Princess of Heart were much better than his could likely ever be, Ventus was more than inclined to trust her judgment on the matter. Still, just because there were no Heartless in this particular area, it did not mean that they could relax their guard. After all, they were still deep in enemy territory, and there was likely to be danger around any and every corner.

"Gee, I wonder where that Ansem feller could've went now," Goofy thought aloud.

"Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him," Donald determined, fully confident in that idea.

"Makes sense," Ventus agreed. "Even when he was a whole being, Xehanort loved being in places that were close to the darkness and the closer they were the better, in his opinion."

"So where would that be," Sora asked.

Kairi closed her eyes in concentration for a minute, trying to figure out the answer herself by reaching out with all of her senses, until she finally said, "I think…it's somewhere just ahead of us. Literally, right in front of us, but with all of these twisting pathways, I don't know how we're going to reach the place."

"I doubt we even need to follow any of these paths," Ventus informed them, having already sensed where they needed to head long before Kairi started to really look. When the others gave him questioning looks, Ventus just pointed in front of them and said, "Best guess: onward and downward."

With that said, Ventus immediately ran up the ledge of the path they were currently standing on, jumped off, and started gliding down to the lower reaches of the canyon. Seeing as they had very little to lose right now, Sora and Kairi immediately followed after him, with Donald and Goofy taking the long way around by just jumping down from one path to the next as fast as they could. When he realized what the last two were doing, Ven made a mental note to teach his two friends how to use magic for things like jumping higher and gliding through the air later, assuming they all survived this, and then returned his fixed his attention straight ahead. It was not long after that he finally spotted what he was looking for, and it came in the form of a hole in the ground that had a swirling vortex of energy rising up from it. Once he was close enough to a pathway just above said vortex, Ven dropped down onto the ground, with the others joining him soon after, and then signaled towards the vortex as the place where they would be going before he led the way in jumping into the vortex.

Just like before when they jumped through a vortex, the team was transported to a very strange area, and this one was even more disconcerting than the last. They found themselves standing within a pillar that seemed to float in the middle of dark, empty space, and looking further down, they saw that there were several more pillars just like the one that they were currently standing in. The only difference was that they could see some kind of beam of light in the center of each of the other pillars, with the last one being a dark, fire-like color. Since there was nothing after the last pillar, the team had to assume that they would find an entrance to the next area somewhere around there. They just had to figure out how to get to that pillar, or really how to get from one pillar to the next at all, because from what they could tell, there were no pathways between any two pillars.

That idea was soon proven false when Goofy accidentally stumbled into a glowing blue orb that was on the opposite side of their current pillar and then disappeared. Just when the others were all starting to panic, they heard Goofy's voice calling out to them from the next pillar. "Hey fellers! I think we can use these glowing things to teleport between pillars," the knight shouted to them. It may have been a little redundant at that point to tell them that, but it was still nice to receive solid confirmation of the fact.

Ven quickly named himself as the next person to test the theory regarding the teleporting orbs, and after gently placing his hand into the blue orb, he found himself instantly pulled over onto the next pillar and next to Goofy. Seeing as he made it through unscathed, Ven then signaled for the other three to come over, but cautioned against going all at once. When everyone had arrived, Kairi took a glance at the beam of light in the middle of the pillar, and had to wonder, "If the orbs help us move between these pillars, then what do you think these beams are for?"

"Probably to keep the pillars afloat or something," Sora suggested, not really able to think of anything else. Even so, he could not help but reach out towards the beam. The next thing he knew, something was pulling him in, and he quickly vanished from sight, much to the horror of his friends.

"Sora," Kairi cried out as she dove into the beam after him, and the other three were soon following her. When the light finally died down enough for them to see properly, they were all left completely bewildered by what greeted their eyes. It may have looked slightly different, but they could still see all kinds of indications that proved that they had in fact just been transported to somewhere that they all knew very well by now.

"Traverse Town," Donald gasped, because from what they were seeing, it did in fact seem as though they had just walked through the gates into the Third District of Traverse Town.

"But…how'd we get here," Goofy questioned. "Do you think that…something finally got past Merlin's defenses and Traverse Town's now…"

No one wanted to so much as hear Goofy finish that question, but at the same time, the idea did have a bit of merit to it. That did not mean there were not any other possibilities though, and Ventus was about to remind them of that, until the sounds of battle suddenly grabbed their attention. When they looked further into the area, they all quickly spotted Sora battling it out against some Soldiers and Air Soldiers, along with a Large Body or two, and it looked like he was struggling in his attempts to fight them all on his own.

"Let's save the guesswork on what's going on here for after we help Sora," Ventus suggested, and they were soon entering battle once more.

When he noticed that a pair of Large Bodies that were about to belly flop him suddenly get blasted into dust by a couple of Blizzaga spells, Sora knew in an instant that the others had finally come after him, and he showed how happy he was for that by turning a quick grin to them before he drove Oathkeeper through a couple more Soldiers. Just as he was pulling his Keyblade back for another strike, Sora found his back being watched a little more closely by Ven, as the blonde made it a point to drive back any Air Soldiers that dared to try and attack his apprentice. Kairi then spun around a Large Body a few times before she was able to effectively land a few quick blows to its back that made the massive Heartless fall flat on its face long enough for her to zap it into dust with Thundaga. She did not have to worry about anything catching her from behind though, as Goofy quickly proved when he batted aside a Soldier with his shield before tossing it into another two. With a few more further displays of skill and teamwork such as those, the five were able to clear out the Heartless in little time at all, much to their relief. It did not help to solve the mystery that was picking at all of their minds, though, and Sora was not about to let it go unresolved.

"What's going on here? I thought we made sure Traverse Town would be safe from the Heartless, even after that spike that opening the Keyhole in Hollow Bastion caused," Sora questioned, with a tone that was desperately pleading for an answer that would allay any of his quickly forming worries.

"We did, and more to the point, I don't think that this even _is_ Traverse Town," Ventus revealed, confusing his apprentice and their friends even more. "Given what we saw after we first started to venture further into this world, I think it's safe to assume that this might be another natural defense against anyone who would oppose the beings that live here. This might just be an illusion of a world we know that's meant to throw us off and make us needlessly worry about the actual place when it is in fact still okay."

"So you're saying that this isn't the _real_ Traverse Town, but some kind of trick that this world is using to throw us off," Goofy asked, just to make sure he understood right.

"It does make a lot of sense," Kairi admitted, studying their surroundings a little more carefully. "After all, I don't remember seeing those large pillars blocking off all the paths out of this central area being there the last time we were in Traverse Town, except for the doors that lead back First District."

When the others looked around, they realized that Kairi was right. In fact, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ven all remembered those same pillars only appearing once during all their time in Traverse Town: the first time that they had fought against the Guard Armor. "So if this is a trick, then how do we get out of here," Donald asked.

Sora looked back at the doors that normally led to First District and said, "Maybe we just need to go through the only door that's available to us." It was not like they had any better options, so they all followed after Sora as he pushed the doors open. When they stepped through, a brilliant light flashed over their eyes once again, and they once again found themselves standing on the pillar they had been in before. "Hey, it worked," Sora cheered.

"So this place must be like some kind of…world terminus or something," Donald theorized.

"And if my hunch is right, it can change into any of the worlds we've visited in the past, with Heartless waiting to ambush us while our guard is down from seeing said world," Ventus reminded him. "It might be best if we avoid going into those beams for now."

The others had to agree with Ven's suggestion, and they immediately approached the blue orb so that they could teleport to the next pillar. The plan to avoid the beams did work for the most part, but on several occasions, someone in the group was tempted to go into the beam, be it due to curiosity of what world they would see inside, or because they felt like something inside of the beam was calling out to them. It was actually the latter of those reasons that Ven ended up being the one who went into the beam on one of the last pillars before they reached the one they wanted to get to, and unlike the previous ones, he found it impossible to ignore this calling. So, he ended up going straight into the beam, and the others were all soon right behind him, knowing that he had just stepped right into another Heartless ambush.

At least they thought he did, until they came out the other side and found absolutely no Heartless at all. Instead, they were greeted by the sight of a magnificent castle that was connected to twin peaks by lengths of gold chains. Looking around, they could see that it was apparently set at a time with a clear night sky, and the castle rested in high grassy mountains that were surrounded by flowing water. "Whoa," Kairi exclaimed. "This place is beautiful."

"No kidding," Sora agreed, unable to say anything more than that or what Kairi had said.

"But where exactly is it," Donald questioned, not recognizing the place at all.

Sora, Kairi, and Goofy all thought for a minute, but found that they did not have an answer either. None of them could remember visiting a place like this over the course of their journey, and yet for some reason, they were still seeing it here in the world terminus, plain as the nose on one's face. There was more to it than that for one of them though. As he continued to look around, Sora found himself slowly gaining a strange feeling of familiarity. He knew that he had never been here before, but for some reason, this place gave him a nostalgic feeling that he could not quite understand. He eventually shrugged it off though, thinking that he was just imagining things and this place was starting to get into his head a little, and was about to say they should get back when Goofy noticed that the first one of them to come in was standing as still as a statue right in the middle of the courtyard before the magnificent castle.

"Hey Ven, what's wrong," Goofy called out, drawing all attention onto the Keyblade master as a result.

Ventus did not say anything in reply and just barely even seemed to notice when the others came over to him. In fact, it was not until Sora waved a hand in front of his face that the blonde finally came around enough to realize that he was worrying his friends. "Sorry about that," Ven softly apologized. "I just…I never expected this place to show up here."

"You mean you know where we are," Kairi asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, I know what this place is," Ventus slowly nodded in confirmation. "This is the world where I grew up and trained alongside Terra and Aqua. The Land of Departure."

"This is…This is your home," Sora gasped in shock. He could hardly believe that Ven could have lived somewhere so amazing and never told him about it, but given the sad look on the man's face, he quickly remembered why that was. No one really wanted to talk about a place that was long gone in great length.

"…It used to be," Ventus nodded sadly. The moment those words had left his lips, everyone started to look at Ven sadly, never once noticing how an odd orb suddenly started to descend in front of him with a symbol made up of sharp corners, deep curves, and straight edges that somehow formed a heart in the center. When the orb had fallen close enough to the ground, it seemed to surge with energy, drawing all of their attention to it just as something burst out and took a swing at Ven. Thankfully, the energy surge had awoken Ventus from his pitying slump, and he managed to intercept the attack with Guardian Wind just in time. After he had though, he gasped in shock at who the attackers was, or at least who it appeared to be. "It can't be! Vanitas?!"

Indeed, this figure did appear to be the person who was not only Ventus's dark half, but could also easily be considered as Sora's evil twin. Not that anyone other than Ven knew of either of the things, but it was a little hard for Ven to forget about the appearance of Vanitas's face when he finally saw it for the first time. There was just one difference between this person and Ven's dark half, and that was the fact that the coloration of his suit was off. It was still dark in appearance, but now, the bodysuit had been changed to a black-and-white version of what Ven had long known Vanitas's suit to look like. Even the Keyblade that this individual wielded appeared to be slightly different, as it had a more monochrome coloration than the actual Void Gear Keyblade. The final change that Ven noticed was that the symbol of the Unversed was emblazoned on this person's black helmet, outlined in dark silver to help it stand out.

After he had gotten over his shock, Ven finally managed to push this Vanitas-look-alike off him, and watched as he spun over to the base of the stairs leading up to the castle's main entrance. The being managed to land on his feet after back flipping through the air though, and once he had landed, he stood up straight and assumed Vanitas's usual battle stance that Ven now noticed was surprisingly similar to Riku's, silently challenging the five to a fight. That was the thing that finally clued Ven as to what this thing could likely be, because if there was one thing that he had always known Vanitas to never be, it was silent. His dark half always had some sort of thing to say, and a way to mock or threaten him or his friends, so the silence of this being quickly told Ven that this was certainly not the evil boy himself, and Ven already had a strong theory as to what it could be.

"You're some kind of remnant of Vanitas," Ven concluded aloud. "A physical manifestation of his last thoughts, feelings, and will. Like the Lingering Will that acts as the only true remaining piece of Terra."

The being before him still said nothing, but it did wave its hand at Ventus in the universal gesture for "come on," and in that moment, Ven knew exactly what this thing wanted. Looking back to the others, he motioned for them to move away and said, "You all stay back. This is a fight between me and him."

"What?! Ven," Sora started to protest.

"That's not a suggestion, that's an order," Ven snapped. He quickly took a deep breath to calm down and then added, "This is a fight that's long overdue for a conclusion."

None of the others fully understood what Ven was talking about, but from the look on his face as he stared down at this remnant as he called it, they did get enough of the gist. For Ven, this was an important battle that he needed to settle on his own. So, they found they could not do anything to go against his wishes, and stepped back like the blonde had asked. After the four had cleared the area enough, the stare-down between Ven and this Vanitas Remnant finally reached the end, and the two charged at each other, head-on, their Keyblades clashing loudly when they met each other in the middle. When the blades collided, a powerful shockwave seemed to be released that shook the whole area like an earthquake had hit, but the two combatants paid it little mind, as they just broke their lock and began exchanging blows. The remnant was certainly proving to be fast, but Ven knew that he had a small bit of an advantage in that area, and it showed as he blocked and parried several strikes that would have gotten him more than a small scratch several years ago when he fought against the real Vanitas. Not only that, but the fighting style that this thing used was so similar to the real Vanitas, that Ven had an easy time predicting how it would react and what moves it would make at first. So, when the remnant suddenly left an afterimage in its place to avoid Ven's attack, the blonde already knew that meant it had teleported away, planning to reappear behind him for an easy sneak attack, and managed to roll away before the strike could land. What he did not expect was for said sneak attack come along with some powerful ice magic as well, but he was still able to cast a quick Reflect in order to avoid being frozen stiff.

"Nice try, but I don't intend to be made into a Popsicle again anytime soon," Ventus quipped once his reflective barrier had dropped, and he immediately charged again.

Still the remnant said nothing, but instead, aimed its Keyblade at Ven and fired off a round of the Dark Firaga that Vanitas used. Ven watched carefully for when the single orb split into three smaller ones, and when it did, he skidded to a stop, waited for the last possible moment, and then jumped to the side as the orbs hit the ground where he was standing. Having evaded the attack, Ven then proceeded to rush at the remnant again, and landed several slashes against it before the remnant managed to start parrying his blows once more. The remnant then continued its retaliation by spinning back from Ven long enough to get up into the air and fire out a round of Dark Thundaga. Ven was not so lucky to dodge the attack this time, so he ended up taking the blow in full, and it hurt just as much as he remembered. While the blonde was disoriented, the Vanitas Remnant dropped down to the ground, and then aimed his Keyblade at Ven once again, making Ven think it was going for another blast of Dark Firaga. To Ven's surprise, the usual spell did not come, but instead, he was forced to dodge a beam of blue energy that erupted from the tip of the Keyblade.

"Okay, that's new," Ventus admitted after rolling into a crouching position.

The surprising new abilities did not stop there though, as the remnant suddenly encased itself in dark energy and began launching several clones of itself towards Ventus. Ven had to pull out all the stops in order to avoid being hit by even one of these duplicates, even as he closed in on the dark energy encasing. He figured that if he broke it open, he could put an end to this barrage, but unfortunately, when Ven did manage to try and break the field around the remnant, he found the task nearly impossible to accomplish. This also resulted in him being close enough for when the remnant finally emerged from the shield and unleashed a rush attack on Ven, and the attack was clearly laced with a special magic, because Ven immediately found his vision going dark, indicating that he had been struck with a blinding spell.

The underhanded tactic quickly put things in the remnant's favor for a time, as Ventus could only flail around helplessly as he attempted to try and hit the dark being, but eventually, Ven managed to calm down enough to stop his flailing and held his position for a brief moment. The remnant stopped its own attack against Ven when it realized this, but only for a few seconds, because it slowly started to approach Ventus once again. This time though, Ven was ready for its attack, because now, he was using all the senses he could still fully access in order to determine where the remnant would strike from. The blonde's predictions proved true when he heard his Keyblade clash against the remnant's, proving not only where the remnant was standing, but also that it had stopped in its tracks when it realized that Ven had figured out where he was coming from. That allowed Ven to press his own attack and land several critical hits against the copy of Vanitas, even before his vision had fully cleared up once more. When he did managed to see again, Ven just had to smirk when he saw that he had the remnant on the ropes, and it was clear that one final attack would finish it off.

After blasting the remnant away with a Tornado spell, Ven took advantage of its resulting disoriented state and rushed it one last time, this time adding the powers of Sonic Blade to his charge as he did, and he quickly landed several strikes as a result. When he came out of the last rush, both he and the remnant remained standing where they were perfectly still, until finally, the remnant's Keyblade fell from its hand, and the remnant itself dropped to one knee, appearing to pant in heavy exhaustion after it had. Ven then dropped his battle stance and turned to look back at the Vanitas Remnant with a glare that he had only ever used on the actual Vanitas, and after another moment of silence, the remnant also turned to look back, and Ven could swear that he saw that same damn smirk that Vanitas always had on his face whenever he appeared before him ten years ago.

"Not bad, idiot. You're definitely not as broken as you used to be," the remnant finally panted, speaking up for the first time since it appeared, and doing so in a ghostly version of Vanitas's voice when it did. With those final words, the remnant disappeared into a swirl of shadows, leaving nothing in his place afterwards.

Ventus just continued to glare at where the remnant had previously been, holding his own silence for a little longer until he noticed the others approaching. "Come on. Let's get out of here," Ventus told them, and he immediately led them towards the gate that he knew would have lead down to the mountain path that would take one to the summit he used to stargaze from with his best friends if this were the real Land of Departure. Just before they all vanished from this illusionary copy of his former homeworld though, Ven looked back one more time, and quietly thought, _"Goodbye Vanitas. Do us all a favor, and this time, don't come back."_

* * *

Their little meet and greet moment proved to be just the beginning to a much easier journey for Riku, Mickey, and Aqua, because they soon found dealing with the Heartless in Dark World had become a little easier. Then again, that was likely because they were all together as a team, and fighting against the creatures of darkness was definitely easier when you had at least two people backing you up. It actually made Riku think that could have been why Sora hung around with Donald, Goofy, and Ven so much at first, aside from the fact that they were the only ones who could help Sora learn about his abilities as a Keyblade wielder and help him get to other worlds. Having some backup was definitely a huge help as opposed to going it alone like he would have and had done back on the other side, and Riku was certainly glad that he had that help now. Add in the fact that having Mickey and Aqua there to help him also had the added bonus of making sure he did not have to call on the dark powers inside of him too much, and Riku could not help but wonder if he should have found a way stick with Sora and his new friends back when the offer had first been given to him.

Any thoughts about regrets and things that someone could have done differently were not something that could be indulged in right now, as a Water Core soon reminded Riku when it tried to land an attack on him while he was distracted. Luckily, Aqua came to his rescue just in the nick of time and easily cut down the elemental Heartless. "You need to stay focused, Riku," Aqua lightly chastised before she spun around to slice through a NeoShadow that had just tried to pounce at them.

"Right. Sorry," Riku nodded, and he was soon slicing through a few NeoShadows and elemental Heartless as well. After he had finished cutting through his share of enemies though, he looked to the two masters and asked, "How much farther do you guys think it is to the Keyblade that we're looking for?"

"I'm not sure, but we're getting close. I can feel it," Mickey reassured him.

"I sure hope so," Aqua sighed after dismissing Master's Defender. "I'm not sure how much more I can take of these Heartless."

"You? They overpowered and drowned _me_ in darkness," Riku reminded her.

Any further discussion on who was getting more tired of the Heartless than whom quickly came to an end when they all noticed a bright light coming from the mouth of the cave just ahead of them, and Riku was suddenly washed over with an odd sense of familiarity when he saw this light. While Aqua feared that it could be another trap that the Heartless were setting for them, Riku did not seem to be too bothered by that possibility, and charged ahead, despite any warnings that the other two gave. Seeing no other way around it, both Keyblade masters chased after Riku, running through the mouth of the cave as the light on the other side slowly started to blind them. Eventually, they all noticed how the ground suddenly became much softer than the hard ground they had become accustomed to traveling, and Riku instantly noted that it felt very much like sand, even as the light finally forced him to close his eyes even as he continued running, albeit at a more sedated pace just to make sure he did not run into anything.

When his eyes had finally adjusted to the new brightness, Riku opened his eyes and gasped in shock at what now lay before their eyes. "No way," he whispered. "This is…this is my island! My home!"

"I remember," Aqua mused as she came to stand beside him, with Mickey on her other side.

Mickey glanced around sadly, all the while noting, "So many worlds have been lost. And now they're trapped here in the dark."

"And it's my fault that this world is here," Riku finished sadly. "All because I wanted to leave and see other worlds with my friends."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Riku," Aqua reassured him. "That's actually a really admirable dream, even more so since you wanted to go with your friends instead of leaving them behind. Besides, from what you told me, you only caused this to happen because someone had not told you everything about what would happen afterwards."

Riku smiled in thanks to Aqua for that, truly appreciating her efforts to alleviate him of his sorrow, but Mickey on the other hand suddenly thought of something that he had to ask about. "Wait a minute…Riku, do you know when and where Sora first got the Keyblade," Mickey questioned.

He was a little confused about why Mickey was asking that question, but Riku ultimately shrugged it off as unimportant for now, and started to think for a minute. "I can't really say that I know for sure," Riku admitted. "But…if I had to guess, it had to be sometime before or after the islands were lost."

Mickey rubbed his chin in thought for a minute, until he finally said, "In that case, we're definitely getting warm."

"Huh," was the only thing Aqua or Riku could say at that point.

"If this is where Sora first got the Keyblade, it also must be where we'll find its counterpart," Mickey explained. "The Keyblade of darkness has gotta be here on the dark side of your world, Riku."

The eyes of the other two both widened in surprise a little at that, because they realized that Mickey was most likely right in his guess. Any celebrations were put on hold though, as they all felt the ground shake beneath their feet a little, indicating that someone or something dangerous was likely close by. "If that Keyblade is here, then I think I have an idea on where it might be, and it doesn't sound like we have a moment to lose," Riku revealed.

"Then we'll have to hurry. Lead the way, Riku," Mickey encouraged, and the boy did just that.

Aqua and Mickey were soon following Riku up the trail that led to the secret place's entrance. Riku had figured that if Destiny Islands' Keyhole was behind that strange door in the cave, then it was also where they would find the Keyblade of darkness that they were looking for. It might have been a bit of a long-shot, but it was the only hiding place that Riku could think of that made the most sense. Before they could even enter the cave though, a vast wave of Shadows suddenly poured out of the entrance and into the sky. They then looped around and back towards them, forcing the three to jump back down to the sands of the beach, where the three each summoned their respective swords once more.

"Not this thing again," Riku groaned in annoyance as he watched the swarm of Shadows spin around into the air before them.

"No, something's different this time," Aqua disputed. "It's a lot bigger, and I can sense a lot more darkness coming from it."

"She's right. This isn't the Demon Tower we've encountered before. It's much stronger than that," Mickey confirmed.

Hearing those comments immediately made Riku a little more worried. If this thing was more powerful than the tower of Shadows that they had been fighting up until now, then there was no telling what it could be capable of, and they were likely going to be delayed in getting that Keyblade. He wanted to suggest that one of them go for the Keyblade while the other two dealt with this monstrosity, but if this thing really was as powerful as Mickey and Aqua were indicating, splitting up was the last thing they needed to do. "Guess we're going to be a little delayed in getting that Keyblade of darkness. Here's hoping you can hold out for a little longer, Sora," Riku muttered to himself, and they all entered battle once more.

* * *

The encounter with the Vanitas Remnant proved to be the most exciting thing that the former crew of the _Kingdom_ dealt with in the world terminus, mainly because they made it a point to dodge all the other beams in the remaining pillars. They did take a look inside one though, when Kairi revealed that she could not sense any Heartless inside, and they were all relieved to find that there were none whatsoever in the illusionary world that greeted them. What was even more of a relief was that it was the calm clearing in the Hundred Acre Wood where Sora had first met his new friend Pooh, but somehow, despite the calm atmosphere there was still something that felt off about the place. Ventus quickly figured that it was the Heartless' way of taunting them. The dark creatures were giving them a break to relax and recover because they did not think anyone who got this far would survive what came next, and when Ventus relayed this to the others, any sense of calm was immediately washed away.

That did not stop them from going on, though, because once they had downed a few Potions and Ethers to help them recover a little bit of their strength, they immediately moved on to the next pillar, which proved to be the only one left between them and one that they needed to reach in order to move further into this dark place. They would have headed straight for the last pillar had the three Keybearers not picked up on something that seemed to be calling out to them from the beam and decided to investigate. Sure, it had led them into another Heartless ambush that consisted of a few Invisibles and Angel Stars, but they were swiftly dealt with, and the five were allowed a chance to look around the place that they had ended up.

From where they were standing, the place appeared to be some part of Hollow Bastion that they did not see during their time there, and if Ven had to hazard a guess, it was also likely one of the labs where Xehanort had conducted many of his experiments with the Heartless. This was only a supposition that was based on the dark portals that seemed to litter the walls of the room like trash and the massive machine that looked like it could be some sort of supercomputer, but given what they knew about their foe, it did seem like a good guess. When they took a closer look at the supercomputer, they quickly realized that they could access some of its logs and quickly made an attempt to do so in the hopes that it might have some sort of clue on how to stop Xehanort's Heartless. They had a few problems doing so, since most of them were not all that good with such technology, but they did eventually manage to access a few logs, only to find that they were corrupted or just nonexistent. The only thing they did find intact was a single entry that left some of them slightly confused.

"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation," Ventus read off of the screen to the room at large. "Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness tied by two keys, and better secured by four keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."

"…Well? What does that mean," Sora finally asked after a short silence hung in the air.

"In the simplest of terms, this is something of a prophecy that details what Ansem plans to do, and how to stop him," Ventus simplified as best as he could. "He's already opened the Keyhole to darkness using the light from the seven Princesses of Heart, so now, he just needs to open the door to everlasting darkness. The door to Kingdom Hearts." He then paused for a moment, and eventually amended, "Well, maybe not the true Kingdom Hearts that legend speaks of, but it is still a small one that's made from the hearts of many worlds. A door that we'll need to close if we're to stop the Heartless from covering all the worlds in darkness."

"Okay, but what did it mean when it mentioned the door being 'tied by two keys, and better secured by four keys,'" Kairi asked, not entirely understanding.

They all fell silent at that question, none of them entirely sure how to puzzle out the answer, until Goofy suggested, "Maybe it means that we need at least two Keyblades to lock the door, and we can better ensure that it stays closed with four."

"Well we've already got three Keyblades, but where are we gonna find a fourth one at this point," Donald puzzled.

Right when Donald had asked that question, Ventus had a spark of realization flash into his mind that prompted him to suddenly slap his right fist into his open left palm as he exclaimed, "That's it! I know what Mickey left to find!"

"You do," Donald and Goofy both asked in surprise, while Sora and Kairi just looked on in equal shock.

Ventus nodded in reply, and then explained, "You see, it's said that when a Keyblade is born in the Realm of Light, a reflection of that same Keyblade is created in the Realm of Darkness. I think Mickey must have known that a new Keyblade was going to be created sometime soon, so he went to go and find its counterpart in the Realm of Darkness. In other words, he went to find another version of Sora's Kingdom Key. That's what it means when it mentions two keys to seal the door. A key that is of the light, and its equal from the realm of darkness."

"So then, we need to make sure that the king has found the other Kingdom Key before we can try to seal the door," Sora asked.

"Most likely, but if I know Mickey, he'll likely have found it by the time we're able to seal the door shut," Ventus reassured him. "At that point though, you should probably switch out your Keychains so that you're using the actual Kingdom Key. There may be a chance that it would still work even if you were using the Oathkeeper Keychain at the time, but with so much at stake, it's better safe than sorry."

"So we get the king back and then seal the door, right," Donald asked.

Ventus's good mood quickly vanished after that, and he hesitantly revealed, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. This Door to Darkness is one that a heart of light can't pass through, so if Mickey is over there, he won't be able to get back out with that door. Not only that, but if this is truly going to work, we need to seal the door on both sides."

"So then, King Mickey will have to be stuck in the Realm of Darkness in order to make sure the door is sealed," Goofy asked, not liking the sound of that at all. Sadly, Ventus just had to nod in confirmation of that fact, and his two friends from Disney Castle immediately let out sad moans in response.

"There's got to be some way we can seal the door without leaving our friends in that place," Sora protested.

"If there is, we don't have the time to look for it," Ventus pointed out. "If we don't seal the door shut, the worlds will be overrun with Heartless and drown in everlasting darkness."

As hard as that was to swallow, the others knew that Ven was right. There was no time to try and find an alternative solution that did not include leaving someone in a place that the Heartless were right at home in, and they were running out of time fast enough as it was. Still, there was one thing that had them confused. "What about when it said that four keys could make it more secure? What do you think that means," Kairi asked.

Ventus lowered his head in thought, before he finally said, "I'm guessing it could mean that in addition to the two keys we absolutely need, we could also use another pair of Keyblades to help make sure that the door is better secured. A set of dual keys on each side."

"Well if that is the case, then where are we going to find a Keyblade wielder that's already on the other side with Mickey, or even one that has a Keyblade that could be a reflection of either yours or Kairi's," Sora questioned.

"I don't think the extra two necessarily has to be the counterpart to any of the Keyblades in our possession. So long as they are Keyblades at all, it should likely be enough," Ventus reasoned out.

"That still doesn't explain where we're going to find the second Keyblade we'll need on the other side though," Sora pointed out.

Ventus fell silent at that, looking away from the group for a minute when he did, and the others began to think that Ven might have known something that they did not. He certainly seemed like he did, and when you add in how he had glanced away, they had to assume that it was something he was not too eager to share with them. Whatever that could have been, none of them were entirely sure, and they did not get the chance to ask, as Ventus quickly brushed it off, and said, "We'll worry about it later. Right now, we've still got to get to wherever Ansem is hiding so that we can stop him for good."

The other four wanted to argue and talk Ven into telling them what he knew or suspected, but given that the blonde was already heading back for the entrance into this illusionary world, they knew that in his mind, the case was already closed. Besides, he did have a point in saying that there was not any time to worry about such details, so they did not waste anymore by hanging around and followed after him. They just managed to catch a glimpse of him transporting over to the final pillar before continuing to follow him, and soon enough, they were standing before the final pillar's beam of light. When they moved to stand right in front of this particular beam, they felt as though it was burning as hot as the fiery colors it was made of, and each of them had to wonder if that was a precursor to what they would face on the other side of the beam. Given that the only one teleportation orb present on the pillar was the one that would take them back the way they came, it became clear that the only option the team had was to go into the beam and find out, so they all steeled their courage and stepped through, feeling that they would be ready for whatever illusion that this place could throw at them next.

When they came out the other side of the beam, they were surprised to find that they were not in an illusion of a world they had already been too, but they actually would have preferred that right now as opposed to the vast, dark pit they were currently plummeting down through. It only took a few more seconds to realize that they were falling towards several spiky rock formations, and they all went with the natural instinct of screaming as loudly as they could while falling to their possible doom. Out of all five of them, only Ven had managed to rein in his instinctive screams long enough to grab a certain summon charm from his pocket and call forth just the person that they needed to save them from being impaled by one of the sharp rocks below. The others only registered some slightly muffled shouts from Ventus, followed by a small light before they realized that their fall was steadily turning into a slow descent until they came to a stop in midair while their bodies glowed with faint, gold sparkles.

Looking around, the other four immediately spotted the reason for their sudden midair stop, and they all smiled at the sight of their pixie friend happily waving to them from Ven's shoulder. "Thanks Tink," Sora gasped in relief.

Tinker Bell just smiled in reply before relaying something to Ventus and then disappearing completely. The others were all worried that they were going to start falling again since Tinker Bell had obviously dismissed herself, but to their surprise, they remained airborne, with her little gift of pixie dust still shimmering brightly around them. Ven could not help but smile a little at the others' confusion, even as he explained, "Tink said that something about this place should allow us to fly like this even if she was not here."

"Well that's good news," Goofy commented.

"So why do I get the feeling it's going to have a really bad downside to it," Donald asked, worriedly.

A faint rumbling soon served as the duck's answer, and they all slowly turned towards the largest mountain in the area to see what it was. When they finally came face to face with what had been causing the rumbling, they all saw what they originally believed to be the top half of the mountain slowly sit up straight and unfurled a massive set of bat-like wings to reveal a muscular torso and arms, a large head that sported two curved horns, a mouth with four fangs, and dark, glowing yellow eyes. Only part of the monstrosity's legs could be seen, as the rest were planted firmly inside of the volcano he was standing on top of, but even with that small detail, there was no denying the vast, dark power that the whole team could feel coming off this creature in waves that rivaled the largest tsunamis.

While the other four members of the team were all frightened by this creature, only Ventus had actually paled in horror at the sight of this beast. "No. No, not him. Anyone or anything but him," Ventus quietly pleaded, praying that this was just an illusion that would be wiped away in favor of their real enemy.

Sadly, the blonde's prayers went unanswered, and only served to heighten the worries of the others. None of them had ever seen Ven this frightened before, and for him to get this rattled, there was little question that this beast had to be very dangerous. "What is it, Ven," Sora finally asked, being the only one who was brave enough to actually do so. "Do you know what that thing is?"

"Believe me, I wish I didn't, and you'll soon be wishing the same," Ventus replied, his tone further emphasizing his dread at fighting the beast. "This creature is the one thing that exceeds Maleficent, and possibly even Xehanort in its evil and dark powers. To beings like the Heartless, it's a like a god, but for us, it's the ultimate demon. Chernabog."

As if on cue, Chernabog let loose a horrendous roar the minute that Ven had said his name, and given how terrible the sound was, the other four could not help but pale a little in fear as well. Sora was the first to shake off his fear though, because he immediately shouted, "I don't care if this thing is the embodiment of all darkness itself. It's not going to stop me from saving all of our friends!"

"Sora, this thing practically _is_ the embodiment of all darkness," Ventus heatedly repeated, but he was soon regaining his usual color and smiling a little before he said, "But you are right to say that we can't let it stop us. So let's show it just what the power of our lights can accomplish together!"

The newly found fear the team felt after learning what this creature was may not have disappeared, but it did dwindle considerably after that comment, and they all immediately charged forward to bring down this titan of darkness. They did not get very close though, as Chernabog pushed them back with a blast of wind that he summoned forth with a clap of his hands. This did not deter them though, as they merely flew towards the monster at top speed once again, only this time, they had the added challenge of dodging fireballs that Chernabog threw from his hands. Given the size of said fireballs, none of them even considered trying to block or deflect them with their weapons, and instead just stuck to dodging the blasts so that they could close in on him. When they had reached a certain distance, Donald and Kairi halted their charge and began to pepper Chernabog with any long-range magic spells that they could manage in that moment, making sure to direct a majority of their attacks at his demonic, glowing eyes. It seemed to serve as just the cover that Sora, Goofy, and Ven needed to finally close in and strike Chernabog in his head, which Sora noted was actually slightly bigger than he and Ven were. He shook off that terrifying thought though, in favor of just bashing the beast's head a few more times with his Keyblade.

Just as Ven was about to land another strike of his own, he noticed that the volcano that Chernabog was standing in had suddenly started rumbling and glowing with a faint aura, and he immediately shouted for the others to get back. As a result, the three had just barely managed to avoid being caught in the explosion of fire and brimstone that had erupted from beneath Chernabog and proceeded to shield him from any direct harm for a moment. This may have been bad news for the team, but on the plus side, it also seemed to prevent Chernabog from attacking them until after his fiery shield had faded away, which gave the Keybearers a chance to each gear up a Shotlock to unleash on him.

Once the energy was charged, Kairi took the first shot, hitting him several times over with Starlight Storm, and given how Chernabog actually seemed to be knocked around a little by her attack, it clearly had quite the impact. Ventus was the next one to strike, unleashing Meteor Shower on the beast without any hesitation. The final strike came from Sora, who put everything he had into a burst of Trinity Force. He was not entirely sure if it would work, given that part of it involved him impaling his Keyblade into the ground, but he was able to make do by using the top of Chernabog's head as a substitute. The end result was Chernabog letting out a vicious roar of pain under the explosion of Sora's light-based ability, and when the light died down, Sora was quick to fly back over to the others, looking a bit exhausted, but still clearly able to fight. It was a good thing that was the case too, because despite being hit with so many powerful attacks, Chernabog looked like he was still able to keep going, even if only just for a few more moments.

Donald and Goofy took their turn at attacking the ultimate being of darkness, with the former firing off some of his best spells while the latter tossed his shield right into one of Chernabog's eyes. The two continued this tactic for a few more minutes, providing the Keybearers with just the distraction that they needed to close in and strike the beast once more. Making good use of said distraction, Kairi quickly came in close and unleashed the power of a quick light spell to further damage Chernabog, seeing as such abilities were clearly more effective than anything else, and Ventus immediately followed her lead with a flash of his Salvation ability. Chernabog was unable to withstand two powerful light-based attacks, and as a result, he was unable to stop Sora when the boy came swooping in, his Keyblade already drawn back for one final slice against the massive beast. Sora's attack struck true, and the whole team all quickly flew up to watch as Chernabog seemed to thrash around for a few moments until he finally vanished into a massive plume of smoke and purple fire, leaving only the volcano he had been standing inside of in his wake.

The team did not let their guard down right away though, because there was always still a chance that this was a trick meant to lure them into a false sense of security, but when Chernabog did not show himself again after several minutes, they finally deemed it all right to relax and prepare to head out. The only downside was that they could only see one path forward, and they were all understandably concerned about taking said path, and this was without considering that this was without said path was previously blocked by their enemy.

"Are you sure it's safe to go in…there," Goofy nervously questioned as he pointed towards the volcano Chernabog was previously standing in.

"I don't know if it's a really that smart," Donald gulped in agreement with his friend.

"Safe or not, it's our only path forward," Ventus reminded them. "Besides, considering the place we're currently in, I honestly think we should be a little more worried if the path ahead wasn't at least a little sketchy in some way."

"That's not exactly encouraging, Ven," Kairi pointed out.

"But he does have a point, and we can't just hang around here in the sky all day," Sora reminded them, and he immediately lead the way down into the mouth of the volcano.

Thankfully, there was no molten lava or any other form of hazards that one would run across inside of a volcano. Instead, they ended up flying down into a large cavern filled with odd crystals and other strange items. What really caught Ven's attention was that he could swear he saw some scattered remains of ruins from worlds he had been to and knew had been lost to darkness, and it made him bow his head in sorrow for those very same worlds. He quickly shook it off though, because he could not afford to start feeling responsible for something that he was not at fault for, especially when they were so close to the end of the long journey. It was good thing that he did shake it off when he had, because they were all soon facing another Heartless ambush by the time they had entered the next chamber.

Said ambush was relatively small scale in comparison to some of the ones that they had dealt with before, so they did not really waste too much time and energy repelling it, and soon enough, they had entered a small room with floor that seemed more like sand than it did the rough terrain that they had been traveling so far, and they also spotted a few small pools with strange, crystal-looking energy streams flowing down into them. The most notable thing that the whole team noted though, was the very fancy looking door that lay just on the other side of the chamber. For Donald and Goofy, it just appeared to be exactly that, but to the three Keybearers, it was so much more, because they each found it hard to miss how similar it looked to the door they saw in their Dives to the Heart.

When he realized this, Sora hesitantly reached out a hand towards the door, as if he planned to test and see if it was real, but he immediately pulled back in surprise and started to look around in confusion. "Huh?"

"What's wrong," Donald asked.

"Don't you hear something," Sora asked. They all stopped to listen for a minute after that, but a second later, only Sora had given any indication of hearing something again when he shouted, "There!"

 _"Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here,"_ warned a voice that sounded suspiciously like the one that Sora had heard during his Dive to the Heart. _"Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light."_

While all of this seemed to echo in Sora's ears, the others did not seem to have picked up on it at all, as Donald proved when he said, "I don't hear anything. Maybe you need to take a rest, Sora."

"No, I heard it too," Kairi admitted.

"Same here," Ventus revealed. "There's no way all three of us had imagined the same thing."

"But then…how come me and Donald didn't hear anything," Goofy asked.

Ventus just shrugged in reply and gave the only answer he could think of. "Maybe it's a Keyblade wielder thing."

"All I know is that whatever that voice was just now, it was giving us a final warning. After we go through here, there's not going to be any chance of turning back at all," Sora informed everyone.

The whole group was silent after that point, because it really drove the point home that there was a chance that they could likely end up facing something that some of them might not survive, and there was no telling what they would face once they went through this door. That alone was bone-chilling, and when you add in the fact that Ansem was no doubt waiting for them, there was no way they were not going to be at least a little afraid right at that moment. Still, after a few minutes, they all remained right where they were, with none of them even showing the slightest hint of leaving now.

"Aw, phooey! I'm not scared of going in there. Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere else since our ship blew up," Donald pointed out.

"Yep! We're all in this thing together, no matter what happens," Goofy promised.

"After coming all this way, I don't think the idea of stopping here had crossed any of our minds, so why should it now," Kairi asked, her smile confident and reassuring to anyone who might have doubted she would go along with them.

Ventus cast a grateful smile to those three before he looked to his apprentice and said, "Sora, it's time we showed Xehanort's Heartless that no matter how powerful any darkness may be, there will always be a light to shine through and brighten all the worlds."

"Yeah. As long as our hearts stay connected to those we care about there will always be a light to guide us through the deepest darkness, and with so many friends in our hearts, there's no way that Ansem can beat us," Sora grinned in agreement.

"Then let's finish this," Ventus commanded with a grin, and together, he and Sora slowly opened the door before them, granting the team entry into whatever hellish nightmare awaited them on the other side.

They all had to close their eyes for a minute since, despite how they were warned that there was only darkness beyond this door, there was a surprising amount of light shining through from the other side, but it did not stop them from heading through the door itself. When the light finally died down enough for them to open their eyes without any risk of being blinded, they all openly gaped at what appeared before them, because it was definitely not a sight that they had expected. From what they could see, it looked like they had just stepped out onto a sandy beach resting beneath a clear sky with crystal blue water gently lapping at the shores. Certainly not a place that any of them would think of as a place where darkness would dwell, but while Ventus, Donald, and Goofy were all left confused as to why the door had led them into a peaceful place like this, Sora and Kairi had both gone a little pale as they stared in shock and slight horror at their surroundings.

"Sora…Are we…Is this…" Kairi tried to ask, but she found herself unable to actually get the words out.

"I think so. I mean, it definitely looks like it," Sora admitted, though he wish that he could not do so. "This looks exactly like our island."

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 9**

 **Great news! I did it! I passed my Mark of Mastery Exam! Guess this means that I now hold the record of youngest Keyblade Master. I'll have to try to not rub that in Aqua's face. Sure, I'm not that much younger than she and Terra were when they took their exams, but even if it is a small difference, it's still enough to claim the title as youngest master as my own. To be honest, when Master Yen Sid and Mickey first told me I had passed, I could hardly believe it. I honestly don't think it had really settled in until now, even with Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy all insisting that we needed to throw a huge party to celebrate the occasion. Thankfully, Mickey managed to persuade them into holding off on that for now or at least until tomorrow, because for right now, I'm just glad to let it finally sink in. And yes, the loud whoops and hollers that I let loose the minute I was alone in my room were in fact a part of that process. Don't judge me.**

 **Still, it's just one thing that's been finished, and there's still a lot of work to do. Mickey and Yen Sid both made it very clear that even though I was now a Keyblade Master, it did not mean I was truly finished learning. I can honestly agree with them on that, because there's still a lot left for me to learn and discover, but somehow, I get the feeling I'm only going to start learning these things when I finally meet at least one of those two Keyblade masters again. Sorry, I suppose I should be saying the two special friends who are destined to become great Keyblade masters someday soon. I'm not entirely sure which of them I will meet first, but I know that when we do meet, it'll be a great day for me, both because it'll mean that we may find some new answers on how to save Aqua and Terra, and because I'll finally have reunited with some old friends. I can't wait for that day to finally get here…Sora and Kairi.**

 **Oh, I probably shouldn't have written that last part, and in ink at that. Oh well. Guess all I can do now is hope that I can keep this secret from everyone until the time is right. I don't even want to think about what might happen if some random person were to find this journal. They'd probably think I was crazy or something. Then again, I do travel to other worlds and fight bad guys with a sword that's shaped like a giant key, so can I really get that much crazier than that?**

* * *

 ** _AN: So in case it's unclear, that was the last entry in Ven's journal, or at least the last one we'll see in this story. There's a very likely chance that Ven's journal will return in the sequel to this story, but it won't be the only thing in there, I can promise you that._**

 ** _On a more important note, I know some people are going to be a little upset that I let the_ Kingdom _get destroyed at the beginning of the chapter, but I had some good reasons for that. For starters, losing the ship further emphasized that this was the final run for our team and that there would be no turning back after this point. Secondly, it makes more sense in my mind that the next time we see a gummi ship for the team (that being in the next story), it would be a whole new ship and not the exact same one that they had been using in this story. You'll see why that is the case when it's sequel time. On a side note, the scene was actually inspired in part by moments from Star Trek, namely the movies like Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock, and Star Trek Beyond. If you've seen those movies, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, sorry for the spoilers._**

 ** _Moving right along, I just want to go ahead and point out that it was a little hard for me to figure out exactly when during the final battle of the first game that Aqua and Mickey arrived on the dark side of Destiny Islands, but I do think that this is reasonably close to when it happened. Oh, and on that note, Aqua, Mickey, and Riku are now long gone from the beaches by the time that Sora's group had gotten there, as will be explained next chapter. I just did not see the point in recounting the details of the fight against the Demon Tide, since the only thing that really changed there was the fact that Riku was part of the fight._**

 ** _Speaking of fights, I figured that it was a little unfair for the places visited in the World Terminus to only be places that we had seen during the journey of this story, so that's why I included that little trip into the illusion of the Land of Departure. Also, the fight that Ven had was indeed against the Vanitas Remnant. Think of it like Ven's way of finally getting rid of the darkest part of his past for good. Or at least for now, because as we should all know by now from some of the latest trailers, Vanitas is going to be making another comeback in Kingdom Hearts 3._**

 ** _Finally, the fight with Chernabog. I did my utmost best to make it as epic and dynamic as possible, but even then, I'm not sure I really did all that well, but can you blame me? Even outside of Kingdom Hearts, this is still the greatest villain ever created by Disney, so writing battle scene against him are not going to be the easiest thing to do unless you want to set the good guys up for a losing battle. I just consider myself lucky that I was able to make him so well known in reputation with that bit of dialogue before the fight._**

 ** _Well, that's all I've got for now. Aside from saying Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The final battle is here at last. Ventus, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy face off with Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness on his home turf, which he has already shaped into a twisted version of Destiny Islands. Meanwhile, Riku, Mickey, and Aqua have managed to retrieve the other Kingdom Key, and are now ready to help close the door from their side. The only question that remains now is will they all be able to get through this together, or will fate play a cruel hand against them? Only time will tell, as will the exciting thrills that await, next time._**

 ** _I told you that the previews were going to get shorter from here on out. Anyways..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	26. Ansem's End

_**AN: This is it everyone! The final chapter before the epilogue of the story!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, I know it's exciting, so I won't waste too much of everyone's time before letting you get into things. First off, let me go ahead and lay to rest one particular worry a lot of you seem to have. I would just like to go on the record and confirm once and for all that Xion will not, I repeat**_ **NOT _face her original fate in this new timeline. She will in fact be a major character in the sequel, right alongside Roxas, and both of them will actually meet a new fate that does not seem them disappearing back into Sora. So, here's hoping that makes all of lot happy to have that final confirmation that Xion and Roxas will both be in the sequel. I won't specify anymore than that just yet though. I do want to save some details for the preview for the next story, which you will all see at the end of the next chapter._**

 ** _Any other questions that were posed, or well most of them anyway, will be answered right here and now, today, with this chapter that details the final battle against the first big bad of the Kingdom Hearts series, and I'm sure many of you will be left very satisfied with how things turned out, or at least something close to it. Onwards everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XXV**

It was very disturbing to see that their home was being used as the final battle ground in their struggle against Ansem, and yet in an odd way, it was also somewhat poetic as well. This whole struggle had began right here on the shores of this island, and now they were going to end here as well. Not that it made things any better for Sora and Kairi, but one just had to note these things that could only be seen from outside perspective. Regardless of this, Ventus was still able to feel for the two kids as they glanced over this dark reflection of their home in dismay. He may not understand exactly how they felt, but he did have something close to an idea about how it felt to suddenly come to place that you had called your home only to find that it had been changed somehow. Even now, he could not help but think back on how he had woken up in that stark white room, thinking he had been in the Land of Departure, only to find he had been inside of a very bizarre castle that rested on the very same edge between the realms of light and darkness that said world had previously been. The fact he did not recognize the place at all made it that much harder to swallow when he found out later that said castle actually _was_ the Land of Departure.

Still, that was an age long past, and right now was not the time to be swept up in memories. If anything, now was the time in which he needed to get his apprentice and his girlfriend to snap out of the funk that they had fallen into after realizing where they had ended up after going through that door. "Guys, I know this has probably left you both very unsettled, but try to keep in mind, even if this is the dark side of your island, it's not actually your home," Ventus calmly attempted to reason with them.

It did not appear that his effort's worked though, because Sora and Kairi just continued staring in disbelief at their surroundings. They barely even blinked as they took everything in, until finally, Kairi pointed to the smaller island that was only connected to the main one by a short bridge, and exclaimed, "Sora, the tree is gone!"

Turning to the same island, Sora saw that Kairi was right: the tree that he, Riku, and Kairi often hung out around was missing from its usual place, and it's legendary fruit along with it. While he was upset about this, the other three were confused. "What's the big deal about some dumb tree," Donald asked.

"It's not a dumb tree. That's the paopu tree," Sora corrected, a little more heatedly than he probably intended.

"Paopu tree," Goofy questioned, not really understanding the significance.

"It's a tree that grows special star-shaped fruit known as the paopu fruit, and as far as either of us have known or seen, it only exists on our island," Kairi explained. "There's also a very special legend that ties into the fruit."

"What's that," Donald asked, feeling more curious now that he and Goofy were learning about how significant that tree was, at least in the general sense.

"When two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what," Sora recited, smiling a little at the memory of how Riku had teased him with that very same fruit just a day before this whole mess had started.

"Wow, that sounds amazing," Goofy commented.

"I'll bet you two wish you could share one right now," Donald teased the islanders.

Both Kairi and Sora blushed bright red at Donald's remark, and were soon sputtering nonsense in an attempt to try and stave off the magician's teasing. Not that it did any good, but thankfully, Ven ended up being the one saved them from any further embarrassment. "Don't forget that there are more legends surrounding the fruit besides that one." When the others looked to him for clarification, the blonde only smirked and said, "Do I need to remind you where Aqua got the idea for our Wayfinders from?"

The others immediately smiled in recognition after that, and would have continued on with this conversation had their brief moment of calm not suddenly vanished. It may not have been a significant break, but it was still enough to suddenly shake things up a little when Donald looked back to the island where the tree was supposed to be and exclaimed, "Hey! That whole island just vanished!"

The other four were instantly spinning around to look back at the island where the paopu tree was supposed to have been, and saw that Goofy was right. Not only that, but the bridge that had connected the smaller island to the main one was gone too. After turning back around, Sora quickly noticed that a few other things were either missing or slowly vanishing from where they should have been, and it seemed that Kairi must have figured this out too, because she immediately said, "We need to find Ansem and fast. If this whole place disappears…"

"Calm down, Kairi. Don't forget, that this isn't your actual island. It's just an illusion that was created from the dark side of your world," Ventus reassured her. "Still, you guys are right in saying that we should hurry and find Ansem. So, any ideas where he might be? This is your home turf, after all."

Both islanders paused to think that question over a little, but Sora only needed a minute before he said, "He might be in the secret place. That's where that weird door we could never open was, and it's also where I saw Xehanort's Heartless for the first time…At least, I think that was him."

Despite his uncertainty over whether or not the person he had met that day in said cave was Xehanort's Heartless or not, the others all agreed that Sora's guess might have been accurate, but mostly because as far as they could tell, there were not many other places that Ansem could be hiding right now, and not just due to the fact that several of them were slowly disappearing. So, Ventus waved for Sora and Kairi to lead the way to the secret place, and they all quickly scrambled up to the small cave that rested in the middle of the island. Just when they were reaching the entrance though, they all froze in their tracks as a far-too-familiar voice suddenly seemed to echo all around them.

"This world has been connected," Ansem's voice commented, confirming that he was the same person Sora saw in the cave that day and repeating the very same words he had said back then as well.

"What was that," Goofy nervously stuttered, noticing how more of the island was disappearing from the corner of his eyes.

"Tied to the darkness…" Ansem continued on. Clearly he was not as bothered by the vanishing points of the island as they were, but they were more than sure that he had something to do with how the water changed from blue to a sickening purple that made it seem polluted. "Soon to be completely eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand so little. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

Just seconds after the water color had changed, the team was blinded by a brilliant light once again, and when it cleared, they were all shocked to see the island had been transformed into a completely twisted version of itself. The remaining trees were bent over at odd angles, large dark leaves extended out from the sides of the island like cracks in the sky, the small pier looked to have collapsed, and the sand closest to the water had changed to lock like fractured rocks. The most significant thing that had changed though, at least in the eyes of Sora and Kairi, was the fact that they saw a very familiar individual standing at the shoreline, gazing out at the darkened ocean. Sure, he was currently in his Dark Form, and it may have served as a strong indicator that Ansem was still in control, but at the moment, they were just relieved to see some sign that Riku was close by.

Before any of the other three could do anything, Sora and Kairi had already jumped down onto the beach again and started running towards Riku, leaving Ven, Donald, and Goofy with little choice but to chase after them before they got too close. They did not have to worry though, as Sora and Kairi skidded to a halt the minute that the possessed boy began to speak in Ansem's voice, without even a hint of his own slipping in. "Take a look at this tiny place," Ansem remarked his back still facing the five. "To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds, and he opened his heart to darkness."

At long last, the vile Heartless turned to face them, and as he did, Riku's visage faded away, giving them all a full, clear picture of their true enemy as he smirked down at them, while Sora and Kairi could only watch in dismay as he seemed to wash away their friend. "Riku," the two islanders called out, only to be too late as Ansem fully manifested in the boy's place.

"Don't bother. Your voices can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness," Ansem chuckled in mocking of the two. "All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature." At some point during his little spiel, Ansem managed to get around behind the five, prompting them all to move closer to the waterline in an attempt to keep some distance from him. Still, his little monologue was not done, as Ansem continued on, "In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"I've heard this load of crap before, you know. Or did you forget that you and I have fought once before already, Xehanort," Ventus remarked, clearly not as rattled as Ansem was probably hoping he would be.

"Even if he hadn't, it doesn't change the fact that none of what you said is true," Sora passionately protested. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in, but I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

"And it's that same light that will give us the strength to stop you," Kairi finished proudly.

If Ansem was bothered by any of that, he did not show it. In fact, he did not seem the least bit deterred from what he was planning, and he proved it by steadily lifting up into the air as he hovered above the ground and crossing his arms. "So, you have all come this far and still you understand nothing," Ansem sighed in what could be considered disappointment. "Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

A moment later, a haze of shadows fell over his body before solidifying into a dark figure that had a very muscular form, a bandaged head and torso, and sharp-looking claws for its five fingers. Ventus instantly recognized this as a being Xehanort had once tamed and deemed the guardian, and he knew that if it was here now, then the battle was about to begin. That did not mean he was going to let Ansem get the last word in before they defeated him. "Maybe every heart does return to darkness, but at the same time, they all continue to shine with a brilliant light that will always extinguish any shadow," Ventus retorted, Guardian Wind appearing in his hand to show he was ready for battle. "Just like you will be wiped away by the strength of our lights!"

Ansem merely laughed in reply, and apparently, that served as a signal for the guardian to throw out several, thin energy disks that would no doubt have cut each of the five clean in two if they had hit. Donald was not going to let that stand, so with a wave of his staff, he immediately called down one of the fiercest storms of Thundaga that he could muster. The sudden jolts that were sent through him left Ansem a little disoriented, and Goofy immediately tried to capitalize on that by charging in with his shield already set to bash into the Heartless. He never made it though, as Ansem suddenly summoned the guardian in front of him, with its arms wide, and as a result, Goofy's attack was easily repelled and he was sent flying away. He probably would have crashed right into Kairi had the girl not rolled aside at the last moment, and while she felt bad for not at least attempting to catch Goofy, she knew she had to focus on taking down Ansem right now, so she simply cued up a quick Thundaga spell of her own.

Kairi's attack did seem to do more damage than Goofy's had, and Ven was about to add a little more injury to Ansem's form, but he had to duck and roll away when the guardian took a vicious swing at him that would have clawed his head right off of his body. What Ansem did not realize was that it was not entirely Ven's intention to hit him. The blonde just had to keep Ansem's attention on him while he set him up for Sora's next sneak attack from behind. Sora's attack not only worked, but it also threw Ansem off-balance enough for Donald and Kairi to begin peppering him with fire and ice magic in quick succession, while Goofy used his shield to help boost Ven into the air so that he could successfully land another aerial attack on the Heartless. Needless to say, the team knew they had a huge advantage right then, and they were taking every opportunity to make good use of it, much to Ansem's irritation.

"You insolent…" Ansem snarled at the team when he finally managed to regain his balance and fly a short distance from them. Sora did not let him get too far though, but he did not realize that Ansem had already prepared a new plan of attack for them. "Submit!"

The minute Ansem had shouted that, the guardian took swing at Sora, and while it did hurt, it did not seem to do more than sting Sora a little. Even more confusing was when the guardian suddenly vanished from Ansem's vicinity completely, while a dark orb quickly floated around and into Sora. Seeing this happen and how Ansem was smirking afterwards, Ven had a feeling that he knew what was coming, and he quickly jumped over to pull Sora away just as Ansem had formed an electrified energy sphere around him and slowly began advancing towards the kid.

Sora was about to question Ven on why he did that, when Ven placed a hand on Sora's shoulder and shouted, "Hold still! Don't move!"

Sora did not quite understand, but he still did as Ven pretty much demanded. He found out why Ven had done so when the guardian suddenly materialized behind him and grabbed him so that he could not move at all. When the guardian did show itself, Ven raised his Keyblade towards it and immediately let loose a blast of magic that seemed to actually cause some small amount of injury to it before it vanished again. A quick glance back to Ansem showed him that the Heartless of his former master had still not recalled his familiar, but instead, was slowly approaching the two of them, giving Ventus a strong idea on what to do. "Kairi, Donald, Goofy, keep him busy! We can't let him near Sora until the guardian is out of him!"

The other three all nodded in reply, and immediately rushed in to attack. Ansem merely raised his barrier to block their initial strike, but thankfully, Kairi and Goofy managed to avoid getting a nasty shock. Donald was not so lucky, and ended up blasted a short distance back, but that turned out to be okay, because it also provided him with the distance he needed to run support for his two friends while they attacked Xehanort's Heartless. As such, the next time Ansem dropped his barrier, he ended up getting signed quite a bit, first by a blast of Firaga from Kairi, and then a repeat of the same spell along with Blizzaga from Donald while the girl and Goofy ran up and started hitting him several times over with their own weapons. Ansem could only snarl at the three as he attempted to blast them away with a wave of his hand, but without his familiar, he was not really able to do too much to keep them from coming back and dealing more damage. The only thing that changed was who was helping Goofy in attacking him, since Kairi and Donald would vary between acting as magic support and close-range attackers.

Ansem soon found he did not have to worry about his inability to attack without the aid of the guardian for long, but he was very surprised when it suddenly returned to him without him ever calling it back. "What?! How," Ansem demanded as he turned to glare at the boy he had let his familiar possess.

What he saw was both Keyblade master and apprentice smirking back as they rushed to rejoin the fight once again, with the former saying, "Like I told you earlier, every shadow can be extinguished by the light."

"And we're not going to stop until you're darkness is wiped away too," Sora promised. He then skidded to a stop while his master continued to run forwards, aimed his Keyblade at Ansem, and unleashed Typhoon Barrage on Xehanort's Heartless, hitting him with several energy blasts that erupted into small whirlwinds.

After Ansem was blown out of a powerful gust of wind that came from the finishing strike of Sora's Shotlock, Ven came flying in with the energy of Sky Climber radiating brightly around him, and landed several blows against Ansem, including the blows that came from the finisher of the Tier Two Command Style. As a result, the vile Heartless was blasted far across the beach, and right into the range of Kairi's next swing, which seemed to be just the blow to knock the wind right out of Ansem. Xehanort's Heartless was determined to not go down easy though, as he proved when he commanded the guardian to possess Kairi. He did not succeed in his attempt though, because the minute that the guardian had condensed into an orb and attempted to fly into her, it seemed to strike an invisible barrier around the girl's body that eventually sent it flying right back into Ansem with a force that sent him flying across the sand once again.

"Impossible," Ansem protested.

"Clearly you've forgotten that as a Princess of Heart, Kairi's naturally immune to anything related to the darkness," Ventus reminded him, and Ansem immediately turned to see that the Keyblade master, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all now standing over him, and each holding him at weapon's point as they glared down. It was not only their way of saying that he was beaten, but a way of silently daring him to try something else.

Ansem took the latter option over surrender, and instantly blasted the four away with a wave of his hand before flying backwards towards the literal center of the island. The others all quickly gave chase, and only paused when the ground suddenly shook beneath their feet as the island seemed to split in half, right down the middle and slowly open up like a flower setting into bloom. The sight was disturbing of course, but they all ignored it in favor of going after Ansem, who was smirking at them with glee from the center of the cavern that was now resting in the very middle of the twisted island. Sora, Kairi, and Ven all immediately jumped into the cavern, but when they tried to follow the Keybearers, Donald and Goofy once again found themselves stopped by a battlefield barrier, much to their annoyance. They quickly started to worry a little more when they saw Ansem's smirk grow a little more, knowing that he now had the Keybearers cornered since he had cut them off from their two friends, and they then quickly set to work trying to find some way to get through the barrier.

They did not have any luck at all, and out of frustration, Donald ended up grabbing a random rock and throwing it right at where the barrier was. Much to his surprise, the rock did not get repelled by the barrier, but instead passed right through like it was not even there. Donald and Goofy exchanged a quick look with each other before Donald grabbed another small stone and threw it at the barrier as well. Just like last time, the rock sailed through, and Donald immediately had a new idea on what he had to do. "Sora," the magician called out to get the boy's attention while pulling something from his pocket. "I think you might need this!"

Sora turned just as Donald had thrown something through the barrier towards him, and somehow managed to catch it before it either flew past him or bounced off of his face. When he opened his hand to see what the duck had just given him, he was a little surprised to see that it was actually another Keychain. The chain links were all black, with its token holding the appearance of a black colored version of the crown pendant Sora wore on his necklace. Still, it did not answer the question of how Donald had gotten this, and the confusion must have shown in Sora's face, because Donald quickly explained, "I found that just before we left Hollow Bastion. I figured it might come in handy while we were here."

"Well then why didn't you ever give to us before now," Kairi asked.

"I didn't find a good chance to," Donald shrugged. Even though it was true, that was also the best excuse he really had right now.

Ventus shook his head in disbelief at his old friend, and muttered, "Not really the best time to be giving out or testing a new weapon. Especially one that we don't know anything about." The blonde was about to point this out to Sora as well when he realized that kid seemed really focused on the Keychain in his hand. "Sora? What is it?"

"Riku…" Sora quietly breathed. "I can feel Riku's spirit in this Keychain. I think that Oblivion is like Oathkeeper."

Ventus was a little surprised that Sora had learned the name of his newest Keyblade so quickly, but when that last statement fully processed for him, his shock quickly passed. The blonde knew that Sora was referring to how Oathkeeper was born from the bond he shared with Kairi, so the kid was most likely assuming that this Keyblade had come from his bond with Riku. With that in mind, it made sense that they would find the thing in the last place that Sora had seen Riku while he was still himself, but they could not afford to really think about such things right now. Especially considering how Ansem was suddenly charging towards them with a sinister look in his eyes that was somehow perfectly duplicated in the eyes of the guardian.

"It doesn't matter how many trinkets you may or may not have. You shall all fade away into darkness soon enough," Ansem boasted, and just like that, the battle began anew.

Unlike before though, Ansem made a point to come after the three Keybearers with his full strength, so whenever he ceased an attack, he instantly commanded the guardian to come forward to defend him afterwards in case any of the three managed to slip past his vicious attacks. It was not just in the defensive form either, as Kairi quickly learned when she managed to get through one barrage of energy disks only to be batted aside by the guardian right when she had gotten within arm's reach of Ansem. Ventus did not appreciate how this Heartless was knocking them around so much, and he proved it when he managed to slip past all of the attacks Ansem was throwing at them so that he was in position to attack from Ansem's blind spot. Ansem did not appear to see it coming until after Ven had landed a couple of good hits, but that did not prevent him from retaliating with the same ferocity he had shown before. Ven quickly realized this to be true when the guardian waved its arms and sent a pair of energy waves across the ground that sent him flying into the wall behind him, where Ansem then proceeded to have the guardian pound into Ven over and over again.

Now it was Sora who was getting upset over how one of his friends was getting so seriously hurt, and given that his girlfriend had just been injured a moment ago by the same perpetrator, you could understand why his attack on Ansem's blind spot had a bit more anger fueling it than most of his attacks normally did. Sora did not stop at one attack though, because the minute that the guardian had rematerialized behind Ansem, Sora had rolled around to his front, placing himself between the villain and Ventus, and unleashed a harsh combination of sword strikes on Ansem that pushed the Heartless back a little. When enough distance had been gained, Ven spun himself over his apprentice's head, and began slashing away at Ansem with the power of Ars Arcanum. He instantly followed that up with an explosion of Salvation, and Ansem could only howl in pain as the light-based attack seemed to burn him.

Ven was just about to charge up the energy he needed for one of his Unique Command Styles, when Ansem suddenly glowed with a faint, white aura, and the guardian disappeared. The next time his familiar had reappeared, it was rocketing out of the ground, beneath Ven, knocking him away from its master, and it repeated that process against Kairi just when she was starting to rush over and help heal Ven's injuries. Another attack from below quickly greeted Sora, but he managed to roll out of the way before he could be hit. Sadly, none of them could do anything to stop the moment when the guardian returned to Ansem while he unleashed an explosion of dark energy that lashed out in all directions. In result, all three Keybearers were sent flying into the walls of the cavern, and Ansem was left smirking as they all dropped to the floor, heavily injured and panting heavily.

"Just where is your precious light now, feckless neophytes," Ansem mocked. When the three just glared at him in reply, Ansem hummed and remarked, "I think it's high time I put an end to the legend of the Keyblade wielders. Despite how few of you there are, you have not had any trouble being thorns in my side from the moment this began. Granted it was not to any great extent, since all you were doing at the time was scrambling around on other worlds and sealing Keyholes, but now…Now things have become much more problematic. The only question now is which one of you I should destroy first. Perhaps the returning master, the boy who only became chosen because of his strong heart, or maybe…I should finish what had started in Hollow Bastion and end the seventh Princess of Heart at long last."

It seemed that the question had ceased to be a question before he had even began listing his options, because Ansem was slowly making his way towards Kairi, and when she saw him approach, the girl froze a little in fear. She could not even focus enough to cast a healing spell on herself so that she could get up and attempt to run to safety, and from the looks of the other two, it did not seem like Sora and Ven were doing any better in their attempts to try and get in Ansem's way. At least that seemed to be the case for Ven, as he was merely struggling to so much as crawl over to Kairi, clearly forgetting at the moment that he still had enough energy for a small healing spell to use on either himself or the girl, but Sora…Sora appeared to be shaking. It was hard to tell if it was out of fear for his girlfriend or if due to a steadily rising anger at seeing this freak threatening her, but it soon became very clear when something very unexpected happened that made everyone pause in surprise.

"You…stay away…from my girlfriend you bastard," Sora roared angrily as he finally found the energy to stand, and the next thing any of them knew, he flung his arms out to his sides and not only summoned Oathkeeper into his hand, but a _second_ Keyblade into his free hand as well. The second must have been the one that Donald had just given him, because none of the others recognized it at all. Although, the fact that it was almost entirely black, save for the dark blue gem in the hilt and the chain-like design running up the length of the blade in dark grey was also a pretty big clue. Still, none of that mattered, because they were all much more shocked over the fact that Sora was wielding both Keyblades at once.

"Unbelievable," Ventus muttered, clearly just as surprised as the others. True, he had seen someone using two Keyblades at once before, but as far as he knew that person had a very special ability that allowed him to do so, and Sora had only been a Keyblade wielder for little more than a few months. It should not have been possible for the kid to gain the ability to dual wield Keyblades like this.

"Two," Ansem roared in equal disbelief, clearly just as surprised as everyone else, and that was just the distraction that Sora appeared to need.

In an instant, Sora had rushed Ansem at a speed that rivaled that of his Unique Command Style, and the minute he was close enough, the boy began slashing at Ansem with a skill and ability like none that he had ever really displayed before. Yes, Sora was good with a single blade, but fighting with two regular swords did take a great deal of practice before one could say that they were skilled with the art, let alone fighting with dual Keyblades. Apparently, it extended to Sora's magic abilities as well, because when he spun away from Ansem, he aimed Oblivion directly for Xehanort's Heartless and fired a blast of Firaga that slammed right into Ansem's face. As a result, the Heartless was left blinded and unable to properly retaliate when Sora rushed in again to deal another barrage of sword strikes against his enemy.

Ansem believed that he could still stop Sora with one final move that he had yet to use in this fight, and he quickly summoned a domed shield in front of him before rushing around the battlefield at an incredible speed. He was soon proven wrong though, as Sora merely jumped, rolled, and at some times, even glided out of the way until the attack had finally ceased, and he was instantly on the attack once again, dealing every ounce of damage that he could to Ansem with both of his Keyblades. It was at this point that Ven finally got a glimpse of Sora's eyes, and he instantly saw that there was a faint hue in them that indicated that Sora was not entirely in control of his actions. Something else was driving the kid in his attacks, and whether it was a deeper hidden power that none of them suspected Sora of having until now or if it was just adrenaline, Ven found that he really did not care. All that mattered was that it was giving him and Kairi a chance to recover so that they could help finish Ansem. Then again, considering how well things were going for Sora at the moment, Ven was not too sure that he and Kairi really needed to help.

It turned out that they did, because after one last barrage of sword strikes, Sora finally came to his senses, and when he did, his second Keyblade disappeared from his hand while he ended up falling to one knee. Even though he had been so thoroughly beaten down by the boy, Ansem still found the strength to smirk and prepare to repay Sora for the humiliating beat down that the boy had just dealt him, but he did not get the chance, as Kairi forced him back with a blast of light magic. The girl continued to blast Xehanort's Heartless over and over again as she made her own approach, while Ven quickly slipped Sora and Elixir to help the kid recover, and once Kairi had gotten close enough, she unleashed her own barrage of sword strikes against Ansem. Any further attempts Ansem could make at retaliation were then shut down, as Sora and Ven immediately spun into action to backup Kairi's attack, landing their own blows on the Heartless at every turn, until finally, Ansem could no longer find the strength to stand and fight.

"Looks like the dawn has finally come to brighten the dark night," Ventus quipped as he and the two Keyblade Warriors stood victorious over their fallen foe.

Apparently, the surprises were not going to be ending anytime soon, as the three were soon left bewildered over the sound of Ansem chuckling like he had not just been utterly beaten. "Oh Ventus," Ansem laughed. "You have no idea…how wrong you are. This night has only just begun."

A moment later, a black haze seemed to fall over the entire area and everyone inside and outside of the previous battlefield could only look around in a confused frenzy as everything suddenly started fading completely into shadows. The only thing that they could comfortably say that they were sure of was that things had just gone from bad to worse in this fight.

* * *

Unknown to anyone in Ventus and Sora's group, the battle that Riku, Mickey, and Aqua had been in the midst of had finished just a few short moments before the other five had arrived on the dark version of Destiny Islands, and despite being similar to the Demon Tower, the three had to agree that the Demon Tide was actually much harder to beat. It did not really possess too many new abilities in comparison to the Demon Tower, but this larger version was certainly much stronger than the previous one, and Riku would claim that he had the bruises to prove it if they had not been healed up by Aqua and Mickey's magic afterwards. Even so, they still managed to somehow come out on top in this fight, and they did not hesitate to return to what they had been doing before, and rush into the cavern that Riku had spent so many years hanging out inside of with Sora and Kairi.

When they approached the door, Riku could not help but smirk a little when he spotted the addition Sora had made to the self-portraits he had Kairi had done of each other years ago, and made a mental note to try not to tease Sora about it too much the next time he saw his best friend before he finally mentioned something that he felt the other two should know. "You know, this door has been a huge mystery to my friends and I for years for one really important reason: we've never been able to open it," Riku revealed. "There's no lock, no door handle, nothing. We've pushed and pulled several times, and yet it never once opened."

"Maybe, but if this door really does lead to your home's Keyhole, then it's not like it had stayed that way for no reason," Aqua pointed out.

"Besides, considering what might be in there, we've got to at least try and open it," Mickey pointed out, and Riku knew that they were both right in that regard.

With nothing to lose, Riku soon joined the other two in placing their hands against the door, and gently pushing against it. Much to his surprise, the door actually opened without too much effort, and admitted them into what seemed to be an empty cavern that was completely dark, save for the light coming off of the only thing that was inside. Looking at the item in question, Aqua and Riku both let out a surprised gasp for different reasons, but Mickey just smiled silently, because he knew that he had finally found the very thing he had been searching for at long last.

"Is that what you're after," Aqua asked, just to make absolutely sure.

"Yep, it's just the key I was looking for," Mickey confirmed as he walked up to take the Keyblade in his hands. "A Keyblade from the dark realm."

"A Keyblade of darkness," Aqua softly mused.

"It looks almost exactly like Sora's Keyblade," Riku noted. When Mickey had firmly grasped the Keyblade in his hands though, the glow it was emitting died down a little, and allowed them to see that while Riku was mostly correct in his comparison, there were a few notable differences between this Keyblade and Sora's default one. The most notable was the fact that the color of the guard had been switched with that of the Keychain and blade, so that the guard was silver while the blade and Keychain were both gold. The only other real difference that Riku could spot was that the rainguard was red on this one while it was blue on Sora's. It did not bother Riku too much though, as he figured that it was just a way of showing how it originated from a different realm than Sora's Keyblade.

"'The door of darkness…tied by two keys, and better secured by four keys. The door of darkness…to seal the light,'" Mickey suddenly recited. Riku did not entirely understand what that meant, but he did at least manage to get something of an idea, and Mickey was quick to better explain the meaning behind his words without him even asking. Though it was not quite that well. "Welp, we've got the two necessary keys, and an extra pair to help make sure it works. Now, we need the ones to close the door."

"Sorry," Aqua asked, now feeling just as lost as Riku.

"The door between the two realms—it won't let a heart with light pass through," Mickey explained. "So only darkness keeps spilling out. We can lock the door by using the two Kingdom Key Keyblades, but we need help on both sides to get the door shut."

"Well, then, since you'll be doing the locking, let me and Riku be the ones to close the door," Aqua volunteered, and Riku immediately nodded in agreement with the plan.

Unfortunately, Mickey had a different plan. "Sorry Aqua, but while we do need Riku to close the door…I need you to help me with something else."

"What else can she do," Riku asked. He could understand why he had to be the one to help close the door, but why was it that Aqua could not help him with that.

"You see, while only the two Kingdom Keys are necessary to seal the door, if we have another pair of Keyblades…one on each side and both wielded by a true Keyblade master, then we can better secure the door with their help," Mickey enlightened them. "Aqua, I need you to help me lock the door, otherwise we won't be able to be absolutely sure that it will be sealed."

"I'm not so sure that it would work," Aqua admitted. "You said that the two extra Keyblades both needed to be wielded by a master, right? Last I checked, I'm the only true master left. There isn't anyone else to do it on the other side."

"Yeah there is," Riku corrected with a smile, surprising both of the other two a little since they had not really seen him smile that much since meeting up with him. "Don't tell me you forgot already. Your boyfriend is a Keyblade master too, and he's out there fighting with Sora right now."

Aqua blushed a little when she heard the kid call Ventus her boyfriend, but it did nothing to stop her smile from lighting up her face a little bit. Suddenly, everything around them seemed to tremble under the force of an earthquake, and they all had to shield their eyes as a bright light flashed before them. When it finally died down, the cavern had been sufficiently lit up enough for them to see its true nature in full, and they were all left to gaze around at the similar features it shared with the area of Dark World that they had been traveling recently. The one main difference was a large, pristine door that rested in the distance, slightly cracked open, and none of them needed too many hints to make a guess as to what that door was.

"Is that the one," Aqua asked Mickey.

"Yep, the door to Kingdom Hearts," Mickey replied, instantly making Aqua's worries spike a little higher. "Welp, it's not the Kingdom Hearts you know, Aqua."

"Wait, you mean that's not the real Kingdom Hearts," Riku questioned.

"Not exactly, but even though it's smaller, it's still the heart of many worlds," Mickey admitted. "And even if it's not a complete Kingdom Hearts, we definitely can't leave it open like this, or…"

"Darkness will escape and destroy all the worlds that are left out there," Riku finished for him. "I guess that means we can't waste anymore time talking about it then, so I'd better get over there."

"You betcha, but be careful, Riku," Mickey cautioned. "This place is still crawling with Heartless after all."

Riku paused when he heard that, and then looked back with a smirk that was slightly reminiscent of his usual one as he declared, "Don't worry. I'm not afraid of the darkness."

With that, the boy immediately took off, running towards the door as fast as he could. As she watched the boy go, Aqua could only look on a bit sadly, but at the same time, she was happy to see such confidence in the boy, despite all that had happened to him, and she knew that it was likely the same for his two best friends. "Sora, Riku, Kairi," Aqua muttered under her breath.

It was at that moment that things started to look like they were going to go wrong, because just then, the Demon Tide suddenly sprang out from the ground and began rushing over Mickey and Aqua's heads towards Riku. "Oh no," Mickey cried out in panic. "Riku, watch out!"

By the time Riku had turned around and saw what was coming for him, Aqua had already jumped between him and massive collection of Shadows with her Keyblade ready as she shone brightly with a radiant aura. With wave of her Keyblade, Aqua then summoned a ring of shining chains that she sent rocketing towards to the Demon Tide as she shouted, "Back off!" Moments later, the entire mass of Shadows were encased in the chains, tied up into a large sphere and held in place by Aqua, but from the way she was grunting and thrashing around as the sphere bounced around the air, it seemed obvious she could not hold it for too long. "Go without me!"

"No, I can't! We need you to help seal the door," Mickey reminded her.

Before any further protests could be made from either party, the Demon Tide broke free of the light chains that were holding them and slammed into Mickey while scooping Aqua up and away. While Mickey was dropped down on the ground relatively unharmed, save for the loss of his shirt and vest, Aqua could not help scream as the vile creatures attempted to carry her away, and they likely would have succeeded too, had someone not suddenly rushed back over to help with his sword at the ready. He may have had another job to do that was far more important, but he was not about to let either one of these two people who had gone out of their way to help him through this place sacrifice themselves like this.

"Hey! The lady said to back off," Riku roared, and a moment later, Mickey and Aqua both watched as his body was encased in a dark aura just seconds before he rocketed towards the Shadows that were holding Aqua in their grasp. Moments later, Riku was racing through the Heartless several times over, even after Aqua was released from their grasp and dropped to the ground next to Mickey, and he did not stop until he had leapt high into the air above them, with his sword drawn back. With a mighty battle cry, Riku came flying down and slammed his sword into the ground as a powerful explosion of dark fires erupted from beneath the Demon Tide, eradicating every last Shadow that it was made of until there was nothing left of it.

Riku panted a little as the aura around his body faded, having not expected to suddenly be able to use the Dark Aura ability on his own like that, and he was soon dismissing Soul Eater out pure exhaustion. He would have dropped to the ground had Aqua not rushed over and caught him before he was eating dirt, and he immediately looked to see her smiling down at him when she said, "Thanks for that, Riku. Are you okay?"

"I…I think so. Just need a minute…to catch my breath," Riku panted as he slowly started to stand again. "I don't think I'm going to be doing that again anytime soon."

"I'd be a little worried if you did, considering what kind of ability that is," Aqua admitted, though Riku had to wonder if she might have been joking, given her smile did not seem all that serious at the time.

Mickey was soon next to the two as well, and smiling right along with them, even as he eventually ended up breaking their happy moment by saying, "Well, now that we're all sure that everyone's okay, let's get back to work. We've still got a door to close and lock tight."

"Right," the other two nodded, and Riku was once again hurrying off towards the door so he could help close it.

The two Keyblade masters watched him go for a minute, making sure to keep their senses extended for anymore last minute surprise attacks, until Aqua glanced at Mickey for a moment that caught the mouse king's attention. "What?"

Aqua just continued staring until she finally smiled and lightly chuckled, "You may want to look into getting a new shirt."

Apparently, that was the first moment when Mickey had realized that the Heartless had destroyed the top half of his attire, because he immediately looked down at himself and after seeing his torso was bare, he could not help but smile and rub the back of his head a little sheepishly, chuckling right along with Aqua even as he did.

* * *

Even the shadowy mists had cleared, Sora, Ven, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy still found themselves surrounded by dark shadows on all sides. All traces of Destiny Islands had vanished, and in its place was nothing but the dark, empty space they currently seemed to somehow be standing in. What worried Ven though was that there was also no sign of Ansem anywhere nearby, and yet he could still feel the Heartless of his former master was somewhere nearby. It was more than that though; for some reason, Ven felt like Xehanort's Heartless was everywhere around them. He could not really put that past Xehanort, but at the same time, Ventus did not really understand or know how it could be possible for even the Heartless of his insane, former master to spread himself to such an extent like that. Then again, Xehanort was capable of many things even when he was still in possession of original, old and brittle body, so Ventus figured he should probably not underestimate his Heartless when they were in this place of darkness.

It seemed Ventus would soon receive his answers, as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness's voice suddenly rang out from all around the five. "Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts," Ansem declared, and at that point, the others all finally noticed a massive, pristine door far off in the distance.

While staring at this door, the others could feel a slight shiver running up their spines, except for Ventus, who only stared at it for a few minutes, until he finally made a comment none of them were expecting. "You really expect us to believe that's Kingdom Hearts? Sure, it's made from the hearts of many worlds, but it's still a bit too small to be considered the true Kingdom Hearts."

"Too small," Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy all gasped in disbelief. If that massive thing was too small to be the door to Kingdom Hearts, then they did not want to even think about how massive the real thing was.

Apparently, Ansem was not too shocked by this revelation at all, because he just continued to gloat like he had one. "Whether it is real or not, you cannot deny that no matter how hard you look, you'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours. Darkness conquers all!"

Suddenly, Sora let out a horrified gasp, and when the others turned, they too let out their own gasps or sounds of horror, because not only had the boy finally spotted Ansem, he had discovered just how the madman could come close to being all around them. The Heartless of Xehanort had not only grown to a massive size, but he had also bonded to a titanic, horrible monster of a battleship. The whole thing seemed to be entirely organic, even without Ansem being tied into it by several black, cable-like extensions, and was made of what looked like twisted, discolored flesh. The long, flat body ended at the front with a vicious face that had large, yellow eyes and sharp fangs, with leg-like protrusions extending out from the underside beneath the face and the very back of the ship, and a long, rocky tail sprouting out of the back. Just below where Ansem was attached into the battleship was an area that was covered by a dark pink, twisted cage, and the team could see what they assumed to be the ship's core concealed beneath the cage. As for Ansem himself, it seemed that he had lost his shirt, coats, and gloves, leaving his entire upper body bare, while his pants and boots were replaced with black tights that possessed yellow highlights, he and was now wielding a dual-bladed, halberd version of Soul Eater in his right hand. From what they could tell, they also saw that the whites of Ansem's eyes had completely vanished and now allowed his eyes to be completely orange. Tied into Ansem's back, was what looked to be a hideous monster that could easily have been an evolved or enhanced form of the guardian, except with horns on its head and what looked like bell-sleeves on its arms. In short, Xehanort's Heartless had transformed into the full-fledged monster that had no doubt been hidden deep inside the whole time.

"And here I thought we were supposed to go into the fryer, not skip right down to hell after getting out of the frying pan," Ventus muttered.

Nothing else was said afterwards aside from yelps of horror, as whatever ground had been beneath the five adventurers' feet finally vanished and they all began to plummet into the abyss below. Not all of them had fallen too far though, because barely that far into their fall, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were all suddenly pulled into some sort of multicolored portal that had materialized before the caged section of the battleship, and disappeared, much to Sora and Ven's horror. Ven had immediately reached into his pocket for Tinker Bell's summon charm, hoping that the fairy could once again give them some pixie dust, but when his fingers brushed the edges of the coin, he quickly realized that the charm was still not back to its full strength, and that meant they were not going to be receiving any last minute rescue flights. His dismay must have shown a little more than he had intended, because Sora quickly started to look even more distressed than he already was after seeing their friends get pulled into the clutches of their enemy, and Ven could do nothing more than give his apprentice an apologetic look in response.

Sora merely nodded to Ven to show that it was all right, and had just about closed his eyes in acceptance of their final defeat, ready to endure the endless drop through the unknown and unending darkness, when suddenly he heard Riku's voice in his head clear as day. "Giving up already," Riku asked in disbelief. "Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."

When he heard those words, Sora knew that not only were they close to saving Riku, but that his friend was right. After all that had happened, he refused to think that they could ever possibly fail now. No matter what happened, Sora was willing to keep fighting to the very end, and this was most definitely not the end. So, when Sora closed his eyes, it was not in defeated acceptance, but so that he could place all of his focus in his belief that they would win this. A moment later, Ven was stunned speechless as he watched Sora not only stop falling, but rocket back upwards and past him so that he could hover before Ansem, ready to fight with Keyblade in hand. How it was possible for Sora to even fly without any help from a Keyblade Glider or Tinker Bell's pixie dust, Ventus could not comprehend, until he realized that somehow, Sora had managed to discover a way so that all he needed to fly was his own beliefs.

Ven was not about to be outdone by his apprentice just yet, because if Sora could do it, then so could he, and a moment later, the blonde had stopped falling and began flying upwards until he was right alongside his apprentice. The two then exchanged a quick smile before fixing their gaze on Ansem, and Ventus declared, "Your darkness may be powerful, but it could never hope to conquer all. So let's see what's truly more powerful. The darkness of you and your Heartless…"

"Or the light of two Keyblade wielders who refuse to give up on what they believe and the light in our hearts that never goes out," Sora finished.

Ansem just huffed at the two as they came flying straight for him, ready to do battle, and immediately began spinning his halberd Soul Eater in one hand so that he could chop them up the moment they got too close. The massive dual-blade weapon did make it difficult for Sora or Ven to get close right away, but they still managed to find a way around it and start slashing at Ansem's giant form wherever they could and in any way that they currently could. Sadly, their assault did not last long, because Ansem was soon spinning the halberd around again, and they both received serious hits. They were not life-threatening hits, but they were certainly enough for Ven and Sora to retreat a fair distance in order to heal. The two then prepared to change tactics, until they were suddenly forced to dodge a set of moving energy beams that seemed to come from out of nowhere. When they looked to the source, they spotted several dark spheres floating around had been what had fired upon them, and there were several more floating around the area.

Ventus immediately worked fast and summoned up a couple Aeroga shields for him and his apprentice, and with but a simple glance to Sora, he knew that the boy had already had the same idea as him. The next time that Ven charged, he made sure to dodge any energy beams that the remaining orbs were firing, while Sora did the same but with the added twist of throwing each of his most powerful spells right at Ansem. He tried to direct most of them towards Ansem's eyes in an attempt to blind the massive Heartless, but even if they had blinded him or not, Ansem did not slow down. He still continued to spin his halberd Soul Eater around at incredible speeds whilst slashing it at anything that dared to get too close to him. Thankfully, Ven was able to work around that a little more easily this time, not just because of Sora's magic support, but also because he had realized that while Ansem's attacks were deadly and powerful, they did not have too great a variety to them. The titanic being only ever seemed to attack in a small handful of ways, no doubt due to the fact that he was tied into the battleship so thoroughly, and that gave Ven a bit of an advantage, which he quickly proved when he landed several deadly blows against Ansem.

Ansem was not pleased by that, and it showed when he waved his free hand and growled, "Turn to darkness!"

Ven would probably have paid the demand little mind had he not suddenly felt something hit him in the back, and even with Aeroga Shield's protection, it left quite a sting. Turning to the source, he immediately spotted a trio of small Heartless with teardrop-shaped bodies and little batwings hovering nearby, and given the way they were spinning round and round, he had a feeling that one of them had been the one to hit him just now. Thankfully, none of them got a chance to strike again, as Sora came to the rescue with a quickly placed blast of Thundaga and a timely slash of Oathkeeper. After giving his apprentice a nod of thanks, Ven immediately rocketed upwards again to start attacking Ansem once more, only to find his approach much more difficult than before since most of the laser-emitting spheres appeared to be focusing on him now. If he were alone, Ven knew he would have a hard time getting in close again, but thankfully, that was far from being the case.

"Sora, switch out," Ventus shouted, and after nodding in reply, the boy immediately jettisoned himself towards Ansem, his Keyblade already drawn back for a powerful slash.

Ansem must not have been expecting Ven to stay back and provide magic support while letting his apprentice go on the attack, because Sora was easily able to slip past the titanic Heartless's defenses and begin dealing severe damage to him the minute he had gotten close. The boy's attacks may not have been as numerous as Ven's, but they certainly packed much more strength behind them, which meant Ansem incurred much more damage as a result. Realizing this, Ansem tried to get Sora to back off, but despite all of his best efforts, Sora refused to move away and just kept on fighting back instead. Eventually, Ansem's intense focus on the younger boy caused the dark spheres that had been firing on Ventus to disperse, and the blonde was soon joining in on his apprentice's barrage against Ansem, ultimately dealing the Heartless of Xehanort far more damage than he would have liked to taken on.

Ansem was not beaten yet though, and he intended to make that clear to the boys after he had dismissed his halberd and then allowed himself to be pulled into a protective cavity in the monster that topped the battleship, while a large Heartless emblem appeared over him. When Ven tried to blasting at Ansem again, he found his attacks blocked, showing that they could not get anything through until they found a way to push Ansem back out of his newest defense. The only problem was that he did not really see how they could do that, because any part of this titanic monster could force Ansem out again, and Ven did not know where to start. Sora did get an idea quickly enough, because he soon spotted the same portal that had sucked up the rest of their friends appearing in front of the shielded cage, and he immediately flew right towards it. Seeing what his apprentice was doing immediately worried Ven, and he would have followed after him had he not suddenly come under fire.

When he looked to what was firing on him, Ven saw several, organic extensions sticking up from various parts of the battleship and knew almost instantly that these were like some sort of antibodies for Ansem's large form. Ventus did not want to waste time dealing with such pests, but since he was forced to stop and block a great number of lasers, he was not able to chase after Sora before the portal shrank down to a point where he could not safely fly through without getting stuck. So, with nothing else to do, Ven just set to work destroying as many of these artillery tentacles as he could, hoping that Sora would be okay on his own in the meantime. When he was about halfway done with the artillery on one wing though, he found out that Sora was not as alone as he had thought the kid would be.

The next time that the portal had opened all the way, the ship had shaken a little, and Ven somehow knew that it was due to something that Sora did. He was about to fly down and go after Sora, when the boy came rocketing out of the portal with Kairi close behind him. Now Ventus was extremely curious and concerned. If their friends had been in there, then why was it that Donald and Goofy did not come out with Sora and Kairi? Did the kids leave the other two behind, and what did they do in there that caused the ship to momentarily destabilize for a few seconds. Ven was not going to just sit there and wait for answers, but only partially because remaining in one place for too long would have gotten him killed.

After dodging several laser blasts from the artillery units, Ven had managed to get up to where Sora and Kairi were, and immediately launched his barrage of questions. "Kairi, are you okay? Where are Donald and Goofy? What did you guys do in there?"

"Hey, hey! One thing at a time, please," Sora pleaded. "When I flew in there, I saw Kairi fighting against several Heartless, but there was no sign of Donald or Goofy."

"We had been together for a little bit, but then, the others just disappeared. I think something must have pulled them to other parts of the ship," Kairi filled in for the boys.

"Either way, all I knew was that Kairi was in trouble so I just jumped in to help. Then something that looked like a nerve vein or something appeared in the middle of the room, and Kairi and I somehow knew that we needed to just hit it in order to get out, so we did," Sora finished.

"I think it might've been more than just something to hit in order to escape, because this thing had suddenly rocked a little in a way that did not look intentional or natural. Or at least, not natural for this thing," Ventus commented. Before they could form any more theories, they found themselves having to dodge more lasers, and they looked up to the top of the caged area of the ship to see a larger version of the artillery tentacles had materialized up there. "Maybe we should continue this conversation later."

"Good idea," Kairi and Sora both agreed, and the three Keybearers all set to work on destroying the newest artillery tentacles.

Getting rid of this new attack feature for the battleship was not that easy though, as several of the ones that Ven had been dealing with up until now had materialized all around it. Thankfully, having three Keyblade wielders out to deal with the thing made it that much easier to handle. While Sora and Kairi focused on the smaller tentacles, Ven put all of his attention on the big one. The task did become a little harder when the laser emitting spheres suddenly began materializing around them again, and the three were forced to dodge both the artillery tentacles' fire and the dark lasers that Ansem was apparently still able to summon even while he was incapacitated for the moment. Despite all of that, they still managed to destroy all of the artillery tentacles, and when they did, another multicolored portal appeared, this time right where the big artillery tentacle had been before Ventus had destroyed it.

"I'm going in," Ventus shouted to the other two, and seconds later, Ven had vanished into the portal, while Sora and Kairi were left outside to dodge the laser fire that was still coming from the various spheres that were rotating around the area.

When Ven came out the other side, he could barely see anything save for the large blue, glowing Heartless symbol on the floor, but he could hear just as well as ever, and what he heard was a familiar yelp and holler that could only have come from Goofy. Once his eyes had fully adjusted to the lower level of light, Ventus managed to spot Goofy's outline and rushed over to destroy the rather large Shadows that had the knight surrounded. Not wanting to waste any time, Ven immediately unleashed a blast of the Meteor Shower Shotlock and destroyed several Heartless at once, gaining Goofy's attention at that same moment.

"Ven," Goofy cheered in relief, and it seemed that his friend coming to the rescue was all that the knight needed to regain his fighting resolve, because it was right at that moment that Goofy sent a pair of Shadows flying with a single swing of his shield.

The two then quickly worked to destroy the remaining Shadows, and once they were done, a bright light flashed from the middle of the room, and he spotted a vein like the one that Sora and Kairi had told him about. The one thing that stood out to him though was how there was a glowing orb right in the middle of said vein, and Ven knew that was where he had to hit if he and Goofy wanted to get out of this place. Without wasting a second, Ven immediately used the power Strike Raid to attack the vein, and when the orb exploded, he and Goofy both felt themselves getting pushed out by a powerful wind, and the force pushing them did not cease until they had landed back outside on the deck of the battleship. Like most of his landings, Goofy's was not too graceful, but Ven was just happy that they had managed to save their friend from the place he had been imprisoned for the moment. Now all they needed to do was get Donald back, and from the sounds of battle coming from close by, he had a feeling that Sora and Kairi had already gotten a good idea on where the next portal would appear.

When Ven turned around, he saw several flashes of lightning suddenly rain down over an area just in front of the battleship's demonic face, and given how it was apparently moving a little bit, Ventus was able to easily figure out where the other two most likely were. Knowing that, he immediately took to the skies again, with Goofy following after him once he had gotten over the shocking surprise that Ven had managed to fly like they could on Neverland without Tinker Bell's help. When they came around to the front of the ship, they saw Sora and Kairi trying to fend off blasts from some artillery tentacles while at the same time attacking the ship's face as they dodged its chomping jaws and the lightning blasts it seemed intent on trying to blast them with.

The two kids were likely feeling really exhausted, so Goofy had immediately tossed them both a Mega-Potion he had found while he was trapped inside the ship while Ven went right for the eyes of the ship's face so as to dissuade it from trying to make any more threatening moves against the two. Both Sora and Kairi smiled in both relief and thanks to the two returning heroes, but they put aside any greetings or congratulations for later, knowing that it was still too soon to be handing out the latter, and settled for helping Ven attack the ship's face. With four members of their team now back together again, dealing with the battleship's current defense became much easier, and as a result, they managed to disable the ship's face, and a portal instantly opened up right in front of his open mouth.

All three Keybearers flew in this time, with Goofy following right behind them as well, and no one was surprised to find Donald blasting and bashing several large Shadows once they got inside the dark room that was only lit up by the blue Heartless symbol on the floor. Thankfully, it was easier than ever to deal with the oversized Shadows, and even the vein that appeared after the Heartless were destroyed was destroyed much more quickly than usual, so they were all able to fly back out of the area where Donald had been held sooner too. What they did not expect was for the battleship's head to explode after they had escape, removing said feature from the ship completely, but they were not complaining about it too much. In fact, they were greatly enjoying that fact, because the shield around the caged in area of the battleship finally disappeared, leaving the ship's core exposed to attack.

Since the core was now open to them, the five all smirked knowingly, and flew up to give it everything they had. Sure, it likely meant Ansem would finally be pulled out of the healing pod he had withdrawn into, but considering that they wanted to finish him off for good, they did not really view that as too much of a downside. That was why they made sure to make quick work of the central core, and between Goofy's powerful shield attacks, Donald's best spells, and a Shotlock from Sora, Ven, and Kairi, it would have been a wonder if the core had held up at all. Instead, it quickly went up into smoke, and they all felt the ship shake a little as Ansem was pushed out of his protective cavity and into the battle once again.

"You irritating little…" Ansem snarled before he resummoned his halberd Soul Eater, and he was quickly spinning it around in his attempts to slice through the five heroes once again, while sending out several laser emitting spheres to slow them down, and summoning more of the bat-winged, teardrop-shaped Heartless.

Unlike before though when he was only fighting Ventus and Sora, the battle had no chance of going in Ansem's favor. With all five members of their team now free to fight together, they were all able to truly fight at their best, and they made sure that Ansem knew it too. Goofy handled the teardrop-shaped Heartless, which Jiminy had named as Bit Snipers at some point that none of them could be bothered to figure out, while Donald acted as the main source of magic support for the whole team, varying between shielding the others with magic and blasting either Ansem or the Heartless he summoned to his aid. Kairi varied between attacking Ansem and providing magic support, but for the most part, it was Sora and Ven who were dealing out most of the damage against Ansem, and to be quite honest, the two probably would not have had it any other way. After all, the two of them had tackled a vast majority of this journey together, so it only made sense that they would be the ones to bring it to a close.

At long last, Kairi and Donald fired off one last spell, which Goofy followed up with one final throw of his shield, and Ansem found himself barely able to do anything at all when Sora and Ven came charging in to land the final blow that destroyed Ansem's titanic form entirely. They all had to quickly fly away as fast as possible though, because with the way that the ship had been exploding, they were sure that they could get hurt a bit themselves if they were too close when it all finally went up in smoke. That did not make the following fireworks any less amazing though, but the team probably would have liked them better had Ansem not reappeared before them in his previous form, weakened and tired, but still clearly willing to make one last attempt at fighting.

"It is futile. One Keyblade, or two, or even three cannot seal the door to darkness," Ansem said in barely more than a strained whisper. He then spun around and extended a hand towards the large door in the distance as he commanded, "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…" The team all watched as the door slowly began to crack open, allowing faint shadowy mists to slowly begin seeping out, and Ansem's smirk must have grown a little as he hovered a little higher with his arms spread wide. "Supreme darkness…"

"You truly have no idea what you're really dealing with here," Ventus sighed sadly. "And I almost feel sorry for you."

"No matter what you think, we all know that what you believe is all wrong," Kairi continued.

"Because we know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts…" Sora lead off.

"IS LIGHT," the three Keybearers all finished as one, and their belief was easily proven true far too soon for Ansem's liking.

A mater seconds after the shadowy mists had started seeping out of the door, a brilliant light unlike any other came blasting out of the door, and Ansem snarled in pain as it encompassed him completely. He could not understand why though. He was so sure that he done everything that was necessary, so why was it that the door to darkness was unleashing such a powerful light from within its confines? Were the Keybearers right in what they claimed? No, that could not be possible. Ansem refused to believe it, and yet, at the same time, for some reason he found that it was just as impossible to deny the evidence laid bare before him. Even so, he still continued to ponder how this could be right until the very end when he finally disappeared into dust completely.

When the light had finally died down, the three Keybearers led the way over to the ground before the door to darkness, and they all wasted no time in rushing over to start pushing as hard as they could. "Come on," Sora shouted, having been the first one to reach the door.

"We've got to hurry and get this door closed," Kairi encouraged as she came up beside Sora, with Ven taking position on the boy's opposite side.

Donald and Goofy soon came after and began pushing against the other half of the door, but no matter how hard they pushed, it did not seem like the thing was going to budge. At some point during his push though, Goofy made the mistake of peeking inside the door, and spotted something that made him yelp in fright before he ceased his push all together. "Stop staring and keep pushing," Donald scolded his friend, but he still turned around to see what had grabbed Goofy's interest so much. What he saw was not pleasant at all.

There on the other side, was a very rough looking place with several large rock structures jetting out in various directions, but the most attention grabbing thing was the massive number of dark splotches all across every surface of the place, with several thousand pairs of beady yellow eyes that they all knew were characteristic of only one thing. "THE HEARTLESS," Goofy and Donald both shouted in horror.

"Hurry," Donald pleaded as he started pushing even harder than before.

Even with the threat of the Heartless getting closer to the door prompting them all to push harder than ever, they did not seem able to get the blasted thing to close, and Sora was starting to lose hope that they could do it. He was not the only one though. "It's…it's no good. The thing just won't…," Kairi frowned in dismay.

"We can't…" Sora muttered, not wanting to agree, but unable to argue either. At least until something they were not expecting happened.

"Don't give up," someone shouted before they grabbed the door from the other side, and Sora and Kairi both immediately jumped their gazes towards the speaker, having recognized his voice immediately.

"Riku," Kairi cheered happily, glad to see their friend again, and looking like his old self once more.

"Come on, Sora! Kairi! Together, we can do it," Riku encouraged.

"Okay," Sora nodded, while Kairi did the same and joined both of her friends in their efforts to get the blasted, oversized door closed.

Their efforts seemed to be paying off, because they all soon felt the door slowly start to inch closer to closing again, but there was one problem that came to mind right when they began. "Hey wait a minute," Goofy shouted. "We still don't know how we're going to get that other key on the other side of the door!"

"Yes we do," Ventus stated, and the four on his side of the door all turned to him when they realized he had stopped pushing and slowly started backing away. What was even more worrying was the downcast look on his face, but that was still nothing in comparison to what he ended up saying next. "I'm going to go through the door myself, and help Mickey seal it on that end while Sora and Kairi lock it from here."

"WHAT," the other four shouted in horrified surprise.

"Absolutely not," Donald angrily argued.

"You can't do that, Ven! If you go through, you might get stuck in there too," Goofy protested.

"Maybe, but it's a risk that we have to take," Ventus informed them, already walking towards the opening in the door. "Besides, the worlds are already in good hands, seeing as we've got at least two promising Keyblade Warriors on this side even without me around."

"But Ven, you can't leave us! We still need you…I still need you," Sora pleaded.

That finally made Ven look up, but when he did, it was only to give the boy a sad smile as he said, "No you don't, Sora. You never really needed me that much. You've had the power to accomplish everything you already have inside of you the whole time. All I really did was help bring it out and refine it. Besides, there always comes a time when the apprentice has to strike out on his own, without his master looking over his shoulder."

Any other protests from his friends went completely ignored as Ven turned his full attention on the open door, fully determined to go through with his rather insane plan. Sure, he might end up trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but at least if he was, he knew that there could be a chance he would eventually run into Aqua, and he would finally be reunited with her again. Besides, if the two of them did manage to find one another, he knew that their chances of escaping that place would be far greater together. Just when he was about to step over the threshold though, something seemed to push back against him, and it kept pushing until he was finally thrown back and away from the door, still on the same side as the rest of his friends.

"What? I…I don't understand. What just…" Ventus muttered.

"Sorry, Ven, but you coming through to this side was never an option for multiple reasons," Riku explained, pulling everyone's attention onto him. "Apparently, the door won't let a heart of light pass through, and that's why only darkness kept spilling out. Even if you could get through, I wouldn't let you, because if you want to seal the door with the dual keys method, then the other two keys have to be wielded by a pair of masters. It can't be anyone else. Not even a Princess of Heart."

"So then the dual keys method is useless to us," Ventus concluded sadly. Sure, it was good to know that they were still likely going to be able to use the standard one, but it would have been a lot better if they could have used the one that make the door more secured.

To Ven's surprise, Riku just smirked in response, and said, "I never said that. But I am going to say this: if it were possible for you to get through, I still wouldn't let you. One of my new friends over here would probably kill me if I did."

Ventus was about to question Riku on what he meant, when they all suddenly spotted a trio of Darksides rising up behind him, and since he was so busy trying to pull the door closed from his end, Riku was not going to be able to do anything to beat them back. Not that they were entirely sure if he could, and since Sora, Kairi, and Ventus were not able to pass through the door, they were not going to be able to give him any help. "It's hopeless," Donald cried in despair, voicing everyone's thoughts at once, until they were met with another miracle.

"In case you weren't listening earlier, I said to back off," a woman's voice suddenly shouted, and seconds later, several light chains came soaring out from behind the Darksides, and began slicing through each one until there was nothing left of any of them. When a fourth one suddenly rose up to fill the place of its fallen brethren, another blast of light collided into its back and destroyed it too. None of the five on the other side had paid that too much mind though, but while only three of them were focused on the person who had spoken before, the other two were paying more attention to the person who landed that last attack.

They all watched as a figure suddenly spun out from the shadows, and when he landed on top of one of the highest points on the other side of the door, a brilliant light seemed to shine out from behind his figure. Even so, they could all still make out his silhouette, and they all easily spotted his large shoes, gloved hands, tail, and notably big ears that three of them knew could only signify one person. "Your Majesty," Donald and Goofy cheered in relief.

Ventus on the other hand was more focused on another figure that had appeared alongside of the king. A figure who was not only much taller than said king, but most definitely a woman as well, given her elegant figure and the grace with which she had landed when she appeared beside him. Even with the bright light before her and Mickey hiding most of her features though, Ven could still see several hints of blue in both her attire and her hair. The same shade of blue that he had long come to associate with only one person, and had also come to consider as his favorite shade of the color. Seeing her caused Ven's to suddenly lose the ability to speak, but thankfully, Sora and Kairi were able to help him find it again when they next spoke up.

"No way," Sora had gasped in wide-eyed shock.

"Is that really who I think it is," Kairi questioned, equally surprised as Sora.

"It is…It's her," Ventus finally confirmed in a voice that was just barely above a whisper, tears of joy slowly starting to form in his eyes. "Aqua!"

The five all then watched as Mickey produced a Keyblade that was identical to Sora's, save for the reversed color scheme, while Aqua summoned forth the Master's Defender Keyblade, and the former then shouted, "Now Sora, Ven! Let's close this door for good!"

"Ven, if you even think of trying to come in here again, as sweat as that would be, I promise that I will smack you. They need you over there far more than I need you here," Aqua insisted, and somehow, Ventus just knew that Aqua was smiling almost as widely as he probably was at being able to see each other again, even if it was not in the way that they would have preferred. "Don't worry! Mickey and I have got things covered on this end!"

Donald, Goofy, and Ven all nodded in response, the latter more hesitantly than the others, and then proceeded to start pushing against the door again. Kairi and Sora on the other hand did not resume their efforts though, and Ven could tell that it was obviously due to how torn they were between closing the door and leaving it open so that they could save their friends on the other side somehow. "Close it, quick," Donald urged them while pushing against the door as hard as he could.

"But…" Sora tried to argue, only to suddenly find no words to explain why he did not want to close the door now.

"What about…" Kairi also attempted to say, but her voice was soon caught in her throat as well.

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light," Mickey reassured the two.

"Just don't ever give up, and never forget that there's always hope, even in a place of darkness," Aqua instructed the two. She then seemed to turn to Ventus as she said, "You and Terra reminded me of that more times than you realize while I was here, Ven."

Ven smiled in return for Aqua's comment, but still felt that he needed to say something to her while he had the chance. "I won't stop looking for a way to bring you home, Aqua. I promise, we'll all be together again soon."

Aqua's smile shone through a little more clearly this time as she reached into her sleeve and produced a blue Wayfinder charm identical to Ven's and said, "I know you will, because the three of us will always be one, Ven. Nothing will ever change that."

While Ven nodded in response to that, Goofy noticed that the other two Keybearers still seemed a little hesitant to close the door, and reassured them, "Sora, Kairi, you can trust King Mickey, and Master Aqua, too."

After another moment or two, the two kids finally nodded in agreement, and proceeded to start pushing again, even as Riku turned around to shout another warning about how they needed to hurry. Just when the door was starting to budge, they all saw Mickey turn back towards them once again when he said, "Donald, Goofy, thank you. Ven, I'm proud to have been your final master, and now, I'm even more proud of you as both your master and your friend than ever. Thank you, pal."

The three that had been addressed all nodded in response to Mickey's words, but only Ventus paused for one more moment so that his eyes could lock with Aqua's, even for one extra second, and he found that he could not keep what he needed to tell her to himself any longer. "Aqua, I have to tell you one last thing while I still have the chance. I don't care if it'll be spoiled by the circumstances, because I have to say it now," Ven said. He paused, and then finally fixed the most loving gaze he could manage onto the woman as he finally said what he had been hoping to tell her for so long. "I love you."

After Ven had said those words, the first thing he heard was a surprised gasp from Aqua, but thankfully, he could also somehow tell that her expression had not changed into anything bad. Instead, it seemed to shine brighter than anything else in that place, as she smiled and replied, "I love you, Ven."

Ventus instantly smiled when he heard that, because he could tell from her tone that she was not just saying the words. She had truly meant it, and almost nothing could have made him happier at that moment. Sure, he would have preferred it if they could bring her back now, but he knew that for the moment, this was for the best, so he immediately returned to helping the others push the door closed. Right when the door was about to shut completely, Riku looked to his best friend with a smile, and made one last request of him before they were separated by the door. "Sora…Take care of her."

Sora could do nothing more than nod in reply, but Riku knew that Sora did not need to say anything in order to guarantee that he would fulfill that request. After all, that had been a promise that Sora had made right from the moment that he had met Kairi. With everything having been said and done, they soon managed to close the door at last, and the five quickly backed away, while giving Sora and Ventus some space as they raised their Keyblades high into the air. Sora had managed to switch out Oathkeeper's Keychain for Kingdom Key's as he was backing up, and when he and Ventus raised their Keyblades up to the door to Kingdom Hearts, they just knew that Mickey and Aqua were doing the very same thing right at that moment on the other side. One shower of lights and magic later, and they all saw the door vanish completely like it had never been there in the first place. The sound of something being locked only finalized it all for them. Their journey had come to a close and they had won the battle against the Heartless.

At that moment, none of them could really do anything more than stand in silence, staring at where the door to darkness had once been, along with their friends, each unsure of what to say or really do, and it continued until something seemed to grab Kairi's attention. "Hey, Sora! I think I can sense the island," she said, turning in the direction that the feeling was coming from.

Sora immediately turned around as well, trying to find some clue that their home was in the place Kairi was looking towards, but not seeing anything at all. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's over this way! Come on," Kairi encouraged, and she immediately took off, eager to get back home again after everything that had happened.

Sora would have done the same, but he found himself hesitating to follow her. It was not that he did not want to go home and be with Kairi, but there was still the matter of finding Riku so that he could bring him home too. There was no way that his best friend really was trapped on the other side of that door for good, and Sora knew that he could find something to help bring him back. Besides, there was also the fact that he had promised Donald, Goofy, and Ven that he would help find and bring home their friends too, and while they did technically find the king and Aqua for a minute, they were both still trapped on the other side of that door, so Sora felt like he had not quite fulfilled that promise. In spite of wanting to go home with Kairi so badly, especially since she was now his girlfriend, in that moment, Sora truly did not know what he should do, even as he glanced back and forth between his girlfriend and his newest friends.

Ventus must have known exactly what was going through Sora's mind, because he had soon come up and placed a hand on the kid's shoulder, drawing the boy's attention to him, and said, "Just trust your heart, and you'll be able to make what you really believe is the right choice. No matter what you choose though, we'll understand. If you want to go back home with her, then do it. We can handle things from here."

Sora knew that Ven really meant that, and even if he did not, the blonde was basically giving him an out. Probably the only one he would get for a long time, and to be honest, that actually made Sora feel like the choice got a bit harder. Still, he nodded in response to his master, and then turned to follow Kairi, albeit at a pace that was much slower than hers. His head felt like a jumble of mess right then with each step he took, but he quickly shook it a couple of times and decided to heed Ven's advice about listening to his heart. When he did, the confusion quickly passed, and he suddenly felt like he knew what he had to do. He just had to hope she would understand.

* * *

Kairi had just felt the sandy shores of the island beneath her feet, and she knew in that moment she had finally reached the part of this place that was the island she now considered her home. The feeling of knowing that her home was going to be restored at any minute eclipsed everything else right then, but that did not mean she had forgotten about what the worlds being restored would mean for all the rest of her friends. It did make her very sad knowing that they would be separated from the people that they had met since this journey started, but Kairi knew that they would all meet again someday. She truly believed that with all of her heart.

Speaking of things in her heart, once she had finished taking in the joy of knowing that their home was about to come back into being, Kairi turned around to share her smile with Sora, only for said smile to falter a little when she realized that he was not next to her. She was glancing around a little more in an attempt to find him, and when she finally did, she saw him running over to her from the trail that was still connecting them to whatever place that Ven, Donald, and Goofy would end up in. Despite the fact that he was running though, there was something about the way Sora was coming over to her that made Kairi a little concerned, and her concern only grew a little when he stopped short of where they needed to be if they wanted to go back home.

"Sora," Kairi called out, completely bewildered and confused about what he was doing. Before either of them could say anymore though, the ground shook a little beneath their feet, and she lost her balance. She probably would have fallen over if Sora had not grabbed her hand to steady her, but even then, he did not move to join her on the sandy beach.

"Kairi, remember what you said before," Sora asked as they slowly started to be pulled apart, each of them doing their best to hold onto one another until the last possible second. "I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"

In that moment, Kairi knew exactly what Sora was doing, and she understood, completely. Being in his heart for so long did have the added effect of knowing how a person thinks after all. Sora truly believed that the others still needed him, and even if that was not the case, he was not planning on coming back home without his best friend. As much as Kairi wanted to join him, she knew that she could not. Wherever Sora was going, he had no clue how it would end, and given what he had said, she knew that he wanted her to stay some place where he knew she would be safe. She did not like being left behind like this, but after what they had been through together, she did understand why he felt that way.

So, despite how sad it made her feel to watch him go, Kairi eventually managed to smile in reply, and assure him, "I know you will!" Just before they slipped from each other's fingers, she finally found it in herself to say something she had been trying to say ever since Sora had confessed to her in Hollow Bastion, and she was not going to hold it back anymore. "I love you, Sora."

Even after their hands slipped away from each other, Sora was grinning happily over hearing Kairi say that to him, and as he slowly faded further away to an unknown world somewhere out there among the stars, he took a moment to call back, "I love you too, Kairi."

Even though it made her sad to keep watching him go, Kairi persisted in doing so, until a steady shower of lights suddenly grabbed her attention. It was a beautiful sight to behold, seeing so many small specks of light falling around her like snowflakes, but what was even more beautiful was when the island slowly started to reform around her. Every tree, every grain of sand, and every structure that belonged there came bursting back to life, showing that her home truly was coming back from the darkness it had fallen into as the misty blue aura that had washed over the place Sora was standing continued to fade away. The last thing she saw of the boy she loved was him shouting something inaudible to her before Ventus came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She did not need to hear what Sora had shouted to know what he said, and after watching the two exchange a confident look with one another, she found that she did not need to understand what the smile Ventus sent to her meant either. Kairi just knew that the Keyblade master had promised her that he would bring Sora home to her one day soon.

The rest of that night was filled with the most brilliant shower of shooting stars, and while the people who were steadily coming back from the darkness only saw it as just that, Kairi smiled knowing that it was every world that had fallen into darkness returning to the light. Knowing that she not only had a small part in making that happen, but also that the boy she loved had done so much to help too made Kairi all the happier, and helped to reassure her that Ventus and Sora would both keep their promises to come back here someday. Not that she needed it that much, because like she had told Sora, she knew that he would return to her, just like she knew that he would come back with Riku and everyone else he had promised his newest friends he would help save.

The next day, Kairi had gone out to the island by herself, and even though Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were all there too, she did not feel like joining in on their fun. Partly because she felt she would be intruding on Selphie and Wakka's attempts to cheer Tidus up after he had been separated from Yuna, but mostly because she just wanted to be alone for a moment, and she knew the perfect place for her to get that solitude. It felt a little weird coming into the secret place though without knowing that Sora and Riku could join her in there at any moment, but as she looked around at the drawings that they had scribbled on the walls over the years, Kairi found that she did not care. It all just served as a reminder that almost everything had returned to the way it had been before, save for the absence of Riku and Sora, and that was a great comfort to her. What she did not expect to find though, was the addition Sora had made to their old self-portraits from so long ago, and even at that moment, she could see him smiling widely at her as he put the finishing touches on the star that was clearly supposed to be a paopu fruit that he was giving to her. Placing her hand against the drawing, Kairi's smile grew a little more as a lone tear of joy slipped past her eyelashes and down her cheek, because served as the ultimate, final proof that she had not realized she needed of Sora's feelings for her until now.

When Kairi left the secret place that day, another addition had been made to the old self-portraits. This one showed her giving a paopu fruit to Sora in return, and for her, it was a sign of how she returned his feelings, and how she would wait for him to come back to her.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, I know some of you were expecting something like Ven switching places with Aqua so that he was trapped in the realm of darkness while Aqua was freed to teach either Sora or Kairi, or some other really dramatic thing, but this was all set in stone, and in my mind, it was the best outcome for this story. Besides, look on the bright side, Aqua's not still stuck in the realm of darkness all on her own because the damn Demon Tide couldn't take a hint. Thank you, Riku._**

 ** _Riku: You're welcome, everybody. It feels so good to know that I helped save Aqua this time around as opposed to being part of the reason why she's still stuck there._**

 ** _AN: And yeah, Sora and Kairi were still separated from each other, but like I had said, Kairi's not quite ready for the new chapter in the long journey that's still ahead of Sora. Besides, her staying on Destiny Islands without Sora does have another purpose, and it should become a little more clear come next chapter. At least I certainly hope it does, but if not in the epilogue, then certainly in the preview that I'll have for the sequel afterwards._**

 ** _That's right, you all heard me. There is still one chapter left, and that's the epilogue, the post-credits scene, the big thing that we all worked really hard getting a bunch of different achievements to unlock. Only difference here is that the only achievement that you need to have under your belt is to tune in and read the thing when it's posted, and if the rapid pace of my last few postings for this bad boy are any indication, you'll be happy to see it out there very soon, I'm sure. Well, nothing left for me to say that I can really think of, so...Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Though their first mission is over, their journey has not truly ended. There's still the matter of finding a way to bring back King Mickey, Aqua, and Riku for the little team of four, and there's much on the horizon for them in the next chapter of their journey. Meanwhile, various different events take place that show how things are returning to normal in the worlds, while at the same time, others will help to shape how that next journey unfolds. Find out just what it is that awaits our brave adventurers in their quest to reunite with friends and defend the light in the final chapter, next time._**

 ** _And there ya go. The last preview for events in a chapter of this story before the end of the epic. Now all that's left for you guys to do, besides wait for my next update is..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	27. Beginning of What Comes Next

_**AN: Ladies and gentlemen, it's here! It's here at last! The final chapter to conclude Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys!**_

 _ **[roaring audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, drink it in, everyone. Drink it in! This is a big thing. Sure, it's not a lengthy chapter by any means, but hey, it does bring a few things to light for all you guys wondering about what happened after the end of last chapter, and it helps to set things up for the sequel as well.**_

 _ **Ventus: Hey, could we answer a couple reviews really quick? Cause I'm pretty sure there's at least one particular question or two that has everyone a little confused.**_

 _ **AN: Ah, why not? In answer to everyone's who was left a little surprised and confused by Sora suddenly dual-wielding Keyblades in the fight against Ansem, let me offer a few explanations. First off...It was actually a bit of a last minute decision, but I also felt that it opened the way for the ability to become a thing in the next story. Second, yes, Sora had unknowingly drawn the ability from his connection to Roxas, even if he does not know that Roxas exists yet. Third, think of it like that one moment where you're incredibly desperate and need to draw on incredible strength and adrenaline to get through the situation. Ansem was threatening Kairi, the girl that Sora loved with all of his heart, so of course he's going to get really mad and find away to exceed all of his limits for a brief time out of nothing but battle adrenaline and do something that at the time was both incredible and believed to be impossible for him.**_

 _ **Hope that alleviates all your worries about that, because now, we're getting right into things and allowing you guys to get a glimpse of what happened right after that.**_

 _ **Xion: What do you mean by a glimpse?**_

 _ **AN: You'll all see soon enough. Right after we all get into the final chapter! Run that disclaimer!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Epilogue**

It had been a bit slower than some would probably have liked, but it really had been very short time before all the worlds that had been lost to darkness were restored to their former glory in the light once Ansem was defeated and the door to darkness was sealed. In that time, not only did those worlds return to the light, but the people who lived on those worlds did as well, and those who had been sent off to places like Traverse Town eventually came back to their own worlds too. All across the cosmos, various happy reunions had taken place, be it between good friends and family like Cinderella and Fairy Godmother, or between loved ones like Aladdin and Jasmine. There was denying the happy feeling that seemed to have been spread across every world, knowingly or not. Even in Hollow Bastion, which was still in its ruined state but slowly being repair by Leon and the gang, there was a happy reunion taking place, because just a matter of days after the worlds were restored, Cid came into the gang's meeting place along with their old friend Cloud. No one was happier to see the blonde swordsman than Aerith, and despite the stoic façade he tried putting up, Cloud really was happy to be reunited with his friends again. He did still seem a little awkward at first when Aerith gave him a big welcome back hug though, but that did not really last too long.

Still, despite the happy atmosphere that were shared by most, there were a few who were a little upset by how the worlds had been restored, mainly because of the people they had been separated from as a result, and it did not stop with just the people from Destiny Islands who had been close to Sora and Riku. This was most notably applied to one Summoner Yuna, who upon returning home had found out that she had been named High Summoner. Even with the great honor that came with the title she had been given, nothing was able to really relieve Yuna of the sorrow she felt at being separated from Tidus, and she spent many days looking out to the seas of her home world longing to reunite with him again. One day though, she eventually decided she had finally had enough of wishing for that reunion to happen, and immediately sought out her cousin, Rikku and their friend, Paine, so that they could help her find a way to make it happen. No one had really seen too much of the three girls since then, but there were many rumors about a trio of treasure hunters that matched their description going around Spira for a time.

While all of this was happening across many different worlds, along various dreams coming true at last, like Pinocchio becoming a real boy, or Jack Skellington finally discovering his next great plan for Halloween, on one particular, unknown world, a certain group of four friends were steadily walking down a dirt path that rested amongst grassy hills, ready for the next chapter in their journey. It had taken these four a moment to regain their bearings when they realized that they had ended up somewhere that none of them recognized, but it did not deter them from their mission, and they set off after finding the dirt path and picking a direction in which to travel down it. There was just one problem that they needed to settle, and after walking along this path for so long, the shortest of the four finally decided to bring the matter up.

"Well, now what do we do," Donald Duck asked his three friends. For some reason, after the worlds had been restored, he had ended up in his iconic, blue sailor's uniform with the hat and red bow-tie.

"We've gotta find Riku, Master Aqua, and King Mickey," Sora had replied as simply as you please, never once dropping his usual relaxed pose. Unlike Donald, his attire had not changed at all, as he still had his armored gauntlet that housed the Keyblade armor he was granted when Ventus dubbed him and Kairi as Keyblade Warriors, and Sora was honestly glad about that. Ven had questioned Sora on how the boy had managed to dual wield Keyblades during their fight with Ansem, but Sora had just shrugged and said he did not remember much after seeing Xehanort's Heartless threatening Kairi's life. It was all just a blank to him until after the moment had passed, but he did seem excited over the idea that he had used two Keyblades at once, and was eager to figure out how to do it again once he learned how he did it to begin with.

"But, uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light," Goofy pondered aloud. Like Donald, Goofy's wardrobe had also changed into his more iconic outfit of baggy blue jeans, large brown shoes, orange shirt, yellow vest, and green hat, but he had not really let it bother him too much. To be honest, he was actually pretty glad that he had not ended up in the armor he normally wore after he became Disney Castle's captain of the royal knights. It often made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Sora hummed in thought for a minute before he turned to his teacher and asked, "Do you have any ideas, Ven?"

Like Sora, Ventus had also remained unchanged in his attire, and the blonde was not really complaining. He did not want to even think about what he would have done if he had lost any part of what had become his main look. When he heard his apprentice's question though, Ven could not help but think for a moment as well before he finally replied, "Well, Master Eraqus and Aqua always used to tell me that the door to the light is always much closer to you than you realize, so long as you continue to hold what's truly most precious in your heart, but I don't really think that they were talking about the door that we're trying to find. Add in the fact that Mickey, Ansem the Wise, and I spent years trying to figure out a way to get Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness without any success and, well…I really don't know. Beats the heck out of me."

Just seconds after Ven had said that, the four finally came to a stop in their walk, and all dropped their heads and shoulders so low that they were practically bent over at the waist. You would think they would have thought about how little of a plan they had in this quest before now, but then again, they did just get thrown onto this unknown place what felt like a second ago, so it was understandable that they would not really have too many clues on where to look first. Not to mention that there was also the fact that they no longer had a ship to help them reach other worlds even if it was still possible to use gummi ships. Sure, Ven could probably still use his Keyblade Glider to reach another world, but the thing could not carry all of them, and Donald and Goofy did not have the necessary protection to keep them safe in the void between worlds as they traveled even if they could. Plus, Ven just did not want to leave any of them on their own. Not when he knew how these three tended to just charge on ahead without thinking so much.

Eventually, Sora perked up a little, and when he did, he spotted something just ahead of them that he quickly brought to everyone's attention. When the other three looked to see what Sora had spotted, they were all surprised to see a familiar, yellow furred dog with long, black, droopy ears, and a green collar just walking across the path in front of them, and happily wagging his tail. "Pluto," Donald gasped in surprise, and upon hearing his name the king's dog immediately turned to face them.

"Hey, Pluto," Goofy waved. "Where have you been?"

"Wait a minute. Don't tell me you two actually brought Pluto with you guys when you left for Traverse Town," Ventus asked the two in disbelief.

"Well, uh…" Donald stammered.

"He kind of jumped into the ship at the last minute, so we didn't really have a choice but to bring him along," Goofy explained. "We lost track of him in Traverse Town though, and haven't seen him since."

"Hey wait, that's King Mickey's dog," Sora asked in surprise. When the others nodded, each wondering why he had asked that, Sora explained, "That's the same dog that woke me up when I first came to Traverse Town." After the others nodded in understanding, Sora looked over at Pluto again so he could call out for the friendly dog to come over when he noticed that Pluto had something in his mouth. "Hey, what have you got there, boy?"

When Ven and the others took a look at said item, they quickly realized that Pluto was carrying a green envelope in his mouth, and it had a set of three circles formed together into one, familiar sigil sealing it shut. "Gawrsh, that's the king's seal," Goofy cheered.

"Hey, have you seen King Mickey, Pluto," Sora eagerly asked. Pluto's only response was to blink at them and then turn around to begin bounding down the path as fast as he could. The others all smiled at each other, taking that as a sign that they finally had a good lead on where to look for their missing friends, and Sora immediately took the lead as he waved to the others, shouting, "Guys, let's go!"

"You heard the kid! Follow that dog," Ventus cheered, feeling that for once, it would be okay for them to charge ahead without thinking too much.

No one needed to tell them twice, and soon enough, they were all chasing after Pluto as fast as they could, each cheering, smiling, and laughing the whole way. Soon enough, Ventus and Sora running side-by-side with one another, and when they realized this, they looked to each other and smiled brightly in that special way that only good friends like them could. Looking forward, they did not just see a possibly endless path, but rather, a promising future, because they knew, that together, they would be the ones who would open the door to the light. Nothing could go wrong so long as they all stuck together.

* * *

"Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable," Ventus groused as he stared up at the large pod his apprentice was currently sleeping inside of. "I agree that we need to stop and rest for the night, and somehow, during the time that I was asleep, these three land themselves in the middle of yet another mess. I knew that all their rushing off without thinking was going to land them in trouble one day, but still, who would've thought they'd end up in a mess this big!"

Sometime during their pursuit of Pluto, night had fallen over the mysterious world they had ended up on, and seeing how tired everyone looked, Ventus had agreed that they needed to take a break and rest for the night. Sometime after he had fallen asleep though, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had wandered off on their own, and it was left to him to track them down. The good news was that he did find them, but the bad news was that the three and Jiminy had already gotten caught in a very unexpected trap. What Ven had found more unexpected though, was that they had somehow ended up in the place that had once been his home, but had now been transformed into the mysterious castle that many a traveler wound up lost in forever if they dared come seeking the secrets it held: Castle Oblivion. Of course, there was one thing more surprising to Ventus than that, and she was standing just a few feet away from him, looking a bit nervous as he studied his sleeping apprentice.

"Um…I know this probably doesn't mean much, but I'm really sorry. This whole thing was my fault," a very shy, rather pale girl muttered as she gazed guiltily down at the floor, unable to really look Ven in the eyes. Hearing her voice prompted Ventus to turn to face the girl, and he could not help but study her countenance for a moment when he did.

While Ventus could see a small bit of a resemblance to Kairi in her, it was very much subdued to the point where it was practically unnoticeable, and not just because she had blond hair that was slightly longer than Kairi's. Other things to note about her appearance were her rosy cheeks, pale pink lips, and how she draped her hair across her left shoulder. She wore a white dress that ended just above her knees in an embroidered lace pattern, along with light blue sandals that were decorated with yellow flowers. Really, the only similarity he could see between this girl and Kairi, or at least the only one that was most noticeable, was that they had the same colored eyes, though he somehow had a feeling that Sora would be able to notice some small difference there too. Along with her physical differences, Ven had quickly picked up on a few differences personality-wise as well. While this girl had certainly shown to be just as kind, compassionate, and somewhat driven as Kairi, Ven could not help but notice that she was much more withdrawn than the red haired girl, and seemed much more shy in comparison too. Maybe she was like that even before, or maybe she was just like that around him at the moment, but whatever the case, Ven had a feeling that would change sooner or later.

"Hey, don't do that to yourself," Ventus told her. "None of this was your fault. You were scared and alone, and when this Marluxia you told me about came along with his gang, you had no idea what they were really after. Sure, they scared you a little, but all that mattered right then was that you weren't alone. Still, it makes sense that you would want to reach out to just about anyone in the hopes of finding a real friend, even if the means you did so with were not the right ones. Besides, you made the decision to help make things right when you learned the truth about what Marluxia and his group were after, and Sora has already promised that you would be friends for real when he woke up. Besides, I hold just as much responsibility for letting them go off on their own like that."

"But it happened while you were unable to do anything, didn't it," the girl argued with a surprising amount of passion. "I mean, you had to have been really exhausted to not notice anything going on while you were asleep, so you can't really blame yourself for not noticing."

To the girl's surprise, Ventus actually started laughing a little after hearing her argument, and he continued to do so even as he said, "You see? If I can't take all the blame for this happening, then neither can you. I doubt Sora would really want either one of us too, anyway, Naminé."

Naminé smiled in response to that, and actually let out a cute little laugh of her own, and Ventus was now able to add one more item to the list of similarities between the blonde and Kairi. The two then turned serious as Ventus said, "How long do you think they'll be in there?"

"I'm not sure," Naminé admitted. "The chain of memories is easily rearranged, but it can take a great deal of time to repair to what they were before. And somehow, I doubt that Marluxia's group is going to leave Sora alone, or even keep to themselves."

"Well then, there's only one thing we can do," Ventus determined. "The first chance you get, you and this DiZ person need to leave for somewhere a little safer, and continue working there. While you're doing that, I'll go and find out what I can about this Organization XIII."

"Are you sure? You won't be able to hide from them out in the open so easily," Naminé warned.

"Don't worry. Despite how noticeable it may look on the surface, my armor is great for keeping me hidden from others if I need or want it to," Ventus reassured her, and with that, he gently tapped his shoulder guard and donned said armor once more, cape and all. He then turned to leave and said, "You should leave as soon as possible. If there's anyone from the organization left here, they'll be coming for you as soon as possible."

"I know," Naminé admitted. "But I can't leave just yet. There's still someone here that I need to meet with." She then bit her lip, as if unsure if she should say anything else, until she eventually added, "Maybe…you should stay a little longer too. I think you might be interested to meet with them as well."

Ventus seemed to consider her words for a moment, until he finally said, "If Organization XIII is as bad as you say, then I can't stay here. I've got to get on their trail as soon as possible."

"I understand," Naminé nodded sadly, and Ventus could swear that she was doing so because she knew he would miss out on something by leaving now.

He could not really worry about it at the moment though, because he had one last piece of advice for the girl. "No matter what DiZ says, you're much more special than you realize, Naminé. Don't let him ever make you think that you don't deserve to exist. I'll be sure to swing by every now and again to make sure that he doesn't do anything that could harm you or anyone else in his mad drive for revenge."

Naminé was not sure how Ventus could know what it was that DiZ wanted, but she was much more curious about something else. "How will you know where to find us if we leave before you come back here?"

"Trust me…I'll know," Ven promised, and with that, he departed without another word.

As Naminé watched him go, she could not help but smile a tiny bit more, knowing that Sora's friend did not blame her for what she had been forced to do to the memories inside of his heart, but her smile quickly faded when she thought of how Ventus would be missing out on finally reuniting with a certain someone after so long. She eventually shrugged it off though, because somehow, she knew that it would happen sooner or later. After all, nothing could keep two people in love apart forever.

* * *

Later that same night, three figures were walking down the path away from Castle Oblivion, each clad in a black coat that they had been told was made with special material that would keep them hidden from Organization XIII, and each determined to follow through on their set missions. When they came to a cross-road though, they found someone standing in their path, and it was someone that two of them felt like they knew, while the third of their number had only just met him for the first time. Even so, each of them regarded him with a bit of distrust, because they could all tell that he was keeping something from them, and it was not something that could have been good. For the moment, there was only one question on the mind of the youngest of their number, and he knew that he was going to have to ask it before the man stepped aside.

"What are you making me choose now," Riku demanded, clearly feeling more than a little annoyed with how this guy kept placing choices on him ever since he had first revealed his true identity to him. Or at least, something close to it.

The man regarded him with a neutral expression from behind red bandages that cover his entire face, save for one bright orange eye and his mouth. The rest of his outfit was decidedly more complex. He wore a long, red cape with yellow edges and a quadrate cross cut taken out at the chest, which exposed a similarly oblong white symbol on his pitch-black shirt. Over this shirt, he wore grey, segmented armor over his sides and abdomen, while his legs were covered by long black cloth lined with yellow. The cloth covering his legs had several brown straps pinned to the front for no reason that any of the three before him could see, along with a yellow sash that held three brown pouches, descending diagonally from his left hip. His light colored sleeves and the dark colored scarf were probably the most normal looking pieces of his attire as far as the three could see, and he probably knew that they thought so too. For some reason though, one or both of Riku's companions could not help but think of this man with lighter skin and a short mustache and goatee, or some other form of beard.

After another moment or two of silence, the man who called himself DiZ finally gave an answer to Riku's question. "Between the road to light and the road to darkness," DiZ replied, indicating the two paths to his left and right.

Riku's answer was very quick, and only slightly surprising to both of his two new friends. "Neither suits me. I'm taking the middle road."

"Do you mean the twilight road to nightfall," DiZ questioned as Riku walked past him.

"No," Riku replied after stopping short just behind DiZ. He then turned back with a slight smile on his face, and corrected, "It's the road to dawn."

After Riku said that, the other two smiled a bit more at him, and then proceeded to continue following him. At least they were until the taller of the two stopped next to DiZ, much to the smallest one's confusion. "Is something wrong, Aqua," asked a certain king with large ears.

Master Aqua of the Keyblade remained silent, regarding DiZ from the corner of her eyes for a minute, until she finally replied, "It's nothing Mickey. You guys go on ahead of me. I'll catch up in a minute." The other two hesitantly nodded in reply and then proceeded onwards. For a moment, neither of the two said anything, but Aqua knew that there was only one thing that she needed to say to this man next to her. "I know that you have some deep desire for revenge against this organization, but for whatever reasons it might be, I really don't care. Just know this if nothing else: if you do anything to endanger Sora or anyone else in your quest, be it Riku, Naminé, or anyone else like her, I will find out, and I will not hesitate to bring your quest to a very early end."

"You would place the sake of the worlds at risk for a mere few children and something that should never have existed," DiZ questioned.

"No. I'd protect my friends. As for Nobodies…who are you to say that they should not have ever existed," Aqua easily replied with her own question.

When DiZ said nothing in response, Aqua knew that she had won that argument, and she proceeded to continue following after Riku and Mickey. Before she got too far away though, DiZ found he had one last thing to ask her. "I know you are just as curious about where this road of Riku's leads, even if you have seen something similar to it once before, but do you truly intend to see it all the way through to its end?"

Aqua paused once more after hearing that question, not entirely sure if she should answer it, until finally, she did give one answer that she felt was satisfactory to them both. "I'll follow along for as long as I can, but there's someone out there who needs me. I'll have to eventually leave so that I can go to them, both for their safety, and so I can finally start something that is long overdue." Aqua could have left it at that, but she still felt the need to add one final detail before departing. "My apprentice has waited long enough for her master to come and train her."

There was nothing more to be said between the two, and they both knew it, so Aqua marched onward, happy to take in just how good it felt to finally be back in the Realm of Light with every step she took, while DiZ regarded her with a smile and a deep chuckle as she departed. He was not laughing because he found her comment humorous though. His laughter was actually of relief.

* * *

It was just another day in the world of Twilight Town. Shop owners were doing their usual business, the local kids were hanging out and playing around, and everything seemed completely peaceful. What the people were largely unaware of though, was that things were not truly peaceful at the moment. No one knew that better than Roxas and Xion as they proceeded through the town under the cover of both shadows and their organization coats. For the past few months or so, Roxas had grown rather close to both Xion and Axel, especially since he first learned what it really means to have a friend from Axel. Although, it was not until the day he had finally seen Xion's face for the first time that he started to feel closer to her too. The fact that he could now seen her beautiful blue eyes in full and that he finally learned that she had lovely black hair that parted to the left had very little to do with it though. The thing that really did it was that not only had she finally spoken for the first time the day before, but it turned out that she could also use the Keyblade like him. Sure, she lost that ability for a little bit, but thanks to his help, she eventually learned how to use it again. If he had a heart, Roxas would say that he was really fond of Xion, not in the sense that he was in love with her, whatever that meant, but that he viewed her like a sibling or something. He only knew about how someone felt like family after talking with Axel, and after thinking it over, Roxas could confidently say that it fit his view of Xion perfectly, and Xion told him that she felt the same way about him.

Today was actually the first time in a long while that they had been paired together for a mission, and they were both really enjoying themselves too. It was honestly surprising that Saïx had finally assigned them to be partners on the same mission again after they had spent so long working together, but they were not complaining. It felt good to work together again. At least, Roxas liked to think that was the case if they had hearts. The good vibes that they were feeling soon came to a halt though when Xion suddenly stopped and started looking over her shoulder for something in the area of the rooftops. She had been doing that quite a bit now, and Roxas was starting to get a little worried.

"Hey, everything okay, Xion," Roxas asked, finally deciding that he needed to get some answers.

"I'm not sure," Xion admitted, and Roxas could not help but once again note just how soft and sweet her voice sounded. He was not sure why he was using "sweet" to describe her voice though, so he just focused on what she was saying. "I just…I got the sense that something was watching us a moment ago. It's been like that on and off all day."

Roxas glanced up and around them along with her, trying to find the source of whatever could be giving Xion such an idea, until he finally just shrugged and said, "Maybe you're just a little nervous. I mean…not to dredge this up or anything, but it did seem like Saïx was glaring at you pretty harshly today."

Xion immediately became a bit more downcast at that thought, and Roxas instantly felt a little bad for bringing it up. It was no secret that Saïx had a very low opinion of Xion for some bizarre reason, and it really bugged Xion whenever the guy was brought up in a conversation as a result, so he had to wonder why he did so in the first place. He was about to apologize when Xion finally said, "Maybe you're right. I guess it was just my…was what it that Axel called it again?"

"Imagination," Roxas filled in with a smile. The two definitely loved hanging out with Axel, both because he was one of their closest friends in the organization, and because he always seemed to know everything about the stuff that confused them.

"Yeah, that's it," Xion nodded happily. She then turned back away from looking over the rooftops for whatever could have been watching them and said, "Come on! Let's hurry up and find that Heartless so we can go and get ice cream later!"

"You've got it, Sis," Roxas chuckled, making sure to use his newest nickname for her when he did, just make sure her cheerful spirits did not dwindle. He had taken to calling Xion that after Axel said that some people with siblings or friends that were like siblings do so, and Xion did not seem to mind one bit. In fact, she really enjoyed it if the happy laughter that had followed after hearing it the first time was any indication.

Unknown to either of them, someone had been watching them, and as he looked down from his perch on the rooftops, the armor-clad form of Ventus had to smile a little sadly beneath his helmet. "I really pity those two," he softly mused. "They have no idea just how special they really are, and the organization is taking advantage of that. We really need to figure out a way to get them away from that group. Hopefully, we'll find one soon, because I get the feeling…these two are prime candidates for becoming my next students."

* * *

 **Kingdom Hearts**

 **Dual Keys**

 _ **Unleashed**_

* * *

 ** _AN: Well there you have it. Everything's all set up for when we come back in the next story. Before anyone asks, yes, I am skipping over the events of Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days, as I have said quite a few times before, and now you know why. Ven did not go into Castle Oblivion with Sora and the others because of that one thing they had made a habit out of in this chapter. Be honest, when Ven cited how the other three were always rushing on ahead into things, how many of you instantly figured out that it would be the reason why they got caught in Marluxia's trap? I know some of you were hoping to see Ven meet all those guys at Castle Oblivion, but certain things in the sequel would not have been able to happen if Ven had to go to sleep along with Sora and the others._**

 ** _Speaking of Castle Oblivion though, yeah, there was one thing that changed a little there on Riku's side of the story, and that was the fact that it was not just Mickey, but Aqua who was helping him through the castle, and the two had a much easier time getting to him there with Aqua along for the ride. After all, if the place is resting between the two realms, then Aqua must know a few different paths to take in order to reach the castle more quickly. That said, I'm sure you all noticed that Aqua and Ven are both a little hostile towards DiZ, and the reasoning for that...they've already figured out that he plans on using Sora as an instrument of his revenge, and he plans on tuning that instrument using Riku and_ _Naminé. So of course they're going to give him those little threats there at the end._**

 ** _Aqua: I honestly felt like Lady Sif when she spoke with Loki in that one scene from Thor: The Dark World. Should that be a good thing?_**

 ** _AN: I'd go with yes for now, since Sif is a bad ass in her own right._**

 ** _Ventus: Still, it doesn't seem a little weird that I'm going to be spending all that time in my armor instead of giving me one of those organization coats?_**

 ** _AN: Nope. We already saw that Organization XIII were willing to send someone after Riku just because he appeared to be impersonating them, so it made sense that Ven, and besides, it was pretty clear that Ven was not too willing to trust DiZ to make sure that_** ** _Naminé and Sora remained safe. Besides, if his suit can help him survive in space and remain safe from the darkness in the Lanes Between, I think it would makes sense that it would allow him to hide from the organization so long as he did not do anything to call too much attention to himself._**

 ** _Naminé: Bigger question is why is it that I'm only showing up now at the very end of this story?_**

 ** _AN: Because unlike Roxas, Xion, and Axel, there was no better time or place for you to show up in this story. Sadly,_** ** _Naminé's role is not going to be too different from her canon incarnation's, aside from the fact that I am promising to make sure that she avoids her original fate, much like I intend to with Roxas and Xion._**

 ** _Xion: Yeah, I think they got that from the very last thing Ven said._**

 ** _AN: Well I'd certainly hope so. That was probably the biggest teaser detail for the next story in here. Well, aside from our sequel preview._**

 ** _KH Heroes: What sequel preview?_**

 ** _AN: This one! Right...Here..._**

 ** _Coming soon from lyokoMARVELanime, after a year of inactivity, the heroic adventurers Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus return to the worlds once more, ready for action and a new mission. But with a new adventure comes a new threat: the Nobodies and Organization XIII. Thankfully, they've got an ace or two up their sleeves in the form of Ven's newest students, and their newest teammates: the brother and sister duo, Roxas and Xion. But how can these two former members of the organization be of much help when they don't even remember anything from that time? The secrets behind these two's dark past is not the only thing that they'll be hunting for, as Riku, King Mickey, and Aqua are still missing in action, but just how missing are two of them? Could Kairi's new mystery teacher and protector have a connection? What happened to_** ** _Naminé after Sora had finally awoken from his slumber this time around? It's going to take a lot more than Shotlocks, Command Styles, and summon charms for the team to come out on top this time around. Exploration of new worlds and returns to old ones await, along with making new friends and reuniting with old ones, as the team discovers new powers to help aid them in a journey that will prove to be much more difficult than the last one, right to the point where it requires a new kind of drive to succeed. It'll take more than just two keys to save the worlds and their friends this time. They're going to need...a legion. Brace yourself for the next thrilling journey alongside the heroes of the Keyblade in..._ Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Legion _._**

 ** _Phew! That gave me chills of excitement just thinking about it. I can't wait to start on the first chapter of that one, but I do have other stories that need updating first. Don't worry though, we'll see the next story of the Keyblades Unleashed series before you know it._**

 ** _Sora: So you finally named this fanfiction series?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah. What do you think?_**

 ** _Sora:...I like it. Keyblades Unleashed. Really rolls right off the tongue._**

 ** _Rest of the Cast: [similar voices of agreement]_**

 ** _AN: Glad to hear it. But for now..._**

 ** _AN, Ven, Sora, & Mickey: Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


End file.
